12.Oct.2009 Production notes from the designers of THE GIVER
James Schumacher Scenic Designer As a team, we began this project with several things in mind. The Sameness of Ms. Lowry’s world is not a prison, even though it must be escaped. It is not actual Sameness; there are small differences, shades and gradations. People have different talents; some people are valued more than other [...]
THE GIVER production team
Eric Coble Playwright Eric Coble was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and grew up on Navajo and Ute reservations in New Mexico and Colorado. He earned his B.A. in English from Fort Lewis College in Colorado and his M.F.A. in acting from Ohio University. His play Bright Ideas was produced off-Broadway in 2001 and has since [...]
The Cast of THE GIVER
Reilly Crouse Asher Reilly was born in Mobile, Alabama, where he developed a taste for fine Southern BBQ and first learned the fine art of enjoying the feel of sand between his toes. He moved to Indianapolis with his family in 2001 and has studied both the usual and unusual at Isom Elementary and Greenwood [...]
Video Review Roundup: The Heavens Are Hung in Black
Now on YouTube: Audiences declare their admiration for James Still’s new play.
09.Oct.2009 Photo: Opening Night Flowers
The front office is filling up with flowers for the opening night of The Heavens Are Hung in Black.
08.Oct.2009 From James Still: TORNADOES AND NUCLEAR FUSION
I’ve noticed a trend on the IRT blogs: whenever we get into tech and previews, the artists are eerily silent. It isn’t that we’ve lost interest in posting here, it isn’t that we’ve lost hope in the production — it’s that the transition from the rehearsal room to getting on stage and teching the show [...]
05.Oct.2009 Lincoln By Design
IRT designers and artisans have been hard at work creating a vivid world for Abraham Lincoln and his cohorts to inhabit in James Still’s The Heavens Are Hung in Black. The scene and paint shops have used wood and foam to furnish Lincoln’s office with dark wood walls and furniture. In this photo Charge Scenic [...]
From James Still: THE ROLE OF THE AUDIENCE
If you write a blog and nobody reads it, was it ever really a blog? It would be a disappointment, but something to shrug off at the most. If you write a play and no one comes, was it ever really a play? That would be harder (er, impossible) to shrug off. I’ll just put [...]
02.Oct.2009 The Cast of The Heavens Are Hung in Black
Nick Abeel Thomas Haley, ensemble Nick is a (young) old friend of the IRT, getting his start on this very stage in To Kill a Mockingbird twelve years ago, and later appearing in A Christmas Carol, Macbeth, The Red Badge of Courage, and more. Now he is thrilled to be returning to the IRT as an [...]
Program Notes/The Designers of The Heavens Are Hung in Black
Russell Metheny Scenic Designer This play is conceived of historical fact and fiction to reveal a most powerful parallel between the late nineteenth century America of Lincoln and the twenty-first century today. I love the idea of characters on stage from different eras: past, present, and future, living and dead. My challenge is to support [...]