Makeshift (2013)
Produced by Murmuration Theater Company
Directed by M. Craig Getting
Written by Jessie Bear
Starring:
Nell Bang-Jensen
Brian Ratcliffe
Isa St. Clair
Set/Costume Design by Laila Swanson
Light Design by Andrew Thompson
Sound Design by Patrick Lamborn
Technical Direction by Amanda Jensen
Stage Management by Ashley Banks
What happens to an idea, once created?
What happens to a person, once lost?
What happens when you can make anything you want appear?
What happens when you can't?
November 6-10 2013, Plays and Players Upstairs
Honorable Mention, Best New Play, Phindie.com's 2013/2014 Critics' Awards
Poster Credit: Sebastian Moya
Directed by M. Craig Getting
Written by Jessie Bear
Starring:
Nell Bang-Jensen
Brian Ratcliffe
Isa St. Clair
Set/Costume Design by Laila Swanson
Light Design by Andrew Thompson
Sound Design by Patrick Lamborn
Technical Direction by Amanda Jensen
Stage Management by Ashley Banks
What happens to an idea, once created?
What happens to a person, once lost?
What happens when you can make anything you want appear?
What happens when you can't?
November 6-10 2013, Plays and Players Upstairs
Honorable Mention, Best New Play, Phindie.com's 2013/2014 Critics' Awards
Poster Credit: Sebastian Moya
Makeshift is a play many years in the making. I started writing it several years back, shelved it for a year or so, picked it back up, put it back down, etc. Even when I had a lot of projects on the burner, I always came back to it. It started as a way to try and parse out the deep, bizarre, inexplicable rage/fascination I had for TV psychics (yep, you read that right), but, as these things do, quickly grew into something deeper. More complicated, more interesting.
The best part of making Makeshift, though, was working with Murmuration Theater Company. In fact, the Company grew out of our (me, Isa, Nell, and Brian's) mutual desire to put this show on! I am confident that we will continue to make work, as the process has pretty much affirmed why I love theater so damn much. I wrote this play with their voices in mind; I crafted characters that I knew they would portray beautifully. Hearing their voices read (out loud!) words that I wrote with those voices in mind...? People, it doesn't get any better than that! Add to that a production team and a director who fully embrace and understand exactly what this show is, at its heart (which is really damn rare!) and you've got something pretty darn magical.
So what's it about? TV psychics, of course. There's also an apocalypse, some ray guns, sandwiches (of ice cream and regular variety), loss, growth, cake...oh geez. Are any other playwrights out there good at writing "blurbs" for their stuff? Because I am lethal at it. You really gotta see it.
Or, read an excerpt, below!
| jessie_bear_makeshift_excerpt_2013.pdf |
