Liesl Tommy Directs THE GOOD NEGRO at the Public Theatre in New York

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The Good NegroI am thrilled that Liesl Tommy will be returning to Shepherdstown to direct The World Premiere of THE HISTORY OF LIGHT by Eisa Davis. Her production of STICK FLY by Lydia Diamond was such a great success last summer. She is currently directing Tracey Scott Wilson’s bold new play at the Public Theatre in NY. So if you are in New York please check out this important new play. Here is Liesl in her own words:

Well, after five long years of work The Good Negro finally sees the light of production. I am so proud of the writer, designers, actors and producers; some of whom put years of dedication and passion into what we are now presenting at the Public Theatre. We have also had some wonderful notices and features for the show:

Reviews:
Bloomberg (John Simon)
The New York Times (Charles Isherwood)
Variety
Time Out NY
AP (Mike Kuchwara)
Back Stage (Andy Propst)
NYTheatre.com (Martin Denton)
Talkin’ Broadway (Matthew Murray)
CurtainUp (Elyse Sommer)
New Theater Corps (Aaron Riccio)

Features:
NYTimes Interview of Tracey Scott Wilson and Liesl Tommy
NYTimes Slideshow of the production

I also wanted to let you know what my schedule holds for the next few months. I have 4 WORLD PREMIERES of new plays coming up: Angela’s Mixtape by Eisa Davis, History of Light by Eisa Davis, Eclipsed by Danai Gurira, and Peggy Pickett Sees the Face of God by Roland Schimmelpfennig.

April: Angela’s Mixtape by Eisa Davis – New Georges (NY, NY) Premiere
July/August: History of Light by Eisa Davis- Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, WV) Premiere
July/August: Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz- Contemporary American Theater Festival (Shepherdstown, WV) Premiere
September: Eclipsed by  Danai Gurira – Woolly Mammoth Theatre (Washington DC) Premiere
Oct/Nov: Eclipsed by  Danai Gurira – Yale Rep (New Haven, CT) Premiere
June Africa Trilogy Project: Peggy Pickett Sees the Face of God by Roland Schimmelpfennig – Luminato Festival (Toronto, CA) Premiere

2009 HUMANA FESTIVAL

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The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Actors Theatre of Louisville have invited me to participate in a National Forum on the development and production of new plays in conjunction with the 33rd ANNUAL HUMANA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAYS. April 3-5. The purpose of this forum is to present and discuss the results of a recent national study on new play development conducted by the THEATER DEVELOPMENT FUND, as well as a field survey of the infrastructure for new works and new voices in 14 cities in the US, conducted by David Dower with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Today and Tomorrow:
New Play Development Before and After Opening Night

The Forum, hosted by Actors Theatre and the Mellon Foundation, will be facilitated by former NEA and TCG executive Gigi Bolt and documented for the Foundation’s purposes by noted researcher and practioner Ben Pesner. The Forum is focused on convening a broad cross-section of decision makers working in different aspects of new play development.

This is a great opportunity for CATF to participate and contribute to this very important conversation. I am looking forward to joining my colleagues from around the professional theater industry. I am especially looking forward to attending THE HUMANA FESTIVAL. I always enjoy going to HUMANA.

THE HUMANA FESTIVAL is an internationally acclaimed event that has introduced more than 390 plays into the American and international theatre’s general repertoire, including three Pulitzer Prize winners—THE GIN GAME by D.L. Coburn, CRIMES OF THE HEART by Beth Henley and DINNER WITH FRIENDS by Donald Margulies.

HUMANA is a great theatrical event. I will see EIGHT new plays in just three days. It is truly an awesome experience. I will tell you all about this year’s plays when I return to Shepherdstown.

—Ed Herendeen

Eisa Davis and the History of Light

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I recently came across this quote by Eisa Davis from an interview and I want to share it with you:

“The most pressing social issue is and always has been compassion. How can we build a world based on this principle rather than on smash-and-grab?”

Compassion is a good word to describe Eisa’s new play THE HISTORY OF LIGHT. It is a compassionate love story and a compassionate story about an estranged father and daughter. She describes her play as a passionate fugue between fathers, daughters, lovers, and friends.

Eisa begins the play with a song that she wrote for her main character Soph:
(Sophia is finishing her set in a hip club. She sings at the piano, eyes closed, accompanying herself.)

Maybe I’ll say maybe tonight
It ain’t romance but it sure ain’t a fight
We pull the wool right over our own eyes
Might not be love but we can compromise

When we met I wasn’t feeling good
My heart lay still, in a coffin made of wood
You didn’t care, you didn’t want to be alone
And I wanted someone to call on the phone

( As the song progresses, the rueful aspect fades and she becomes possessed by something.)

When will we end this sour charade
I know the costs have already been weighed
We know too much and pretend we don’t know anything
What hurts more—to give up or do the same old thing

Maybe I’ll say maybe tonight
I don’t know if it’s wrong or if it’s right
There’s nothing left inside to tell me why
When you ask “Do you love me?” I say “Maybe,” tonight.

What a soulful beginning to a beautiful play. When I attended the Reading of THE HISTORY OF LIGHT at New Dramatists in New York in December I was blown away by this opening moment. I got chills and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I am looking forward to introducing you to Eisa Davis this summer. This is an artist who has found her voice and is compelled to share it..

I only produce plays that I am compelled to produce and I am compelled to produce The World Premiere of THE HISTORY OF LIGHT. I am passionate about this writer!

My friend, the playwright, Keith Glover first told me about Eisa Davis. Keith called me out of the blue from LA and said “Ed you have to read Eisa Davis. You need to know her plays…you need to meet her and produce her work”. So I read BULLRUSER (2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist)… I read ANGELA’S MIXTAPE…I read PAPER ARMOR and UMKOVU and then I called Emily Morse at New Dramatists in NY and she arranged a meeting. Eisa was performing in the Broadway hit PASSING STRANGE…where she was receiving critical acclaim. We had a great first meeting in the library at New Dramatists. We agreed that we would collaborate and produce the first production of UMKOVU, (a percussive love rant on the casualties of success).at CATF this season. But…she let me read an early draft of THE HISTORY OF LIGHT…and I change my mind…I loved UMKOVU…But I just knew that THE HISTORY OF LIGHT was the right fit for our 2009 Festival.

—Ed Herendeen

Makers of Belief

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Theater artists must believe in the world of the play. We are makers of belief. The director is the one who begins the process of creating belief.  I begin this process by analyzing the text/script and asking: “what is the general beauty in the play?” The general beauty embodies the theme/main idea and the truth that the play represents. The general beauty is the reason we feel passionately that an audience should witness it.

When talking to designers, it is important to begin discussions with a description of the general beauty. I leave the discussion of mechanical details until a later time. In order to make the best use of the designers’ creative imagination, I begin by talking about what excites me about the script and why I am compelled to direct it. In these early discussions, we agree on some metaphors…and then the design team present ideas for the metaphors: photographs, paintings, music and research etc.

I am very specific about my impressions regarding the script and the world of the play etc. I talk generally and vividly about the style of writing and about the tempo and rhythm of the text. We discuss movement, action and color. We talk about every impression. And among this great salad of impressions, we find a central image emerging that increases our mutual enthusiasm. This is usually when the design begins to take shape…because we have developed a collaborative vocabulary.

—Ed Herendeen