So, Rotation Three has come to an exciting end. And, as producer of said rotation, I am left with the task of beginning the chain of blogs to recount the salacious details of our tertiary summer segment.
This rotation marked the first in which we welcomed the Lab Playwrights to Ithaca. Mikey spent the time directing a new play by Yale Grad Playwright Matt Moses called THE EMPEROR OF ICE CREAM OR THIRTEEN WAYS OF LOOKING AT DONALD RUMSFELD. This prescient piece takes an intimate and at times sympathetic look at a political figure whom (dare I say) most of us directors view as somewhat of a demon. Mikey and Matt worked well together to make this production unique. In the middle of the process, the two decided to make a huge conceptual shift in the production, splitting the role of Rumsfeld into two parts, played by two very different actors. It was thrilling for the cast of the show to experience such a jarring shift in the play midstream, and it made it all the more rewarding when the final product turned out as well as it did. Mikey did such a great job of getting his actors on board with such a large change, which is truly a token of the amount of respect his actors had for him.
Kate also directed a new play, BURYING BARBIE, written by recent Carnegie Mellon alum Chris Dimond. Kate did an incredible job of taking a small cast of young actors and leading them through a piece that demanded both spot-on comedic timing AND an underlying layer of pathos. Most notable in Kate's production, I think, is the work she did with her play's lead actress. One of the least experienced of the Lab Actors this year, Kate did an incredible job of helping this young actor grow and really demonstrate some talent and skill we had not necessarily seen from her up to the that point.
In the midst of these new plays, Tamara's children's show was a happy respite from some darker material. For her production of CUCUMBER PHIL, Tamara directed the entire play in the style of a Looney Tunes cartoon. From costumes to sound effects to crazy montages in which one of the bad guys sets a bear trap to catch the protagonist only to have it backfire on her ten-toed foot, it is not often that you see a world created so vividly by a director. The kids have been absolutely rolling in the aisles with laughter. I told Tamara that, when I read the play, I failed to see the potential that she found in it. Many people at the Hangar have been crediting the script for the show's success, but I am certain that with any other director this show would not have shone as much as it did under Tamara's leadership and vision.
In addition to facilitating the production of these three fine plays, I also steer headed (with the help of my three colleagues) the 24-Hour Play Marathon, in which the entire Lab Company produces six new short plays in a period of...well...24 hours. After a week of playwriting workshops with New York-based playwright Kenny Finkle, we organized the whole Lab Company for a full day of making guerrilla theater. Actors wrote. Assistant directors acted. Designers directed. Everyone was challenged to move out of their comfort zones in order to create something new. And while the day's work was exhausting, the final results were exhilarating.
It was such a joy to help bring about the work of my colleagues over the past few weeks. And while I wouldn't dare to say that producing is in the cards for me anytime in the near future, I could not have been happier to assist my three fantastic colleagues in making their directorial visions occur. Now, back to the rehearsal room!
Kerry
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