Anne of the Thousand Days: Director's Note

Anne of the Thousand Days presents some special challenges to its cast, crew, and audiences. It catalogs the span of an entire relationship - all 1,000 of its days - in the span of a few hours of moments. It requires the audience to meet and get to know the many other names and faces involved in Anne and Henry's lives, from first meeting to final (and permanent) end. The play also presents its highly stylized (and fictionalized) story through two unreliable narrators as they attempt to justify the ending of their lives together. Heavy stuff.

From the very beginning, I hoped to stage this play in a way that put a unique focus on the performativity of memory. So many people go in and out of the lives of these two characters during their story - and when they outlive their place in the narrative, where do they go? In this production, the small cast ensures that the faces and bodies of Anne and Henry's memories are remade and recycled into the next wave of moments. Faces become familiar, but interchangeable, as the dynamics of the play's relationships blur and change along with them. 

In the end, I hope the cast, crew, and audiences of this play are left with a sense of how memory - how we remember, and how we are remembered, the impermanence of people, places, and moments - can be embraced and experienced as a performance in its own right.

Melinda Marks

Hickorydickory: From the Director

Time. Time is cherished; the lack of time is precious.

What would you do if you, a friend, or a family member, knew exactly how much time they had left to live? That’s the question the five characters in Hickorydickory have to answer for themselves.

When this play was first presented to me, I do what I normally do, sit at the kitchen table with an oversized cup of coffee, reggae music in the background, and delve in. Sometimes I have to force myself to finish a script. Sometimes a script will speak to me so strongly that I’m am transported to that world with those characters. Hickorydickory was the latter. I could not stop reading Marisa Wegrzyn’s heartfelt, magical and inventive comedy. I could see and hear each character and wanted to learn more about Cari Lee, Jimmy, Kate, Dale and Rowan. I then journeyed back 18 years to understand Richard, Helen, Young Jimmy, Young Kate and experience Cari Lee all over again. I was astonished by the playwright’s use of dialogue, mystery and fantasy to tell a story that is thought-provoking, captivating, relatable and delightfully imaginative.

I did not hesitate to say yes when I was asked to direct this show for Dragon Theatre Production Company. It’s rare to experience a piece of work where, just on paper alone I could see the humor, the thoughtfulness, the supernatural, the nostalgia. Then entering the rehearsal process with five remarkably talented actors whose timing and skillfulness caused us to laugh out loud, showed vulnerability, and made us reminiscence.

Travel with us to 1992, and 1974. Open your mind and your heart to experience the real, and the unreal. I hope your engagement with this play is as entertaining, amusing, and moving as it has been for us to create it for you. 

Kimberly Ridgeway

Director 

The How & the Why: Director's Note

“It would help if you didn’t think of science as such a contact sport.”

The How and the Why follows two women meeting for the first time, one well-established in her career, and one on the cusp of entering into professional life. Propelled by coincidence, fate, or a mysterious turn of genetic determinism, they are both evolutionary biologists.

This is no casual meeting, and conversation gravitates to vital questions: Their work, their families, their choices, their bodies. And perhaps most importantly, their dreams - and the sacrifices made to achieve them. 

These are women striving to gain, and keep, a foothold in a highly competitive field. While working on this play, we asked ourselves what it meant to be driven towards achievement and success, and whether these successes are enough to build a fulfilled life.  While Zelda and Rachel are both scientists, I believe these questions are applicable to all of us. In the quote above, ‘science’ could easily be replaced by ‘life’. I hope that this play offers you an entryway to explore your own questions on the great mystery of How and Why we become who we are.

-Lana Palmer, director

Shoggoths on the Veldt - A Word From the Director

It is not often that one gets to work on their dream project - but that is what the Dragon is all about. Creating opportunities for dreams to come true. But why is this silly little play a dream come true for me?

Well, I thought, when I saw the original production in Seattle, that this was my new dream project because of the script. This beautiful story Cameron McNary weaves for us is not only a hilarious comedy and captivating adventure tale, but also a beautiful romance about embracing who we really are instead behaving in ways required to fit into society. 

But really, the dream has been the incredible team of multi-talented theatre artists who have thrown themselves so wholeheartedly into the process of bringing this silly little play to life with a level of dedication I thought I could not hope for in my wildest dreams. From old friends like Sam, who was with me on the fateful night when I was first introduced to this play, to newer ones like Melinda who will be bringing a dream project of her own (Anne of a Thousand Days) to the Dragon later this year, every single person on this production has gone so far above and beyond the call of duty to bring you this show. They have all taken on responsibilities beyond their titles and put in dozens of hours beyond the usual commitments expected of them. 

All to bring you a wild and wacky, globetrotting adventure, spanning boats and trains and cultist temples. And oh, did we mention the 15 ton amoeboid tentacle monster, Betsy? We hope you enjoy the ride!

 Ooodle oo!

-Max “Bora” Koknar

Macbeth: From the Directors

When approaching any new project onstage we find it vital to ask ourselves one question: Why on Earth are we doing this to ourselves?

Long days, late nights, mental strain, a social calendar that becomes non-existent, (sometimes) bodily harm, (often) poor dietary choices, and (never enough) money. What kind of person makes the conscious choice to pursue this art while not under duress? The answer, we found, was "some of the absolute best."

Our ultimate goal for this production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth was two-fold; assemble an ensemble of artists that we admire to build a show together and strip this classic piece down to its core values. In regards to the former, as you'll soon see, we couldn't be more proud. Our names may be on the program but next to "Director" it could just as easily read, "Everyone."There isn't a moment in this show that doesn't have the entire team's fingerprints on it and chances to work on a true ensemble-driven piece of theatre are few and far between.

