Virginia Is For Lovers
Hello, faithful readers! I'm giving you an update from the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where I'm participating in Endstation Theatre Company's annual Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival. I figured I’d give you the skinny on what’s going on up here, since a lot of it has to do with new work. And if you’re reading this blog, chances are that’s something you’re a fan of.
Endstation is a collective of theatre artists run by Tympanic friend and fellow FSU alumni Geoffrey Kershner, and focuses on the development and promotion of theatrical arts in Central Virginia. Most of their shows are centered around the scenic, history-rich locale, even their Shakespeare series, which is pretty rad. On top of a killer, dynamic outdoor production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, this year’s festival also includes two new scripts: THE BLUEST WATER: A HURRICANE CAMILLE STORY (written and developed by Jason Chimonides and Endstation about the 1969 storm that devastated Nelson County) and MY BROTHER’S KNIFE: A MADISON HEIGHTS ODYSSEY, a creepy/hilarious Southern gothic tale written by Tympanic stalwart Joshua Mikel. On top of the shows themselves, this year’s festival features their first ever Playwrights’ Intensive, which is the gig I’m here for.
FSU alums gone Endstation
The Playwrights’ Intensive is made up of two components: Ad Hoc and Posthaste. Ad Hoc is pretty basic; a workshop and staged reading of a pre-existing work from each playwright, while Posthaste is a bit more intense (no pun intended. No, screw that, pun intended. I mean who doesn’t like puns, right?). Here’s how it works:
At the beginning of the week, all of the playwrights (there are four of us) get together and write down several elements they think might be fun to have in a new script. We put all of the elements into a box and draw out five. Each playwright has to use all of those elements in a new script that they start working on right away. We meet for private readings throughout the week, workshopping the script before a public reading at the end of the festival. The format is derived from the 24-Hour Play Bake-Offs used at various theatre festivals and grad programs throughout the country to kick off their academic year. This year’s elements are:
-Atlantis
-The Sword In The Stone
-A character who doesn’t speak for the first half of the play
-A talking pumpkin
-Incest
A pretty tall, but colorful order. The playwrights can use the elements as literally or as metaphorically as they like, as long as they pop up somewhere, serving as more of a springboard for story ideas than a strict outline for plot. As a result of the exercise, I’m cooking up a full length called ORANGE ORBS that I’m pretty proud of, so we’ll see what happens with it in the future.
Soltero and Kmiec in My Brother's Knife
Not to get all maudlin on you, but being up here really puts things in perspective. At the end of the day, you should be doing theatre because you love it, and being isolated in the mountains with a merry band of fellow artists and friends with nothing to do but focus on their art really takes it back to that. It’s been such a rewarding experience so far and I hope to do it again next year.
Bottom line: Endstation Theatre turns out some stellar work and truly has the theatre artist’s best interest at heart. For more information, definitely check out www.endstationtheatre.org or http://endstationtheatre.blogspot.com/
I hope you’re all having a fantastic week. See you when I get back!
Just something to think about.
Dan