Four pieces developed by Rorschach Theatre artists will be showcased in online readings this weekend, June 27 and 28, 2020, as “Magic in Rough Spaces.” Three works are brand new; one is a “bonus track” by acclaimed playwright Heather Ruth McDonald. Each reading will include a short presentation from a designer about a theoretical design for the show and a post-show discussion with the playwright, director, and performers.
The Magic in Rough Spaces readings are free, and contributions to support the artists may be made here.
Saturday, June 27 @ 7PM
THINGS I CAN HEAR ON A TUESDAY FROM MY BACK PORCH IN BALTIMORE DURING LA QUARANTINA
by Heather Ruth McDonald
Directed by Jenny McConnell Frederick
Edited by Kylos Brannon
Click here to watch.
Playwright Heather Ruth McDonald is quarantined in Baltimore…and she is listening. Her story of this moment unfolds in less than 5 minutes. Rorschach will invite a dozen actors to explore this piece of text, each in their own way. The resulting digital short will serve as its own Rorschach test–what does the world look like today from your back porch?
Saturday, June 27 @ 8PM
WHEN THE STARS GO OUT
by Stephen Spotswood
Directed by Cara Gabriel
Dramaturgy by Medha Marsten
Designed by Debra Kim Sivigny
Click here to watch.
Astrophysicist, atheist, and uber-geek Naomi is just weeks away from the birth of her first child. The baby’s father, still floating unaware in outer space, may not make it back in time…or at all. Straddling the line between high science and modern myth, this play explores what it means to face the end of the world as you know it.
Somewhere out there. In the dark. There’s a wolf. This terrible beast. I can hear him. Can you hear him? He’s so hungry. He’s swallowing the stars, one by one.
The WHEN THE STARS GO OUT team will include a set designer who will explore the creation of a world that encompasses the whole universe. The performance features actors Omar Cruz, Bianca Lipford, Jonathan Del Palmer, Megan Reichelt, and Sue Schaffel
Sunday, June 28 @ 2PM
MERCURY
by Kate Attwell
Directed by Dustin Wills
Dramaturgy by Jonelle Walker
Designed by Katie McCreary
Click here to watch
A high school boy is dead. His friends find a haven in the girls’ bathroom. As the weeks go by, their dark explorations inch ever closer to the thin veil between this world and the next.
Where do the dead go and who goes with them?
What if, what if death wasn’t like,
A psychological thriller,
A horror,
That’s what I’m saying
What if it really is just,
Just people still being here.
And not being here.
But absolutely not not being here.
The MERCURY team will include a lighting designer to explore the medium of light and how it can shape the narrative and enhance the transitions between this world and the next. The performance features actors Jake Gee, Donnie McElveen, Madison Middleton, and Shirite Westreich.
Sunday, June 28 @ 7PM
DESIRE PATH
by Jason Grote
Directed by Catherine Tripp
Dramaturgy by Olivia Haller
Designed by Nate Sinnott
Click here to watch.
A woman nurses a goat to save the earth, as her boyfriend navigates a complex relationship with his terminally ill stepfather. An infinite cornfield has settled in her Brooklyn apartment.Together they search for connection in a broken world. A surreal and emotionally grounded story that looks at a society teetering on the brink of extinction and asks: what is to be done?
I don’t think there’s a name for it. But I think it’s —
A radical form of empathy. The most radical I can think of.
We’re literally dying from our inability to empathize.
The DESIRE PATH team will include a set designer who will explore the creation of the corn fields that populate the world of the play. The performance features actors Ian Armstrong, Robin Covington, Sarah Taurchini, and Robert Pike.
