Teasing for "Lughnasa"

In the fall of 2014, I had the profound honor of directing "Dancing at Lughnasa" for the Sheridan College Theater Dept.  Having performed this play in the past, I had been hoping that I would have gotten another chance to work on this play, and well ... I got it!

For the sake of brevity, I mean only to dangle a carrot for this column, as I find myself embarking on a new quest.  As I write this, I am in the interim evening between two nights of auditions for the production of the play “Dancing at Lughnasa” that I am directing for Sheridan College this fall.  And, as those of you that have been my frequent readers can attest, I am somewhat fond of metaphorical imagery in my writing.  Thus, I declare unto you, Sheridan theatre audience, the palate of talent that is combining to paint the picture that will be this production is vast, diverse, and of the highest quality.

First of all, something of a definition.  A question I’m getting frequently is, “What’s this play all about?”  In a nutshell, it is a memory play (a la “The Glass Menagerie), recounting a man’s summer as a youth in in 1936.  In that summer, industrial progress was flooding Ireland, exposing those outlying rural locations to ideas that would forevermore indelibly influence Irish culture.  The story centers around the narrator’s mother and her four older sisters who are faced with these inevitable changes, and are now faced with the decision of if and how to adapt.

However, to add to this game of extremes, the sisters, being from Northern Ireland, are also faced with the dilemma of hearing American Jazz tunes piped in via radio; the content of which often would challenge the morality of such provincial living.  Thus, not only are the women struggling with economic challenges, but spiritual challenges simultaneously.

As you must be able to discern by now that the show is - for lack of a better term - layered.  And, despite the setting in Northern Ireland, there is a universality to the show that makes it immensely relatable to audiences the world over, as thousands of productions of the play seem to prove.  I have reason to believe it will be no different in Sheridan.

But, back to my original point about having a unique privilege in Sheridan.  Recently, WYO Theatre Board Member Matt Davis and myself were discussing the excellent problem of having an immense amount of theatrical activity in Sheridan.  Opening the doors and setting up the Mars Theater for auditions tonight was truly thrilling, and the air seemed ripe with possibility and hope.  As the auditionees filed in, I felt honored (more so than I have been so far, being selected as the guest director for this production) to be amongst such hungry young talent; already incredibly diverse and thirsty for growth.

Bottom line, I’m going to get an excellent cast.  Or rather, I’m going to share an amazing young cast with you.  I hope you enjoy them.

I’ll see you at intermission!