Winter Forum 2010- Notes from Justine – Week 2

Notes from Justine
Forum Rehearsal 11/22/10

Week Two of the Writer/Director Forum is a satisfying evening of theatre consisting of two basically realistic tales and one non realistic play. Interestingly, the stories of the two that take place in the real world are less concrete and revolve around character and location as much as storytelling while the one set elsewhere (not fully in the world but I won’t give away where) has quite the developed little plot.

First I watched a run through of No Boundaries by Yvonne Delet, directed by Eva Gabrielle Schelbaum, featuring Adam Auslander, Kimberly Carvalho, Alexandra Hiotakis, Gary Warchola & Michael Young.

The loose story about an evening at an open mike night shows us the insanity of people’s need to perform, be seen and express themselves. Equally, we observe the disregard they often have for others needs in pursuit of their own. This creative team is clearly having a blast creating the extreme characters and wonderfully quirky world of this play. Lots of fun character work is apparent in the acting and the setting is rendered with both love and ridicule by the author. Two weeks from now this has the potential to be a real treat of the ridiculous.

Inside the Three-0-Nine by Ruth Tyndall Baker, directed by Gretchen Ferris, featuring Bobby Gámez, Andrea Lattanzio, Genevieve Tarricco, Harrison Unger & Jill Wurzburg is quite a lovely little script!

Clocking in at thirteen minutes it manages to tell a touching story and make us care about the characters. Its brevity rarely, if ever, sacrifices the truth of what is being expressed. Gretchen and her ADs have a clear grasp of the piece and are telling the story with a light touch. Within that lightness the depth is beginning to emerge and I truly look forward to seeing this piece once it does. By the way, I don’t want to give away the story here because if you don’t know what the title means, the surprise element is delightful.

Less Talk, More Efficiency by Diana Stahl, directed by McKenna Dabbs, featuring Clio Davies, Keilly McQuail, Allison Whittinghill & Sharon Zaslaw is a bit wacky, which certainly fits in beautifully with the tone of No Boundaries!

Creating extreme characters isn’t the focal point for everyone in this piece however. There are some subtle ideas about the people’s lives and personalities being exposed here. This play is about Jess and Beth and seeing their lives juxtaposed against a stressful environment. It’s a comic and telling element in the play that this very stressful environment is ironically supposed to invoke peace. These two main characters seem pushed by their environment beyond the limits of a normal working relationship. I can’t imagine they are being paid well enough for this…but who knows; in this economy we’ll put up with plenty, won’t we?
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the beautiful and wonderful Assistant Directors/Stage Managers: Ava Kelley and Sarah Simmons for their help with keeping things going, and for their invaluable creative input all night long! It was a real treat getting to know them.

Week Two of the Winter 2010 Writer/Director Forum opens on December 9. I’ll be there with bells on!

Justine Lambert
Founding Artistic Director