SPACEBAR: A BROADWAY PLAY BY KYLE SUGARMAN
By Michael Mitnick, Directed by Jason Schlafstein*
Kyle is 15 and on a mission: he is convinced he has written the single best play in the history of the Universe — and he won’t stop until Broadway realizes it.
Volcanic in Origin
By Gregory Hischak, Directed by Sonya Robbins*
Seven scenes of emotional, marital and spiritual tectonics at play, an exploration of the shifting landscape beneath and between us.
*Creative Communities Fund Grantee
The Making of a Modern Folk Hero
By Martín Zimmerman, Directed by Catherine Tripp*
A congressman entices a friend (and washed-up actor) to portray a superhero in a stunt designed to save a public housing complex. But what happens when the superhero goes rogue?
Full-Length Play Kick-Off
This weekend marked the official beginning of the Source Festival. Don’t worry - you haven’t missed out on seeing any of the shows.This weekend was the first weekend that playwrights, directors, and dramaturgs got together to begin discussing the full length plays for the Festival. Here’s how it works:
For each Full Length Play in the Festival, we have 3 key people involved in the process. First and foremost is the playwright (without which we would have no play). Each play is in a very different stage of its life. Michael Mitnick has been working on Spacebar for 2 years while Gregory Hischak began writing his play in September of 2010, Martin Zimmerman’s play The Making of a Modern Hero, is currently being workshopped in Chicago. Given that Source Festival is devoted to exploring all of the ins and outs of new play production, this is sure to make for a very interesting process.
Next, we have the directors who will bring the playwrights words to life. Each has the privilege of working with a unique script that speaks to a multitude of themes ranging from the oppression of the poor to a young boy’s dreams of grandeur and his journey to achieve them and on to the sense of alienation one might feel in relation to their landscape and the struggle to find their bearings. All of which are sure will resonate with audiences.
Last but not least, we have the dramaturgs. What is a dramaturg, you ask? A dramaturg is the third member of the team during the development process, along with playwright and the director. Dramaturgs are charged with conducting additional research regarding the world of the play, suggesting when to use and when to ignore that research, and offering an additional voice during rehearsals. While dramaturgs are not objective outsiders, they function as the audience member before there is an audience, observing the action of the story, listening closely to the the thoughts of the playwright and director, and asking probing questions at key points during the process to help clarify the story being told. This year Source Festival is delving deeper into new play development and each of these individuals will be contributing to our understanding of the making of a play.”
Together, these three make up the production team.
