Last night we opened Elysium Interrupted for a VERY short run of just 2 days. I am so delighted by how this show has turned out, and I'll have pictures online very soon. I wanted to share my Director's Note from the program:
Recently, I heard writer Pat Wynn Brown on WOSU. During an interview with Ann Fisher, Brown asked her audience not to be the star in the film of their lives, but to be the writer of that film. Immediately I thought of this play—because this is exactly what each of the characters here are on about. The problem, though, facing both of our heroes—Hermia and Anton—is one of visibility. Anton wonders how one can successfully write the story of their life if nobody will read it. Hermia is constantly fighting against her understanding that, even if she writes her own life, circumstances will always relegate her to the sidelines. Last summer, I walked through a parking lot with my amazing friend Jill Summerville. As I helped guide her wheelchair, a man with 2 lovely dogs approached us. The man looked directly over Jill’s head, and asked ME if she might like to pet the dogs—then crouched to her and, speaking like one would to a child, told her that the “doggies were friendly.” For the first (and sadly not the last) time, I saw first-hand how Jill’s physical circumstances will always color how others see her. The luckiest of us will get to know Jill, to understand how brilliant and profound and delightful she is. Too few will even venture to try.
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AuthorChris, his own self. Archives
March 2013
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