Results tagged “Adam Kraar” from Inkblog!
You know what's cool, besides new plays, playmaking, and playwrights? Banyan trees are really, really, really cool.
And one of the playwrights we have been working with, Adam Krarr, has written a play with an ancient talking Banyan Tree. Oh yeah... The Inkwell totally, totally digs that. The play is called Empire of the Trees, and we staged a 20-minute excerpt of the play as part of our festival. (Of course, you can read more about the play in Inkblog!)
And here are few words from Adam about his experience with The Inkwell. Adam, we are so excited to learn more about this mysterious banyan tree in the next draft of your play.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The invitation to participate in The Inkwell's showcase reading at The Kennedy Center came at an ideal time for me and my play, Empire of the Trees. The play was scheduled for three readings here in New York City (at MultiStages and Ensemble Studio Theatre), but was also seeking a workshop. So it was heady and exciting to get an email from The Inkwell's Jessica Burgess.
I was quickly struck by the energy, ambition and generosity of the Jessica, Chris Niebling (who directed my excerpt), and The Inkwell crew. It seemed to me they were taking on a lot - but always with the goal of advancing new plays and playwrights (which is not always the case with companies promoting new work).
The worst moment? When I realized couldn't be there for the readings on September 7th. Jessica had written me that the aim of this project was to get to know me and my work - so I was truly regretting that I'd miss this opportunity to learn more about this unusual company up close. But Chris Niebling and I had a terrific talk about the play and the reading of the excerpt, so I was kept in the loop.
Then, several weeks after the Inkubator Festival reading, Anne McCaw contacted me to see if I wanted to talk with her and Meghan Long about Empire of the Trees. I was just about to start rehearsals for the readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Anne and Meghan's encouraging words, excellent questions, thoughtful suggestions, and ideas for possible next steps for the project were all incredibly useful to me as I listened to my play during rehearsals and at the reading. Some changes to the script were made, and I'm excitedly exploring next steps. The experience left me eager to work further - and, hopefully, closer! - with The Inkwell. I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
And one of the playwrights we have been working with, Adam Krarr, has written a play with an ancient talking Banyan Tree. Oh yeah... The Inkwell totally, totally digs that. The play is called Empire of the Trees, and we staged a 20-minute excerpt of the play as part of our festival. (Of course, you can read more about the play in Inkblog!)
And here are few words from Adam about his experience with The Inkwell. Adam, we are so excited to learn more about this mysterious banyan tree in the next draft of your play.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The invitation to participate in The Inkwell's showcase reading at The Kennedy Center came at an ideal time for me and my play, Empire of the Trees. The play was scheduled for three readings here in New York City (at MultiStages and Ensemble Studio Theatre), but was also seeking a workshop. So it was heady and exciting to get an email from The Inkwell's Jessica Burgess. I was quickly struck by the energy, ambition and generosity of the Jessica, Chris Niebling (who directed my excerpt), and The Inkwell crew. It seemed to me they were taking on a lot - but always with the goal of advancing new plays and playwrights (which is not always the case with companies promoting new work).
The worst moment? When I realized couldn't be there for the readings on September 7th. Jessica had written me that the aim of this project was to get to know me and my work - so I was truly regretting that I'd miss this opportunity to learn more about this unusual company up close. But Chris Niebling and I had a terrific talk about the play and the reading of the excerpt, so I was kept in the loop.
Then, several weeks after the Inkubator Festival reading, Anne McCaw contacted me to see if I wanted to talk with her and Meghan Long about Empire of the Trees. I was just about to start rehearsals for the readings at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Anne and Meghan's encouraging words, excellent questions, thoughtful suggestions, and ideas for possible next steps for the project were all incredibly useful to me as I listened to my play during rehearsals and at the reading. Some changes to the script were made, and I'm excitedly exploring next steps. The experience left me eager to work further - and, hopefully, closer! - with The Inkwell. I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
It never, ever ceases to amaze any of us at The Inkwell... the twists and turns and flights of fancy of the playwrights mind. Man, do we love sharing what they are thinking with you, whether through their plays or as they write back to us about their experiences with The Inkwell. As I've mentioned before, we asked that the playwrights we worked with during the 2009 Inkubator Festival blog for us, if they can.
So here's a delightful little interlude from one playwright that we love... Anna Moench.
