So I got the fiscal sponsorship and I got the website up and running (have I mentioned it? It can be found here www.goingtotahitiproductions.com. And now I'm trying to raise money...but for what, you ask. Very good question.
Ok, for those of you who don't know this, I am a sci-fi fan. This is important because, as a sci-fi fan, I'm particularly sensitive to spoilers. "Nice non-sequiter, Jess," you say. Actually it's not a non-sequiter. As someone who is sensitive to spoilers (like don't want to even know if you liked it or hated it before I see it because if I know you well enough I'll be able to tell from your like/dislike, what happens in the movie and then I'll be bummed sensitive to spoilers), I would absolutely hate the idea that in discussing my shows, I ruined something for a potential audience member. So, dear readers, for those of you who are as sensitive to spoilers as I, skip the rest of this post if you don't want to know anything about In The Ebb until the curtain goes up and you're butt is in a seat in the theater. That is my big
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT!!!
For everyone else who wants to know what the shows are about, here you go:
In The Ebb is a trio of one acts: I Like You To Marlowe, The Ebb, and St. James in the Field of Stars. They are based on short stories that my sister, Camilla wrote a few years ago. Each story has at it's core a woman who is trying to deal with whatever life throws at her. Each protagonist is technically a different woman but they could conceivably be the same woman who has just had different life experiences. The main characters of each are archetypes of the modern American woman.
But what are the plays about, Jess?
I Like You To Marlowe is about fear. Fear of death and never becoming the person you were meant to be. Fear of turning from a normal girl into a bitter woman. Fear of losing, or of already having lost, who you are as a person. Before the events of the play two college age twin sisters (yes I said twins and don't think for a second that that doesn't give me a little thrill of fear about the casting process), Stella and Luna, are in a car accident and though both lived, Luna was left with a disfiguring scar (and there are the palpitations about the make-up process). For Luna, the injuries have meant a retreat even further into herself. On the eve of the millennium, when the world could possibly end, the sisters and their significant others brave the crowds (and Dick Clark) in Times Square and try to celebrate another year gone by. For Luna, celebrating the year gone by is more difficult - she would prefer to hide from the world, from her own face which she sees on Stella every day, from the guilt of feeling sorry for herself and being angry with her sister and from the fear of knowing - really knowing - that this life can end in an instant. Luna would prefer to pull away and wait for life to quietly pass her by.
The Ebb is about fear. (Are you sensing a theme here, people?) Emily is a normal young American woman. Recently married and fixing up her dream house with her dream husband and living her dream life...A life she can't seem to enjoy because she is absolutely terrified that it is going to be taken away from her. Despite the gifts life has bestowed on her, Emily can't settle in to her own happiness because the love she feels for those around her is so overwhelming that she is paralyzed with the fear that it will end and she will be left all alone, again. Emily fears that truly enjoying her life will be a flag to the universe and will bring the wrath of the fates upon her...and as much as she knows in her head that this is something she needs to get past, she can't seem to move forward. She's stuck in this transitional zone between fear and contentment, between love and loss and no matter how she tries she can't seem to reconcile the contradictions. As her new husband and she fix up their dream house, she pulls away from him and waits for life to quietly pass her by.
St. James in the Field of Stars is about fear. (yup, I think you figured out the theme.) When Alicia's father was lost at sea, she moved to Europe and basically ran away from everything in her life that was familiar to her. When Joel, her "Never," tracks her down and invites her from the cold, wet and dark of Scotland to the sunny, dry and warmth of Spain, she goes more because she needs to keep running than because she actually wants to see him or Spain. Alicia is so frightened that she will connect with someone again and lose another person that she loves - a loss she has never gotten over - that she, like Luna, like Emily pulls away from everyone and tries to build this protected little bubble around herself so that no one can get in...and she can wait for life to quietly pass her by.
Luna, Emily, and Alicia are all three paralyzed by fear...and all three need to find a way to face that fear, embrace their lives and those around them and live, if not without fear, at least in spite of it.
...so, yeah, that's what the show is about.
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