Thus far, I have done 2 different sets of plays for Thoreau. And I'm working on another one before the end of September!
I'm excited by this approach which I seem to have discovered/pioneered/stumbled upon. As a curious reader/researcher who is obsessed with the impossible questions, I love bringing together a wide variety of quotes and sources, to tell a story from a somewhat modern perspective. As if a scholar could dramatize their research. Or give the great minds access to the internet & the variety of ideas that are more commonplace in our modern age.
One, July 6th, for the opening of the Thoreau Society, a play called "Thoreau Vs Schultz: Skimming the Surface". It was a rebuttal to Pond Scum in the NYer, everyone was utterly delighted by it. A comedy. I included LOTS of Thoreau's critics' quotes. Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson, even where he was called Hitler. (The other "play" offered was a video of pages of quotes with minor introductions.)
The second was a series of performances, called "the Transcendental Ghosts of Fairyland Pond". There was a birthday performance (July 12th, we had cupcakes made by my mother!) And then 2 more, July 16 & 17th. One geared for children-I had a dream that I needed to lead everyone around the Pond, to keep my audience interested. It was a gift from Henry, who taught class like that. And it was a great way to discover art and flowers-PIPSESSEWWA- for the audience. We did it again for the grownups the next day. I also attended a moonlight walk on July 19th, which was incredible.
As an offshoot of the above, I've begun researching Brister (of Brister's Hill and Stream) and Peter Hutchinson-who knew more about the woods of Concord than any man alive. Black Walden and a lecture by Dr. Lois Black of Weslyan about the hidden history of Concord. I am NOW working on a performance of a meeting between Ellen Garrison and Thoreau for the Robbins House, for the opening of the African American Museum on September 24th. (And perhaps for an event on September 17th, as well)!
I'm excited by this approach which I seem to have discovered/pioneered/stumbled upon. As a curious reader/researcher who is obsessed with the impossible questions, I love bringing together a wide variety of quotes and sources, to tell a story from a somewhat modern perspective. As if a scholar could dramatize their research. Or give the great minds access to the internet & the variety of ideas that are more commonplace in our modern age.
One, July 6th, for the opening of the Thoreau Society, a play called "Thoreau Vs Schultz: Skimming the Surface". It was a rebuttal to Pond Scum in the NYer, everyone was utterly delighted by it. A comedy. I included LOTS of Thoreau's critics' quotes. Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson, even where he was called Hitler. (The other "play" offered was a video of pages of quotes with minor introductions.)
The second was a series of performances, called "the Transcendental Ghosts of Fairyland Pond". There was a birthday performance (July 12th, we had cupcakes made by my mother!) And then 2 more, July 16 & 17th. One geared for children-I had a dream that I needed to lead everyone around the Pond, to keep my audience interested. It was a gift from Henry, who taught class like that. And it was a great way to discover art and flowers-PIPSESSEWWA- for the audience. We did it again for the grownups the next day. I also attended a moonlight walk on July 19th, which was incredible.
As an offshoot of the above, I've begun researching Brister (of Brister's Hill and Stream) and Peter Hutchinson-who knew more about the woods of Concord than any man alive. Black Walden and a lecture by Dr. Lois Black of Weslyan about the hidden history of Concord. I am NOW working on a performance of a meeting between Ellen Garrison and Thoreau for the Robbins House, for the opening of the African American Museum on September 24th. (And perhaps for an event on September 17th, as well)!
