Day 5b: Colorado New Play Summit
We’ve just wrapped up our third reading of the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT. Lisa Loomer’s HOMEFREE was a moving play about three homeless youths. During the course of the play, we gained insight into each of their motivations behind seeking a life on the streets vs. the relative security of their own homes or a shelter.
Consider what “Homefree” means - free of the constraints (rules, confines, expectations) that you might find in a home. Whether by force or by choice, the homeless individuals in the play each had a poignant story to tell. One central character, JJ, sang a common refrain: “I’m living my life in shades of gray,” that proved to be a metaphor for each of the lives we encountered in this new play.
Next up, Michael Mitnick’s multimedia workshop - ED, DOWNLOADED. What happens when you can download 10 memories that live in perpetuity and your wife doesn’t agree with your selections?
Day 4c: Colorado New Play Summit
Following two exciting new play readings, our guests headed into the world premiere of TWO THINGS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT AT DINNER. One of the most exhilarating aspects of a new play festival is when you can see the play’s development from a reading one year to a full production in a subsequent year.
That’s what we experienced with Lisa Loomer’s play about how the taboo topics of religion and politics can threaten relationships. How will it change? Will it match how you imagined it? Will you be disappointed or surprised? The sense of wonder is all around us and we dive in.
Following the well received play, we all piled into The Jones Theatre for the late-night and immensely popular PLAYWRIGHTS’ SLAM. Think of a poetry reading. Playwrights regale audiences with excerpts of pieces in development. Participants include:
Samuel D. Hunter Lisa Loomer Lauren Feldman Michael Mitnick Richard Dresser Jeffrey Haddow Karen Zacarias Marcus Gardley Eric Schmiedl Kirsten Greenidge
Spirits are high and the crowd is loving it. What a great way to end the first day of our readings!
Day 4b: Colorado New Play Summit
The second reading of the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT just let out - Richard Dresser’s THE HAND OF GOD. Filled with humor and innuendo, this new play explores what happens when life becomes entertainment.
If you’ve ever wondered what’s more unreal - reality or reality TV - then this biting comedy fits the bill. With his love life and career in disarray, Joe valiantly struggles to make sense what’s going on around him.
Everyone continues in high spirits and eagerly awaits the world premiere of Lisa Loomer’s TWO THINGS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT AT DINNER and the ever-popular PLAYWRIGHTS’ SLAM.
Stay tuned.
Day 3: Colorado New Play Summit
Wow! A combined 125 hours of rehearsal have been put into preparing for our COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT, which begins tomorrow! Plus we are officially SOLD OUT. (If you want to come and don’t have a ticket, you are still encouraged to head down and check for available seats.) But at this point we have DOUBLED the number of “industry” representatives over last year.
PLAYWRIGHTS who are expected to attend include: Jeff Carey, Steven Cole Hughes, Terry Dodd, Richard Dresser, Lauren Eason, Lauren Feldman, Marcus Gardley, Judy GeBauer, Kirsten Greenidge, Jeffrey Haddow, Neal Hampton (composer), Samuel D. Hunter, Luciann Lajoie, Carter Lewis, Leslie Lewis, Felice Locker, Lisa Loomer, Robert McAndrew, William Missouri-Downs, Michael Mitnick, Steve Moulds, Henry Murray, Philip Penningrot, Max Posner, Theresa Rebeck, Eric Schmiedl, Helen Thorpe and Karen Zacarias.
DIRECTORS expected to attend include Hal Brooks, Sam Buntrock, Marcia Milgrom Dodge, Mike Donahue, Pam MacKinnon, Art Manke, Christy Montour-Larson, Ethyl Will (music) and Justin Zsebe.
THEATRES represented include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Contemporary American Theatre, Creede Repertory Theatre, Curious Theatre Company, Dallas Theatre Center, Indiana Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, New Dramatists, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Primary Stages, Page 73, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep and Third Law Dance Theatre.
Our New Play Summit is relatively new compared with others around the country. Now in our seventh year and under the leadership of Artistic Director Kent Thompson and New Play Development Director Bruce Sevy, we have quickly created a new play festival that is attracting attention. National Public Radio is continuing its interest. American Theatre magazine will cover the festival. And we’re delighted that the American Theatre Critics Association will once again hold its Winter meeting to coincide with our event.
Despite the long days and intense work, there is a feeling of anticipation as everyone gets ready to welcome our local and national guests. The excitement is palpable! We will see what tomorrow brings.
Day 2: Colorado New Play Summit
The second day of the COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT had our 100 artistic team members actively engaged in five hours of rehearsal. The casts and crews of Lisa Loomer’s HOMEFREE and Richard Dresser’s THE HAND OF GOD had an “on stage” rehearsal when they worked in The Jones and The Ricketson theatres respectively.