The Inkwell staged a 20-minute excerpt of Anna's play The Pillow Book as part of our By the Book showcase (there's more to share about this wonderful evening of plays, so check out the blog post of a couple of weeks ago).
Anna gave us one of the most interesting explorations of a marriage I have read or seen... a play based on the form the pillow book, a collection of observations and musings invented by a Japanese lady of court in the 10th Century.
And so it's a delight for her to share her own take on blog dialogue here, which includes a portrait of me. Please know that I am really not that scary (at least I don't think so).
-----------------------------------
Anne McCaw, Queen of the Dramaturgs, chills in her Dramaturgy Throne.
Anna Moench, Playwright Supplicant to Dramaturgy's Insights, enters.
Moench: Oh Great Anne McCaw! I come to extend my gratitude for including my work in The Inkubator Festival!
McCaw: I don't need gratitude, woman, I need blog posts!
Moench: But Great Anne McCaw, I am frightened of the Internet and the lurking masses who shall read my words!
McCaw: Aren't you supposed to be a writer? Isn't that the whole point?
Moench: Touche.
Anne asked us writers to describe a particular moment in the Inkubator Festival process that stood out as particularly awesome, but for me, there were several. And all of them were moments I shared with The Inkwell's intrepid staff. So here they are. In a list. Because I like lists.
Great Moments With People I Met At The Inkwell
by Anna Moench
1. Discussing my piece with my dramaturg, Deb Sivigny. Deb's questions and observations were insightful, and she gave me the thing that every writer really needs while revising a new piece: an intelligent, critical outsider's perspective. Thanks, Deb!
2. Watching the series of excerpt readings. The group of actors who played characters in each piece were so talented, so committed, so up for anything, and, perhaps most importantly, so supportive of each other and the plays they were showcasing. Plus, the actors who were in my excerpt did a fantastic job. Thanks, guys!
3. Observing a young, dynamic theater company do something ambitious and important. It is incredibly difficult to read through hundreds of script submissions, to organize and run a festival that involves dozens of writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, technicians, staff, and the like, and to do it all with panache. But The Inkwell did it. And they've only been around for a few years. Booyah. I was so impressed with everyone I met and worked with, and I can't thank you all enough for doing what you do.
So here's a delightful little interlude from one playwright that we love... Anna Moench.
The Inkwell staged a 20-minute excerpt of Anna's play The Pillow Book as part of our By the Book showcase (there's more to share about this wonderful evening of plays, so check out the blog post of a couple of weeks ago).
Anna gave us one of the most interesting explorations of a marriage I have read or seen... a play based on the form the pillow book, a collection of observations and musings invented by a Japanese lady of court in the 10th Century.
And so it's a delight for her to share her own take on blog dialogue here, which includes a portrait of me. Please know that I am really not that scary (at least I don't think so).
-----------------------------------
Anne McCaw, Queen of the Dramaturgs, chills in her Dramaturgy Throne.
Anna Moench, Playwright Supplicant to Dramaturgy's Insights, enters.
Moench: Oh Great Anne McCaw! I come to extend my gratitude for including my work in The Inkubator Festival!
McCaw: I don't need gratitude, woman, I need blog posts!
Moench: But Great Anne McCaw, I am frightened of the Internet and the lurking masses who shall read my words!
McCaw: Aren't you supposed to be a writer? Isn't that the whole point?
Moench: Touche.
Anne asked us writers to describe a particular moment in the Inkubator Festival process that stood out as particularly awesome, but for me, there were several. And all of them were moments I shared with The Inkwell's intrepid staff. So here they are. In a list. Because I like lists.
Great Moments With People I Met At The Inkwell
by Anna Moench
1. Discussing my piece with my dramaturg, Deb Sivigny. Deb's questions and observations were insightful, and she gave me the thing that every writer really needs while revising a new piece: an intelligent, critical outsider's perspective. Thanks, Deb!
2. Watching the series of excerpt readings. The group of actors who played characters in each piece were so talented, so committed, so up for anything, and, perhaps most importantly, so supportive of each other and the plays they were showcasing. Plus, the actors who were in my excerpt did a fantastic job. Thanks, guys!
3. Observing a young, dynamic theater company do something ambitious and important. It is incredibly difficult to read through hundreds of script submissions, to organize and run a festival that involves dozens of writers, actors, directors, dramaturgs, technicians, staff, and the like, and to do it all with panache. But The Inkwell did it. And they've only been around for a few years. Booyah. I was so impressed with everyone I met and worked with, and I can't thank you all enough for doing what you do.
