In preparation for the Anniversary Readings in April, it was suggested by Corey Blake , a longtime supporter of the project, that I create a smaller-cast version. It makes sense, especially in this shrinking economy. So I jumped on the chance to workshop the piece at The Indy Convergence this February.
Well, the experience is even more than I thought possible. Over the course of these ten days, a core group of seven-ten artists create one peice together, and we all collaborate on side projects. For more information on the other projects, check out my other wordpress blog.
My side project is the six-character version of VOICES FROM CHORNOBYL. Considering it started at twenty-five people and has since been whittled down to ten, this feat seemed impossible. Even at my first rehearsal here in Indiana, as the actors read the monologues from the book and I heard material that hadn’t made the ten-person cut, it wasn’t really clear to me how it could happen. So much material from the interviews deserves to be heard—everyone should know what they thought radiation could look like, and I desperately want to put “A Monologue About A Life Laid Out on Doors” back into the play.
Yet, this evening I set out to accomplish at least half the script. Since the new script is so vastly different from the previous versions—the storytelling is more consistent, while still adding all of the elements which always worked in the past and adding new ones I found through the Demo—the new version actually began to write itself. Not only that, but it clearly pointed to areas in the script which could use some clarification. This new version is turning into a bit of a different animal, but that is entirely the point.
Going back a couple of days, to the first day of the Indy Convergence: everyone had a few minutes to describe their side project to the core group. I jumped into the history of the project and its timeline, then the mission, which breaks down to: make the information as accessible to as many people as possible. Then I talked more about WHY—the challenges the people face now. It’s not a history lesson, it still perserveres as a problem unique to these people.
I saw the faces of these artists, most of whom I had JUST met, change in front of me. It sunk in. I saw it all in their eyes—and almost felt that they were all imagining their own loves ones, and how they would feel if something like this would happen to them. Who knows what ran through their heads.
They are all game and I truly appreciate it. Jumping into this project is easy for no one, never mind people with many other projects on their mind. My core ensemble in Los Angeles is amazing, and neither the play nor the mission of the Anniversary Readings would be anywhere close to where it is now, if it were not for the L.A. ensemble. Yet sharing it with a new audience and new actors IS the mission, begins and completes the goals of this show from its inception.
Stay tuned for more about the process………………….