Meanwhile, the casts and crews of Jeffrey Haddow and Neal Hampton’s SENSE & SENSIBILITY THE MUSICAL, MIchael Mitnick’s ED, DOWNLOADED and Lauren Feldman’s GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING were rehearsing in our cleverly named (and painted) Yellow, Purple and Orange rehearsal studios.
But you might be wondering what happens on these days. While directors SAM BUNTROCK (Ed, Downloaded), MIKE DONAHUE (GRACE…), PAM MACKINNON (The Hand of God), MARCIA MILGROM DODGE (Sense & Sensibility) and JUSTIN ZSEBE (Homefree) work with the actors on bring the script to life with tone, inflection, dialect, etc., the playwright spends a lot of time listening, gauging and refining.
Then lines are cut, dialogue is added, scripts are changed, copies are made and the whole process begins again tomorrow in preparation for the weekend’s public readings.
And then there’s tonight - a time for the participants to see plays that went through this same process last year and are now being fully produced by our DENVER CENTER THEATRE COMPANY: THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter and TWO THINGS YOU DON’T TALK ABOUT AT DINNER by Lisa Loomer.
Then there’s a little food and drink to connect, refresh, reminisce and anticipate what the coming days will bring.
Kent Thompson opens Colorado New Play Summit
And we’re off! More than 100 playwrights, directors, dramaturgs, actors, stage managers and other key staff gathered this morning to kick off the DENVER CENTER THEATRE COMPANY’s seventh COLORADO NEW PLAY SUMMIT.
Five readings of new works in development, plus two full productions of new plays and the ever-popular Playwrights’ Slam will be experienced by theatre industry representatives from across the nation, local and national press, and local theatre patrons.
The casts are assembled and the work has started on the second floor of our Newman Center. Here’s what you can expect coming up Feb 10-12:
SENSE & SENSIBILITY
THE MUSICAL
Based in the novel by Jane Austen
Book and Lyrics by Jeffrey Haddow Music by Neal Hampton
Directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge
Music Direction by Ethyl Will
ED, DOWNLOADED
by Michael MItnick
Directed by Sam Buntrock
Dramaturgy by Douglas Langworthy
Multimedia Design by Charlie I. Miller
THE HAND OF GOD
by Richard Dresser
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
HOMEFREE
by Lisa G. Loomer
Directed by Justin Zsebe
Dramaturgy by Liz Engelman
GRACE, OR THE ART OF CLIMBING
by Lauren Feldman
Directed by Mike Donahue
Dramaturgy by Liz Frankel
Stay tuned for a daily recap of our work in development.
Talking About Two Things You Don’t Talk About At Dinner
by Sylvie Drake for Applause magazine
The highlight of her film acting career, says Lisa Loomer, was getting to say, “Wanna go out?” on screen to Paul Newman. “I was frustrated by the kinds of roles I got, not so much in the theatre, but certainly on TV and film.
“I played a lot of Latin hookers.”
It’s one of the reasons she became a playwright.
Loomer, who was born and grew up in New York until her family moved to Mexico when she was in her teens, has shuttled a lot between both countries. While under the acting tutelage of Wynn Handman, Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre in New York, Loomer was encouraged by Handman to turn some of the monologues she had developed at his theatre into a one-woman show. From there she moved on to character comedy and some standup and eventually worked at INTAR with Maria Irene Fornes, another important mentor who encouraged her to write. Her first full-length play, Birds, was staged at South Coast Repertory in 1986 and she was off and running.
“I was no longer an actress,” she said, “I started to eat. I stopped waiting tables and began a writing career.”
Many plays and awards later, Loomer’s Two Things You Don’t Talk About At Dinner is about a highly diverse group of friends and family with widely divergent opinions and convictions attending a Passover Seder hosted by Myriam and Jack. As the dinner conversation careens into politics and religion, it goes terribly wrong—or right, depending on the point of view. The play is receiving its world premiere production after being read at last year’s Colorado New Play Summit.
Applause asked the playwright, who now lives in Oregon, a few questions.
Applause: Is Two Things based on an actual event?
Lisa Loomer: It is inspired by an actual event, which I have fictionalized of course… I find that sometimes the parts of plays that are hardest to believe are the “true” ones…. So I will tell you that I have a dear friend who has a yearly Seder and one of her oldest and closest friends who always attends is Arab American. They do not agree about politics. They love each other. That was the inspiration for this play. I should add that I have other friends whose political beliefs differ from mine and it’s gotten me into trouble. So I wanted to write a play that deals with family and friendship being tested by political and religious differences.