We've launched, loyal readers! We're off! We're out of the starting gate... you pick your metaphor.
In plainer speak, we started our second Inkubator Festival at Page to Stage last week... and it was such a treat to hang out in The Kennedy Center's North Atrium with directors, actors, dramaturges, and playwrights to catch up, talk shop, and get a taste of five new plays!
There's so much to share about our Page to Stage activities, but here's a great summary from DC Theatre Scene... the inteprid Rosalind Lacy joined us for the entire day of events.
I thought I'd also share with you my notes from our showcase event, where we presented 20-minute excerpts from four new plays, each with a political bent. As the supervising dramaturge, I am serving as a sommelier of sorts, helping playgoers taste all the rich, surprising flavors of the plays we have chosen to explore. Let me know if that metaphor works for you.
Without further ado, let me introduce you to the plays we showcased last week:
Island of Outcasts by Fengar Gael
What you are about to see is the first 20 minutes of a wildly imaginative take on the next phase of human existence. The play is set on the imaginary island of Dolphina, amidst the raging storms brought on by climate change. On Dolphina, two idealist marine biologists hatch their own solution to perpetuate a species on the verge of extinction... that species is, of course, human beings.
Our readers were fascinated by the magical way that Fengar approaches pressing issues of the day... of climate change, of how we steward the planet and ourselves, and of the ethics of scientific experimentation.
"Nearly everything about the play is memorable. It suggests visual, musical, and dramatic possibilities that are stunning to consider -- from raging storms on a tropical island to shimmering swimmers and ethereal songs of fish people."
Empire of the Trees by Adam Kraar
We now go back in time to 1963, the moment before Kennedy is assassinated, as our picture of perfect America dies. An expatriot, a Jewish American, is living in New Delhi, coming to terms with the loss of her child, her loneliness, and a crisis of identity that often comes when a person is uprooted and taken from everything they know.
Again, we are seeing the very beginning of the play, as well as a journey of the imagination that the heroine, Deborah, finds herself in.
This is also a story explored through magic, through the mythology of India, and through a dangerous, compelling relationship between our heroine and a poor Indian bookseller.
Our readers loves the mixture of political events, of mythology and literature, and the journey of troubled people in a landscape that they don't really understand.
i put the fear of mexico in 'em by Matthew Paul Olmos
This is a tense thriller of a play, and it kept us all on the edge as we read it.
It's also a dissection of difference, of connection, of the borders and barriers we use to distance ourselves, and those dangerous moments when we cross over those borders and barriers.
This is the very beginning of the play when two hapless tourists, Adrey and Jonah, have wandered down an alley in Tijuana to find Efren and Juana. While it first appears that we are the edge of a nasty confrontation, we soon learn that they have more in common that it seems, more in common that either couple is comfortable with.
Matthew is getting a lot of attention with this play. He recently received a workshop at the Sundance Institute, and the play will receive a reading in October at Gala Hispanic here in DC. We're delighted to showcase it and these characters, all of whom are dangerous and terribly delicate, brutal and passionate and terrified of the future.
Monkey Adored by Henry Murray
We end this showcase in another strange and surprising place, in the world of animals. Literally.
This is a play from the perspective of animals, those that fight and love and lose as we do, yet always fighting the pernicious ways of man, who are in search of the next lab experiment.
This excerpt drops us into the middle of the play, when Sonny Bonobo, a monkey, is about to engage in an act of terrorism. His partner of the moment, Brown Spot the dog, is dead set against Sonny's activism, struggling to come to terms with his deep sense of loyalty in a world of people and animals who are not very loyal to him. We also catch a glimpse of Sonny's compatriot, James the Rat, and Sonny's former lover, Madeleine the Cat.
I was the one who first this play, and it made me laugh and laugh and laugh. But there's something else beyond a set-up of animals wrestling with a human condition. The language is stunning, moving, surprising. The philosophical discussion is engaging. The characters are complex, rich, hilarious. And you'll see here in this excerpt a theatricality that is truly surprising, funny, and thought provoking.
We'll be creating a library of these excerpts and of the suite of plays we are exploring through our Inkubator Festival, which picks up speed again on September 24th, where we host an open rehearsal for Strike Seek Find, a dark, brutal, and truly modern take on The Odyssey from the perspective of Telemachus, Odysseus's son.
