Join us Nov 14, 2020 at 7:00 PM for a staged reading of Georgia playwright Frank Hardin’s new play Taking Flight.
At our staged readings, the dialogue and stage directions are read aloud so that the audience can hear what the play will sound like. Each of our staged readings has benefited from different levels of movement and physicality to paint a mental picture of what the full show will look like. The performance helps the playwright spot potential areas for strengthening their work in the future.
This reading will be directed by Meghann K. Humphreys and feature performances by Ian Gibson, Stephanie Jeter, Jessie Kuipers, Joel Rose, Karen Ruetz, and Jody Spoon.
After the performance, there is a brief intermission followed by an optional moderated talkback. The audience has an opportunity to answer some simple questions about the show, as well as provide their general feedback on the show. This process is essential for new play development! Now is your chance to be a part of creating new art!
ABOUT THE SHOW
This free flying meditation on our love for feathered things is part history lesson, part environmental message and in no small part, romance. In twelve intimate scenes, it surveys the epic past of American bird lovers: our sin, our artistry and our shared complicity in both preserving and hastening the extinction of species. We begin in 1932 – when the last Heath Hen in existence meets a Model T – veer back to 1810 and forward to an imagined 2039, with various points in between. We encounter scientists, nature writers, ordinary folks – or twitchers, as some call them – slaves and slaveholders – and John James Audubon. In ten ‘bookended’ scenes and at a time when the stakes couldn’t be higher, I offer a peek into the history of a lifelong love – or obsession, even – for over 50 million of us. It’s a ‘hobby’ that is growing every year, even as the number of birds we love to watch continues to decline drastically. The sixth great extinction is upon us, and it’s likely both birds and birders will go with it.
ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT FRANKIE LITTLE HARDIN
Frankie Little Hardin is a playwright, director, actor, dramaturg and producer – a general theatre maid-of-all work. She was a member of the Theatre Arts Department at Old Dominion University, teaching theatre history, mask, and children’s theatre. She created the family theatre programs ChildsPlay (Generic Theater), PlayTime Theatre (ODU) and Children’s Theatre of Hampton Roads (40th Street Stage). She was Managing Director of The 40th Street Stage in Norfolk, Virginia, an intimate 75 seat black box known for original and innovative work.
As a playwright, Hardin has authored 25 works for children’s theatre, 14 plays for adult audiences and one musical play, Oyster. One play, The Trashanator, toured Virginia educating students on recycling and waste issues. Willow Song, inspired by the shooting death of an ODU Theatre student, blends documentary interviews with Shakespeare’s Othello and was featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Taking Flight was featured at Barter Theater’s Appalachian Festival of New Plays. East of the Sun, West of the Moon has received multiple productions in NYC. The (former) Prostitutes Potluck Supper was featured at the T. Schreiber Studio, Dezart and Urban Stages. The Greater Love, at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Love v. Duty won the Robert Chesley Award in 2012. History Lesson was honored with the Goshen College Peace Play Prize in 2018. March 2020 will see the world premiere of Rules for Active Shooters at Detroit Repertory Theatre. She is a Wurlitzer Fellow, member of Dramatists Guild and Working Title Playwrights.