Some story developments
I have already written about the cast split tween portland and molalla.
So, see if this makes sense-
In Mollala, we are at the memorial service for George.
James Hart is an actor in the Portland Act 1.
Which means the Mollala audience will not see James Hart live in Act 1.
So, there will be a photo of James Hart, as George, center stage in Act 1 in Mollala.
So, the audience in Molalla will come to attach Georgeness to james Hart through this photo (of George as a young man)
This audience will get on a bus, and spend act 2 driving towards Oregon City.
And moving forward in time.
About 5 minutes out from their final destination, towards the end of Act 2, the bus will stop, and pick up James Hart, now in character as George’s grandson in the year 2010…and on his way to meet his bride to be/partner, the granddaughter of Bess. James Hart, as this character, will then pick up and complete the narration in Act 2 for this audience, and guide them into Act 3.
He’s the Molallan going to meet his new Portland family/community…
In Portland, we are at the memorial service for Bess.
Rebecca Martinez is an actor in the Molalla Act 1.
Which means the Portland audience will not see Rebecca Martinez live in Act 1.
So, there will be a photo of Rebecca, as Bess, center stage in Act 1 in Portland.
So, the audience in Portland will come attach Bessness to Rebecca through this photo (of Bess as a young woman)
This audience will get on a bus, and spend act 2 driving towards Oregon City.
And moving forward in time.
About 5 minutes out from their final destination, towards the end of Act 2, the bus will stop, and pick up Rebecca, now in character as Bess’s granddaughter in the year 2010…and on her way to meet her groom to be/partner, the grandson of George. Rebecca, as this character, will then pick up and complete the narration in Act 2 for this audience, and guide them into Act 3.
She’s the Portlander going to meet her new Molalla family/community….
I think this idea uses our challenge of a split cast to great narrative advantage, and allows us to build some investment and a bit of magic in terms of the time jump…lots of fun contrasts and relationships to play with…
More to come.
I really love this idea, and I wonder how the idea of Bess (and potentially also her granddaughter) being an environmentalist could play into the story. Maybe there is some conflict between the two families, one of which has a history of working in the logging industry, and one of which has been involved over a couple of generations with the Portland-based environmental movement?
ReplyDeleteMaybe this ties into the rural/urban, conservative/liberal divides present in Oregon? The environmentalist/logger conflict seems like a really fruitful one to explore, especially as (I would assume) a more left-leaning, urban group coming into a rural area to do theater. I think setting up both sides of this controversy within the performance might allow for some more of the meta element Michael was talking about - some questioning of the processes of creating the performance itself.
Also, if the grandchildren of the two sides of this historical controversy are getting married, there's a real motivation for the two families to find ways to face and bridge their differences, if they can.