The theatrical organization known as Live Arts launches its 34th season this weekend with two plays that embody the theme Voyages. One of my hopes for this newsletter and the podcast version is to eventually get back to interviewing people who make theater.
One reason I created the Charlottesville Podcasting Network was to have a place to put longer audio bits like a preview of Live Arts’ Amadeus back in September 2006. Go take a listen!
These days my focus is on other topics, and I’ve not been able to devote any time to this kind of work. I had hoped to do an interview about the two plays that launch their latest season, but I can use this space to let people know they’re happening starting Friday night in the Founders Theater, both with 11-performance runs.
The rotating repertory begins Friday night with An Iliad, directed by David Minton. You can learn more here.
“A Poet wearily enters with a suitcase, having endured an eon of traveling, reciting an age-old epic tale. Every time I sing this song I hope it’s the last time. A brilliant spellbinding, modern retelling of Homer’s classic The Iliad, in a translation by Robert Fagles, AN ILIAD is a play about war and rage that resonates all-too-vividly today. We listen rapt to the Poet’s songs, of Achilles’ wrath, of heroism, loyalty and love, and are enveloped by this timeless story filled with dark humor, cruelty and pathos. The playwrights say in their foreword: “AN ILIAD started out as an examination of war and man’s tendency toward war. In the end, it also became an examination of the theater and the way in which we still tell each other stories in order to try and make sense of ourselves, and our behavior.”
What the Constitution Means To Me is directed by Cady West Garey and begins Saturday. Here is more information:
“Winner of 2019 and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best New American Play, Heidi Schreck’s WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME is at once hilarious, touching, inspiring and thought-provoking. The playwright takes us back to her teenage years when she traveled the country giving speeches about the Constitution at American Legion halls to help her pay for college. Using her very personal journey, along with the stories of her mother and grandmother, she dissects the document penned by our “founding fathers” over 200 years ago. Act Two forefronts a live debate judged by an audience member: Should we keep or abolish the United States Constitution?”
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the September 26, 2024 edition of the newsletter. To ensure this research can be sustained, please consider becoming a paid subscriber or contributing monthly through Patreon.
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