A TSUNAMI OF CREATIVE ENERGY

Today we are witnessing a tsunami of creative energy as the 2010 Contemporary American Theater Festival arrives in Shepherstown, West Virginia. You can feel the creativity everywhere. Tonight we put into motion our 20th Season with a Company Picnic on the Frank Center lawn…we begin the rehearsal process on Tuesday. We will have a Company READ-THRU of INANA, BREADCRUMBS, LIDLESS and THE EELWAX JESUS 3-D POP MUSIC SHOW.

 Yesterday we were in Washington, DC at BUS BOYS AND POETS for a discussion on race in America. We read four short excerpts from J.T. Rogers’  WHITE PEOPLE. Cast members: Lee Sellars, Margot White and Kurt Zischke read short monologues from the script. Then we had a lively discussion. BUS BOYS AND POETS is sponsoring a bus trip to Shepherdstown in July to see WHITE PEOPLE and LIDLESS.

I am looking forward to beginning rehearsals on Tuesday. The first rehearsal/Company READ-THRU is the first opportunity for the CATF Company to hear four plays read by the cast with the playwrights, directors, designers etc. It is one of my most favorite days of the summer. We have assembled an extraordinary company of theater artists to join us for our five play rotating repertory. The Company READ-THRU puts into motion our creative journey…a rare new lyrical moment in the life of our theater company, one of those occasions when in the words of Tennessee Williams:

 ” Our hearts are uncovered and their words released and that’s when poetry comes and the deepest emotion.”

Ed Herendeen