Tag Archive for: Michele Lowe

BUZZ PARTIES NYC AND WASHINGTON DC

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Last Thursday we were in New York City attending a very successful CATF BUZZ PARTY hosted by our friends Doug Moss and Roy Hardin at their fabulous downtown loft. It was a very cool event and we met many new potential CATF patrons. CATF playwrights Sheri Wilner, (HUNGER and FATHER JOY); Michele Lowe (INANA CATF 2010); Max Baker (EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW CATF 2010); Lucy Thurber (CATF commission 2011) joined us at this promotion event. Max and Michele talked about their upcoming plays at the 2010 Festival. Lucy spoke about her 2011 CATF Commission: The JOHN BROWN PROJECT and Sheri spoke about her experience working at the Festival. Sheri also read a quote from Todd London’s new book OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY published 2009 Theatre Development Fund. This is the quote from page 256:

“Some theatres are lauded as much for the bonds they forge with audiences, as for their support of artists. The Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV., is one such organization. In separate discussions, a writer and an artistic director applaud the work of artistic director Ed Herendeen, for cultivating among his theatergoers a genuine interest in exploring dramatic form, especially in challenging work. The playwright marvels at the degree of investment this small theater inspires from its semirural community. “He’s a P. T. Barnum out in West Virginia. (Herendeen) has completely educated his audience. They’re so excited that he is bringing in brand-new plays, and that they can now identify themselves as this breeding ground for new plays. He’s also educated his board that he’s going to pick something he loves. Don’t question it. He would take a bullet for any of those four plays that he chooses. He believes in them so strongly and it’s contagious. They may hate his choices, but they love arguing them with him at the bakery…”

This quote is from Chapter Six: Positive Practices and Novel Ideas. I recommend Todd’s book for those of you who are interested in new plays. OUTRAGIOUS FORTUNE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE NEW AMERICAN PLAY looks at the lives and livelihoods of American playwrights today and at the realities of new-play production from the perspective of both playwrights and not-for-profit theaters.

Tonight we will be attending our Washington DC BUZZ PARTY at the MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL hosted by CATF Trustee, Erich Hosbach. The event begins at 6PM-8:30PM at 1330 Maryland Ave, SW. If you are in the DC area please join us. I will be giving a preview of our 2010 Repertory.

CATF BUZZ PARTIES create excitement and Buzz. They are an opportunity for “Social Marketing” and “spreading the CATF Story.” We hope to inspire and motivate our loyal CATF audience base to invite their “social network” to attend the 2010 Festival. Our goal is to motivate our loyal base…our early adopters to become CATF Evangelists. We have an important story to tell. BUZZ PARTIES help us to tell our story. They create AWARENESS of the Theater Festival. They help us to create a stronger presence RE: our Brand and Identity. Our goal is to interact with our audience base and inspire them to participate in the CATF marketing process by becomming CATF Evangelists. Evangelists create AWARENESS…that leads to …CONSIDERATION…which leads to…PURCHASE.

Please make a comment below. I am interested in hearing your thoughts on “Social Marketing.” 

Ed Herendeen 

 

 

 

BACK IN SHEPHERDSTOWN

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I had a very productive trip to Philadelphia and New York. On Saturday I met our CATF architects Malcolm Holzman, Doug Moss and Debbi Waters at the Walnut Street Theatre. We saw my production of THE ECLECTIC SOCIETY. Afterwards we had a delicious dinner at The Oyster House in Philadelphia. I enjoyed seeing how the production has grown since Opening night. After dinner we took the train to New York.

Lucy Thurber and I met on Sunday morning for a breakfast meeting near Bryant Park. We discussed her ideas for her play inspired by John Brown. We have commissioned Lucy to write a new play for our 2011 Festival. THE JOHN BROWN PROJECT will examine the following questions: What is terrorism? What is fanaticism? What is revolution? Lucy is interested in the difference between terrorism, fanaticism and revolution…”America was or was not built on the back of terrorism/revolution.” Lucy’s plays SCARCITY and KILLERS AND OTHER FAMILY both deal with Race and Class in America. Her critically acclaimed plays provoke a conversation that many of us are too terrified to have RE: Race and Class. THE JOHN BROWN PROJECT will explore her interest in the culture of poverty in America. Lucy proposes that poor rural Whites and African Americans actually have more in common, in terms of pressure, options and self esteem than people of any color in this country that are raised with privilege. In our meeting Lucy said “America is built on dreams, equality, hope, faith, slavery, oppression and genocide. As a country we refuse to acknowledge all the building blocks. I want to acknowledge and discuss them all.”

 We had a great conversation and I am looking forward to introducing you to Lucy Thurber this summer when she will be in residence at the Theater Festival doing research for this provocative new work. Her plays SCARCITY and KILLERS AND OTHER FAMILY have been published and are available. I recommend both plays. Lucy is truly an original playwright with a fresh ideas and a powerful voice.

While I was in New York I had the pleasure to meet with CATF 2010 playwright, Michele Lowe. We discussed our upcoming production of INANA. It was a terrific meeting. I learned so much about INANAafter meeting with Michele. INANA is both a mystery/story and a love story. “Save the world through love.”...she says. “I am a student of history.” Michele helped me to understand the the main ideas in INANA.This is what I love about CATF…I get to talk with the living playwright in person. I enjoy this one on one collaboration withthe writer. Michele gave me very specific ideas RE: the world of her play and set design opportunities. I will share these ideas with Bob Klingelhoefer our set designer and Peg McKowen our costume designer. I left our breakfast meeting very jazzed about directing INANA.