Stay tuned!
In plainer speak, we started our second Inkubator Festival at Page to Stage last week... and it was such a treat to hang out in The Kennedy Center's North Atrium with directors, actors, dramaturges, and playwrights to catch up, talk shop, and get a taste of five new plays!
There's so much to share about our Page to Stage activities, but here's a great summary from DC Theatre Scene... the inteprid Rosalind Lacy joined us for the entire day of events.
I thought I'd also share with you my notes from our showcase event, where we presented 20-minute excerpts from four new plays, each with a political bent. As the supervising dramaturge, I am serving as a sommelier of sorts, helping playgoers taste all the rich, surprising flavors of the plays we have chosen to explore. Let me know if that metaphor works for you.
Without further ado, let me introduce you to the plays we showcased last week:
Island of Outcasts by Fengar Gael
What you are about to see is the first 20 minutes of a wildly imaginative take on the next phase of human existence. The play is set on the imaginary island of Dolphina, amidst the raging storms brought on by climate change. On Dolphina, two idealist marine biologists hatch their own solution to perpetuate a species on the verge of extinction... that species is, of course, human beings.
Our readers were fascinated by the magical way that Fengar approaches pressing issues of the day... of climate change, of how we steward the planet and ourselves, and of the ethics of scientific experimentation.
"Nearly everything about the play is memorable. It suggests visual, musical, and dramatic possibilities that are stunning to consider -- from raging storms on a tropical island to shimmering swimmers and ethereal songs of fish people."
Empire of the Trees by Adam Kraar
We now go back in time to 1963, the moment before Kennedy is assassinated, as our picture of perfect America dies. An expatriot, a Jewish American, is living in New Delhi, coming to terms with the loss of her child, her loneliness, and a crisis of identity that often comes when a person is uprooted and taken from everything they know.
Again, we are seeing the very beginning of the play, as well as a journey of the imagination that the heroine, Deborah, finds herself in.
This is also a story explored through magic, through the mythology of India, and through a dangerous, compelling relationship between our heroine and a poor Indian bookseller.
Our readers loves the mixture of political events, of mythology and literature, and the journey of troubled people in a landscape that they don't really understand.
i put the fear of mexico in 'em by Matthew Paul Olmos
This is a tense thriller of a play, and it kept us all on the edge as we read it.
It's also a dissection of difference, of connection, of the borders and barriers we use to distance ourselves, and those dangerous moments when we cross over those borders and barriers.
This is the very beginning of the play when two hapless tourists, Adrey and Jonah, have wandered down an alley in Tijuana to find Efren and Juana. While it first appears that we are the edge of a nasty confrontation, we soon learn that they have more in common that it seems, more in common that either couple is comfortable with.
Matthew is getting a lot of attention with this play. He recently received a workshop at the Sundance Institute, and the play will receive a reading in October at Gala Hispanic here in DC. We're delighted to showcase it and these characters, all of whom are dangerous and terribly delicate, brutal and passionate and terrified of the future.
Monkey Adored by Henry Murray
We end this showcase in another strange and surprising place, in the world of animals. Literally.
This is a play from the perspective of animals, those that fight and love and lose as we do, yet always fighting the pernicious ways of man, who are in search of the next lab experiment.
This excerpt drops us into the middle of the play, when Sonny Bonobo, a monkey, is about to engage in an act of terrorism. His partner of the moment, Brown Spot the dog, is dead set against Sonny's activism, struggling to come to terms with his deep sense of loyalty in a world of people and animals who are not very loyal to him. We also catch a glimpse of Sonny's compatriot, James the Rat, and Sonny's former lover, Madeleine the Cat.
I was the one who first this play, and it made me laugh and laugh and laugh. But there's something else beyond a set-up of animals wrestling with a human condition. The language is stunning, moving, surprising. The philosophical discussion is engaging. The characters are complex, rich, hilarious. And you'll see here in this excerpt a theatricality that is truly surprising, funny, and thought provoking.
We'll be creating a library of these excerpts and of the suite of plays we are exploring through our Inkubator Festival, which picks up speed again on September 24th, where we host an open rehearsal for Strike Seek Find, a dark, brutal, and truly modern take on The Odyssey from the perspective of Telemachus, Odysseus's son.
Stay tuned!