My computer is a war zone. I get all the emails from my Jewish friends who are pro-Israel and, often, anti-Arab. I get all the emails from my Arab American friends who are pro-Palestine and, often, anti-Israel. I watched documentaries for months, I read books, I talked to experts, I talked to folks. The situation is mind-boggling, cruel, frustrating, heartbreaking. I’m not a politician. I’m just a writer. Usually a play takes one side or the other. I wanted to give voice to both sides in one play. Because my only hope is for us to hear each other.
A: I see from your bio that you are of Spanish and Romanian descent. Any Jewish antecedents anywhere?
LL: Part of the mix that I am is Jewish—although I was raised without religion—and I do believe in the concept of tikkun olam [repairing the world]. That said… I feel that people will come to the theatre full of passions, preconceptions and prejudices and I’d hate to add to that by giving them the chance to have preconceptions about its author. Especially since everything about me is in this play. More and more, I like to let go of labels…and just want to be described as a “writer.”
A: What is this play’s genesis?
LL: The idea came after attending my friend’s Seder. When I had a first draft, I showed it to several people, including Jews, Christians, Arab Americans, and a Palestinian friend who had shared his story with me. My passionately pro-Israel friend is extremely supportive of this play and grateful I wrote it. But. She’d like for the character, Myriam, to have even more dialogue in response to things that Sam [the Arab American] says that she doesn’t agree with. And, of course, my Palestinian friend feels the same [vice-versa]!
A: How long did it take to write it, start to finish?
LL: Always impossible for me to say, because I do other work in between. But I wrote a chunk of it in a week at the O’Neill [Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, that fosters playwrights and new plays] and, coincidentally, it was Wendy Goldberg who invited me. [Goldberg, Artistic Director of the O’Neill, is the director of this Denver Center production.] I had been researching and living with the play for quite a while. And then, of course, I made a million changes last year…and will continue to do so in rehearsal.
A: You mention the Sephardim, who originally were Jews from Spain and remain mostly Jews of the Mediterranean basin. How did they cross your path?
LL: I’m interested in people who have two things going on in their blood and in their culture.
A: You said about something else and I quote: “Clever wasn’t what I was after. It wasn’t that I simply intended to be funny, but that comedy was a way to get at something else.” Is this also what you hoped to achieve with Two Things?
LL: I was surprised that the play played so funny in the workshop production. If my work is funny, it’s just in my cereal. It’s my skewed way of seeing things. That said, I am grateful when something turns out to be funny because I’m usually trying to get at something pretty serious and laughter opens us up and makes it easier for us to consider different points of view.
A: Not to put too fine a point on it, but what would you call this play? A comedy? A tragedy? A tragicomedy? Neo-realism? Something else?
LL: An often funny play about some serious things.
A: What do you hope an audience will take away from this play?
LL: How important it is to hear the other side… if we are to be friends, family, co-workers… or co-existers on this planet we all claim as “home.” Home-land.
I do expect that this play will be controversial. It seems that, to present characters that are pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel in the same play is, in itself, controversial. Some people do not even like the idea of hearing the other point of view in a play! I have friends who are quite radical in their allegiances… on both sides. But what else is an evening of theatre for if not to promote discussion, even heated discussion?
My main characters are bound together by a shared history, they come from the same town in Massachusetts, they’ve known each other all their lives, their parents knew each other. They all want peace. But, as one says, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom-fighter.”
Then again, in terms of controversy, most of my plays have been controversial. I’m used to it now. I argue with myself, all the time. I once read in a psychology book that 97% of what we see, in a play or in life, is what we already believe… and the rest we just filter out. So we come to the theatre pretty loaded.
It’s rare that someone leaves the theatre thinking, “Hey, that really opened my mind.” Still, I like having a bunch of characters that see a situation from different sides. And maybe that’s where the comedy comes from, in part. If you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes for a couple of hours—and laugh in the process, maybe cry—that to me, is a good night out.
A: What are you working on now?
LL: I’ve just written a play about homeless teens in Oregon, some of whom consider themselves “homeless,” others who see themselves as “homefree.” *
I’m also writing a play for the Cornerstone Theatre’s upcoming cycle of plays on hunger. Mine takes place at Homegirl Café, a restaurant that trains, and is run by, female ex-gang members in L.A.
* Homefree was commissioned by the Denver Center Theatre Company and is being read as part of this year’s Colorado New Play Summit, Feb. 10-12.