On Tuesday I met with our New York Casting Director, Pat McCorkle and her staff to discuss and plan our upcoming Auditions for the 2010 Repertory Acting Company. We are preparing the casting breakdowns and audition sides to send to the New York talent agents. Pat will select the actors for me to audition in April. Our New York casting call begins April 6th through April 9th.

I am back in Shepherdstown preparing the 2010 Repertory. Our Festival Guide is at the printers…look for it in the mail. Please let me know your thoughts RE: our 2010 Repertory.

Ed Herendeen

INANA Design Conversation continued:

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I shared this with Bob Klingelhoefer our Set Designer RE: my Director’s concept for INANA by Michele Lowe:

MAIN IDEA: War destroys lives. But war also destroys a peoples’ culture, their history, their heritage, their identity, and their souls.

Michele Lowe weaves an intricate tale that’s both a love story and an ode to the treasures of the unique far-reaching civilization that developed between the Tigris and Euphrates. The story’s centerpiece is a sculpture of the ancient goddess Inana…metaphorically, the soul of the country…whose safety is entrusted to Darius, the museum curator. Lowe brings this imagery and symbolism to flesh in Darius’ new wife, Shali. The entirety of the action takes place in a dingy hotel room and the adjoining bathroom, with spaces used for memory/flashback scenes. This is a memory play that has fluidity of Time and flexible playing space. I want to provide the contemporary audience with a canvas  in which memory seamlessly informs the present.

In the opening scene…Shali is sitting in the adjoining hotel bathroom wearing a white hijab which covers her mysterious silence. This scene initiates a seductive unveiling of emotions set to the rhythm of a compelling thriller.

INANA is an engaging story that allows us to consider our “enemy” in new and more humane ways…to consider the infuriating plight of Middle Eastern women. And to reflect on the unconscionable desecration of a country’s sacred heritage. The play depicts Iraqis who are proud to be Middle Eastern, yet pose no threat to the sensibilities of their American audience. INANA stems the tide of Middle Eastern stereotyping. It portrays a heroic Iraqi curator’s desperate attempt to save a treasured statue before the U.S. invasion. And it’s a love story, making it a rare drama that portrays Middle Eastern characters in something positive about their culture.

Now that the Obama administration has set into motion a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq, the search begins for a way to heal that country from the death and devastation. The depth and breadth of the damage done to Persian civilization has been severe. Michele Lowe opens a window of hope and opportunity.

Ed Herendeen

Preliminary Design Conversation

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Some of my thoughts RE; my conversation with CATF Set Designer, Bob Klingelhoefer: I like to begin the design process with a discussion on the “world of the play” and the predominant element in INANA:

INANA by Michele Lowe:

TIME: February 4, 2003

PLACE:A hotel room with an adjoining bathroom in London. Various flashback/memory scenes: A bookseller’s shop in Bakir Iraq; Mosul Museum courtyard; The Shalid home in Iraq; Emad Al Bayit’s art studio; Emad’s home; a desert near Nineveh, Iraq.

THE WORLD OF THE PLAY: I see two worlds… The original and the copy…the past and the present. History/culture vs. today…Innocence vs. Destruction. The world of the play is a museum…a place to preserve and protect a civilization’s culture, history, and identity. “The objects are part of the people. They’re the deepest, hidden, most secret part. They’re the best part and the most important part to protect.”

I want to create two worlds. The present world set in London and the world of the past set in Iraq. The London world is set in a dingy hotel room with an adjoining bathroom. Even this present world is split into two rooms…the hotel room and the bathroom.

The past is set in various locations in Iraq. The past is revealed in a series of memories/flashback scenes. I am interested in seeing both the museum world which preserves history and memory…And the present world where Darius tells his story. I want our set design to explore the concept of TWO: There are two statues… two rooms…the present and the past…etc. Shali says:

 “There were two of me. The one before and the one after. I always wanted to be the other Shali. We all yearn for the other self, the one that is connected somehow to our childhood and then is pried from our memory by Time until finally we are forced to let it go.”

PREDOMINANT ELEMENT: STORY/SPECTACLE:  The predominant element in INANA is “story.” INANA is a mystery…a thriller…a political thriller. INANA is a classic “mystery” play. It is also a love story. Our design should assist us in telling the story on stage. INANA is a quick and engaging tale. It is a human story about an epic struggle to preserve a culture. Primarily, and most surprising, this is a love story between strangers who eventually morph into a connected whole.

INANA is also a spectacle play. The spectacle is HISTORY/TIME/DESTRUCTION/INNOCENCE/MIDDLE EASTERN CULTURE. The spectacle is MEMORY. I want to create spectacle on stage…the spectacle of destruction…the desecration of a country’s sacred heritage, severed into pieces like so many body parts. I want the audience to reflect on the unconscionable desecration of war. At the beginning of the U.S. invasion in 2003, the museums in Iraq had been looted badly, and excavation sites had been destroyed. The play offers our audience the opportunity for illumination.

Tomorrow I will continue my conversation with Bob Klingelhoefer, Set Designer. I will share with you my thoughts on the MAIN IDEA of the play.

Ed Herendeen