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We Can't Reach You, Hartford
An investigative history of the Hartford Circus Fire of July 6th, 1944. Nominated for a Fringe First at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Daguerreotype
In the twilight of his life, famed photographer Matthew Brady must choose between the life he has built and the legacy he wants to leave behind.
Tone Clusters
Renowned prose author Joyce Carol Oates explores honesty, perspective, and denial through one couple's harrowing attempt to save the person they love
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The back story back story
Dear readers,

It has recently come to my attention that we have never properly introduced ourselves here. This seems remiss.

When exactly was the American Story Project born?

In Spring of 1998, one Elissa Kozlov and I were in a production of the Wizard of Oz in Middle School. I thought that it was very nice that Elissa was so nice to me even though she was far more popular than I. Cut to: fall, 2003, Greg Malen and I ran a manual lightboard together our freshman year at Wesleyan University. He cued the board while I switched plugs in and out, as the board only had three circuits. Greg made me an easy-to-follow sheet that matched the plug switching to verbal and silent acting cues. Thus began a collaboration. One year later enter Edward Bauer waving a stick in the air and panting "My mother is a fish" while I run light cues in the corner. One year later - Steve has a dream about a circus fire he remembers hearing about. And so on and so on. The American Story Project is a fairly loose collection of collaborators, most of whom attend or have attended Wesleyan University (and one designer from Princeton). Most of us have worked together a whole lot in many different capacities. At this point, we have one artistic director (that's me), one managing director, a set of amazing designers, a dramaturg/playwright, an associate producer, a readings organizer and about 6 actors. But TASP is a growing and changing organism and its journey has just begun. There is room for so much to evolve. What do we start with? A huge passion for theater and each other. Anne Bogart writes, "the condition of a company is a constant crisis." We're ok with that.

What do we do?

TASP is now in the midst of developing its third production and second original production. Our first show in 2005 was Joyce Carol Oates' "Tone Clusters," a brilliant play about memory and perspective as a family is torn apart by a violent crime. "Tone Clusters" began as a production at Wesleyan and then ran for one week at the Edinburgh Festival, where it received much praise and an award for Best Psychological Drama from the Fringe Report. We really loved Edinburgh and the Bedlam Theater and wanted desperately to go back with an original piece. Unsatisfied with the submissions we received, we decided to try our hands at play development. The mission that emerged from this initial development conversation is very much a collision of viewpoints; It fused Elissa's love of documentary theater and my desire to create a play as a living, breathing, present world. This is how our mission began to create an alternative to documentary theater. We desired a piece of theater that fused rigorous historical, philosophical, and literary research with excellent design and in-depth character research, improvisation and action work in order to create a living, breathing portrait of history. A world that existed in the present, as lively and vital as anything, while reaching simultaneously towards the past; An investigation of who we are and where we came from. Once everyone had at it, we had "We Can't Reach You, Hartford." "Hartford," based on the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944, was workshopped at Wesleyan, ran in Edinburgh, where it was nominated for a Fringe First, and then became my directing thesis at Wesleyan this April. Hopefully, its life doesn't end there. It is a story well worth sharing. Currently, we are developing the next project in our historical storytelling mission: "Daguerreotype," a portrait of an aging Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, confined in an apartment with his plates, his memories, and his invalid wife. "Daguerreotype" will run August 2nd-11th at the Abingdon Theater in New York. More on that soon.

I hope that was a worthy tutorial. Please, do not hesitate to ask questions.
posted by Jess @ 8:57 PM  
2 Comments:
  • At 7:09 PM, Blogger Elissa said…

    hey jess, i have a question:

    if mr. aubrey hadn't remembered "hartford," would we have done a play on my favorite hippo and turtle? would I have played the hippo or the turtle? do people know this story, because i still maintain it is worth knowing. Here:
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2005/03/owen.html

    cause let's be honest, that's really how hartford started.

    also, i was never too popular, i was as awkward and gangly as the average 7th grader. and i had braces. lots of them.

     
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