FLIGHT

A Note from the Director

I’m sure like so many of you, I’ve been working hard to stay grounded. 

My heart asks my mind, “Where does creating theatre play a role in this moment? How can I justify the immeasurable joy I feel in the studio when collective creativity generates magic in front of my eyes, while others suffer?”

So, being grounded had turned into being stuck.

Until I was invited to take flight.

Literally.

An unexpected invitation (and challenge) from the  Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival to adapt Williams’ little-known short story “Stair to the Roof, or Episodes in the Life of a Clerk” into a full evening play entitled Flight sparked an irrepressible yearning.

A yearning to connect and honor the power of our human need to express ourselves. 

A yearning that drew me back to the studio with a refound trust in our ability as theatre-makers to transport audiences to that magical space where they can absorb details overlooked in the frenzied energy of everyday life.

In this living collective experience we can skillfully, like Olympians of the soul, tap into sensations that incite imaginative thinking, and inspire audiences to see the extraordinary in the taken-for-granted ordinary.

The Story*

On the surface, Williams gave us a simple, sad little tale. But lying below the surface, his brilliance revealed a deep complexity that explores pathos with humor, the mundane with whimsy, and a longing for beauty and purpose. 

A complexity that honors the humanity that lives in each and every one of us. Every stranger we pass on the street, every human loss we hear on the news.

Flight’s central character, Edward Schiller, is secretly a poet, an emotionally unnourished artistic soul who somehow threatened those around him by the simple act of being different.

In Schiller’s character, we can feel ourselves. 

In Schiller’s experience, we witness the embodiment of society’s fear of the “other” versus the human spirit’s longing to fly free.

So this seemingly simple eighteen-page short story came with a humongous artistic power.

*All text is by Tennessee Williams, except for the lyrics of a song excerpted from a Friedrich Schiller poem.