Some Funny Things about an often Serious Play
Playwright Lisa Loomer describes her Two Things You don’t Talk About At Dinner as “an often funny play about some serious things.” It is an improbably even-handed look at the extremely complex issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian situation—on the ground and in our dining rooms. Funny? Serious? You bet. Loomer’s assessment is on the money. Yes, people do tend to fly off the handle when discussing the ongoing conflict in that part of the world, but the play? It is often funny and it is about serious things. To honor the spirit of that fearless enterprise, we assembled some funny and some serious notes—and one cartoon—in support of Loomer’s efforts.
THE SERIOUS
Civil Discourse — A Lost Cause?
Civil discourse is not about niceness. It is about respecting the other individual and having the ability to passionately disagree without being disagreeable. One of the hallmarks of a civilized society is that civility must be guaranteed and observed among those who will inevitably disagree. Civil discourse is fundamental to the fostering and protection of a civilized society.
It is about ensuring a safe environment in which people can express ideas without fear of attack. It is about tolerance for those who think differently. Yet it seems many in our society have come to regard the old saw “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me” not as a proverb but as a truism—a license to say anything, regardless of what harm it might cause. Sadly, name-calling and bullying increasingly have become the accepted norm in daily human interactions.
As a result, not-so-civil discourse has become the one, true equal-opportunity issue. It crosses political lines, sparks acerbic debates about family, sexual orientation, roots itself in religious intolerance and ignores the right to exist of “the other”—other socio-economic classes, cultural and racial groups. Its common language is inappropriate, corrosive, insulting, hostile and aggressive.
It is mean-spirited behavior.
How do we re-establish the value of civil discourse? First, we must teach our children the tremendous power of words. Words have the capacity to build or destroy, empower or diminish, enable or disable. Words can support, inspire, motivate, stimulate, encourage. Or not. What words do we teach our children? Who should teach them?
The answer is all of us. Everyone. Regardless of differences.
Lisa Loomer’s Two Things You Don’t Talk About at Dinner touches on this subject by frontally addressing political and religious differences that are at the forefront of our lives and happen to explode at the Passover Seder that is the fulcrum of her play. For all the pernicious—and often very funny—exchanges, the outcome of the piece skillfully shows us a path to sanity. It may not be a total solution, but it does indicate that, given a choice, human beings prefer kindness to vilification, understanding to bullheadedness, peace to war, even at the dinner table.
We can refuse to be debased by uncivil discourse. We can restore faith in words that heal rather than wound, sometimes mortally.
—Portions of this text were excerpted from www.thefreelibrary.com
THE FUNNY
Braille for Jews?
Helen Keller was handed a matzoh, the first she ever touched.
As she felt it using her fingers to decipher what it was, she asked, “Who wrote this nonsense?”
British Jews
A British Jew is waiting in line to be knighted by the Queen.
He is to kneel in front of her and recite a sentence in Latin when she taps him on the shoulder with her sword. However, when his turn comes, he panics in the excitement of the moment and forgets the Latin. Then, thinking fast, he recites the only other sentence he knows in a foreign language, which he remembers from the Passover Seder. “Ma nishtana ha layla ha zeh mi kol ha laylot.”
Puzzled, the Queen leans over to an advisor and asks: “Why is this knight different from all the other knights?”
Divorce Jewish Style
An elderly man in Phoenix calls his son in New York and says “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing. Forty-five years of misery is enough.”
“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams.
“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the old man says. “We’re sick of each other, and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Chicago and tell her,” and he hangs up.
Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone, “Like heck they’re getting divorced,” she shouts. “I’ll take care of this!”
She calls her father immediately and screams at the old man, “You are not getting divorced! Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back, and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, do you hear me?” and
hangs up.
The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay,” he says, “They’re coming for Passover and paying their own airfares.”
Jewish Telegram
Letter follows. Start worrying.
Arabic Sayings
Enfiha el kheir ma yermiha el ter: If it was beneficial the bird wouldn’t drop it (don’t expect something from him).
Ye khaf we ma yekh te shish: he knows fear but never recognizes shame (an unscrupulous person).
E’d sawaba’ak b’ad mat salem a’leh: Count your fingers after you shake his hand (he’s a thief).
A ed a la hassira we me dandel regleh: He is sitting on a carpet and pretends to dangle his feet (an obvious deceiver).
Ed-deeny el bakht oo er-meeny fel bahr: Give me luck and throw me in the ocean (with luck on my side, nothing can hurt me).
Ed ghadabou abl ma yetacha bek: Eat him for lunch before he eats you for dinner (do unto others before they do unto you).
Yeslam bo’okom, we khalou el kalam yehla: Bless your mouth and let the words get sweeter.
Yom assal, yom bassal: One day is like honey, one day is like an onion.
El khonfessa fe-e ou e she-e omm ghazal: To the cockroach, its child is like a gazelle.
This article originally appeared in PROLOGUE, the Denver Center Theatre Company subscriber newsletter.
