Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Whipping Man


I am working on one of the most amazing plays right now. We started production meetings this week at The Artscenter for Whipping Man. It is set during the Civil War, only three characters. A deserter from the war and two of his former slaves, now free men. The script is powerful and unsettling, there is a leg amputation in the first act, can't wait to see how we pull that one off (so to speak haha!), there is a seder because the slave owners were Jewish and the slaves were brought up to be Jewish as well. There is an interracial pregnancy and then at the end the slave and the owner find out they are brothers! Lots of issues addressed in this play and the actors address them brilliantly. These are three of the most professional actors I have ever worked with. It's going to be a great show!

Now begins my search for Antebellum props and furnishings, heaven! I am also going to watch again Ken Burns documentary on the war. I remember some of it from when it first came out, but now I am looking at it from a design perspective. It's on Netflix, so that will be my TV watching for this week.

I've had a week of long wonderful conversations on the phone with Wesley, my happy college girl. Gerry is working nights now, so we have been walking in the mornings. We are also purging like people possessed. Yesterday was under the house day. We seem to have dumped all kinds of crap "we might need" under there and we haven't needed it in nine years, so off it all went to the recycling center.
It feels so good to be getting rid of all the junk we have accumulated. Cleansing and clearing going on all over the place!

If you have a Civil War rifle, a chandelier or a horse saddle, I'm in the market for them and a few other things :-)

5 comments:

Lori Buff said...

Wow, that sounds like a very thought provoking and moving play. I wish I were closer so I could come see it. Good luck getting your props, I'm sure you'll pull it off brilliantly as well. It's so good to see you excited about this.

Tracey Broome said...

Yep, this is a good one! It's shocking and gruesome, and moving and sad, and funny, all the good stuff.

Susan Wells said...

sorry don't have any props for you! I would love it if I had a chandelier to lend! Three cheers for cleaning out the house. You and I together! We have been throwing much straight into the trash. Some to goodwill the rest: BYE!

Tracey Broome said...

adds a whole new meaning to Empty Nest, doesn't it?!

Dennis Allen said...

It has all the makings of an Elizabethan farce except for the subject matter and the amputation! I always loved solving stagecraft problems and building sets for school and community theater.