Peter M. Floyd
spent last week in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center, where he… Gah, I’m
totally stealing his whole first paragraph here. I should just let him tell it. Take it
away, Peter:
I've just returned from the MFA Playwrights' Weekend at the
Kennedy Center in Washington (it's co-sponsored by the National New Play
Network) and my head's still a-spinning. I went there with my horror play The
Centipede King, which is something like The Turn of the Screw by way
of The Glass Menagerie. With centipedes. My first day there, I met my
director (Stefan Brun of the Prop Thtr of Chicago) and my dramaturg (Gavin Witt
of Centerstage, in Baltimore), both of whom were bubbling with enthusiasm for
the play, which was gratifying. We had a week to rehearse, and had at our
disposal four actors, an assistant director, two assistant dramaturgs, and a
sound designer, who would create the weird and unsettling ambient sounds that
would play during the reading.
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| Peter M. Floyd |
We would rehearse in the afternoon, and then I'd go back to
my hotel and spend the evening and the following morning trying to kick the
play into shape, and bring new pages in for the next rehearsal. This was
playwriting in the fast lane, and as one who usually writes at a poky pace, I
found it a bit of a challenge to keep up. But by presentation time, this past
Saturday, we were ready to scare the pants off our audience. (Or at least give
them a major case of the willies.) My cast, all local D.C. actors (Kimberly
Gilbert, Rana Kay, Alexander Strain, and Lee Mikeska Gardner), were wonderful,
and were able to carry our audience with them into the realm of the Centipede
King. (I'm not sure all of them returned.)
Over the week, I saw seven other play readings, and each one
was a jewel. I hate throwing clichés around, but it was truly an honor to be
part of a group of such gifted and promising young (and not-so-young) budding
playwrights. Much kudos is due to the organizers of the event -- Gregg Henry of
the Kennedy Center and Jason Loewith of NNPN -- who brought together such a
talented group, and kept things running with no major, and very few minor,
snafus.
-Peter M. Floyd
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