It’s theater from here about here
Chris Jansen approached four Quad-City area playwrights with a mission — write a one-act play.
And a stipulation.
“I got them all thinking about some aspect of living here, whether ‘here’ meant the Midwest or the Quad-Cities or Bettendorf or whatever,” said Jansen, who also wrote a one-act play for “Living Here: New Plays From New Ground,” which opens next weekend. “That was the only restriction we put on them.”
“Living Here” will include:
n “With Ah! Bright Wings” by Ann Boaden, about a mother and daughter looking past their differences to examine their relationship.
n “Yard Sale,” written and performed by Melissa McBain, a one-woman play about an elderly woman looking back at her life as she prepares to move into a residence for the elderly.
n “Fudge!” by Jansen, which she calls a “little allegory about doing theater in the Quad-Cities.”
n “And So To Bed” by Julie McDonald, about a couple, always in bed, seen over several decades of their married life.
n “About Earnest” by Jeffrey Shumaker, about a 1970s Quad-City musician coping with life and relying on wisdom found in Shakespeare’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Jansen approached the playwrights last fall. They met several times as a group to read their individual drafts and offer constructive criticism.
“They turned out to be all different tones and feelings, and comedies and dramas,” she said. “It’s a nice mix.”
Susan McDonald is directing McBain and Julie McDonald’s works and acting in one other play. Jansen is directing the other three; each is about 20 minutes long, she said.
William Campbell, an assistant professor of music theory and composition at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, has created music for each play as well as to serve as the transition from one to the next, Jansen said.
Jansen said she didn’t even know what she was going to write about when the project began.
“Something kind of presented itself to me and I kind of wrote it in one afternoon,” she said. “But I don’t think I worked as hard as some of the others.”
Even without a competition to choose the plays, Jansen said she was pleased with what was produced.
“The fact that we ended up with five really good plays was complete luck,” she added.
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
IF YOU GO
What: “Living Here: New Plays From New Ground”
When: 2 p.m. Thursdays, June 21 and 28, and Sundays, June 24 and July 1; 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, June 22-23 and 29-30
Where: Nighswander Theatre, Annie Wittenmeyer Complex, 2822 Eastern Ave., Davenport
How much: $12 for adults, $10 for students and those older than 55 years
Information: (563) 326-7529