As for the latter... we keep coming back to Shakespeare, don't we? It's not hard to see why; his poetry is beautiful and his stories are human. With over thirty plays to choose from, one can see oneself in any number of characters, for good or for bad, and that is the inherent reason for the unbelievable longevity of his work. To connect with people and characters from over four centuries ago means we aren't so different from them... which means we certainly aren't so different from each other now. It's a humbling reminder of the importance and truth in art.

The themes in Macbeth are universal and well-known. Ambition, power, corruption, greed; seemingly inevitable aspects of human nature that have been no more resonant than they are in our world right now. But this idea of connectivity through relationships (romantic, familial, brotherhood in combat, etc.) is not, historically, the main focus of this play. For us, however, it was the most important.

The idea that witches, curses, prophesies, and even fate are not actually inevitable is an attractive one, especially when framing it around the complex relationships that truly make the events in the play come to pass. The Macbeths don't start their lives as villains. Everybody is one bad decision away from the life-altering event. Who we surround ourselves with, who we build up, who we let in, and who we connect with can change everything. This is not just a story about what drives us through life; it is also a story about who.

Which brings us back to our primary question: Why on Earth are we doing this? Simply put... connection.

Real connection with the piece, the past, each other... and now you.

-Max Tachis & Roneet Rahamim

Watson: A Word From the Director

Living as we do in the Silicon Valley, it seems impossible to imagine a time when connecting to another person wasn't as immediate as the smartphone attached to our hands. As technology advances, connecting with other humans has become faster and easier than ever. You can let people know what you're wearing today on Facebook, let people know what you're having for breakfast on Instagram, let people know how you're feeling on Twitter, let people know what you'd look like as a cat on Snapchat, find a date on OKCupid, a hookup on Tinder or Grindr, and purchase nearly anything your heart desires with free two day shipping. We live in a world where connecting with someone is immediate--literally a click away. However, many scientists believe that social anxiety is dangerously on the rise--that as our technological connections become smoother, our actual human connections are becoming more difficult. Seated at a computer screen, it's easy to forget the at the other end of the disparaging comment you're leaving regarding someone's new haircut is a living, breathing person who feels pain. Connecting on a truly human level--face to face and heart to heart--involves a level of risk and bravery that many people find difficult to give. People are inherently awkward, imperfect and uncomfortable, and our relationships are inevitably the same. The idea of giving yourself over to someone who has the power to utterly destroy you emotionally and simply trusting that they won't is a terrifying prospect. It makes us feel weak and small and afraid. But the mere fact that so much of our developing technology IS about connecting people demonstrates our need and desire to challenge that fear and continue to CONNECT. Technology can only help us so far. Once we've swiped left and met at Applebee's -- the rest is up to us. Awkward, imperfect, completely human us. As Watson says "It’s our fate to be bound up with one another, isn’t it? We are all born insufficient, and must look to others to supplement our strength. That is not weakness, it is the first condition of human life.” Is the risk worth the reward?

Doll Piccotto, Director

Equivocation: From the Director

London, November 5^th, 1605, midnight. The King’s guards, acting on a mysterious tip-off, have just discovered Guy Fawkes skulking in a chamber below the Houses of Parliament. Next to him stand thirty-six barrels of gunpowder. In a few hours’ time, King James I of England (formerly James VI of Scotland), his Queen, their oldest son, the cream of the English nobility and the leaders of the Anglican Church are due to gather there for the annual Opening of Parliament.

When the story breaks and the enormous implications of the miraculously-avoided catastrophe become apparent, the whole of London is feverish with speculation about who’s behind it. For a wily politician like Robert Cecil, still struggling to find a way to stabilize the country after putting James on the throne, the chaos presents a perfect opportunity. But he needs the right narrative.

As the thirteen Catholic plotters are hastily rounded up, among their possessions Cecil’s men find a book by Jesuit priest Henry Garnet, titled A Treatise of Equivocation. In it, Garnet explains how devout Catholics can avoid telling the truth even when questioned under oath and still keep a clear conscience.For Cecil, its promotion of deliberate deception can easily be interpreted as threatening the nation’s entire social contract. And if the plotters can be framed as pawns in a game played by the Catholic Church, Cecil has the story he’s been looking for. Now he just needs to convince England’s most popular playwright to tell it.

Over at the Globe Theatre, Master Shagspeare is busy wrestling with his new ‘experimental drama’ King Lear. Much to the consternation of his theatre company, he’s trying to write the truth of what it really means to be human. Can he put that aside and write a blatant piece of propaganda about what happens to those who plot and deceive to kill a king - especially when it becomes clear that the government story includes some decidedly ‘alternate’ facts? 

As fiction, truth and other people’s perceptions of it increasingly blur together, Equivocation explores the personal cost of perpetuating what we know to be a lie - and our deep moral investment in telling the real truth, especially in difficult times.

Jenny Hollingworth, Director

Three Days of Rain: A Word from the Director

Three Days of Rain has been on my bucket list for many years now and due to rights restrictions or other conflicts, it’s only now coming to life on the Dragon stage as my last show in my last year as the Artistic Director of Dragon. This makes it that much more special for me to be able to tell this story with three wonderfully talented and lovely actors and to present it to you, the Dragon audience. This is a beautiful story about familial disconnectedness (with which many of us are familiar), and the loneliness of intimacy. The legacy that these two young architects have created and passed down to their children – whether they wanted that burden or not – plays out in the relationships that the characters have with each other and those around them. This story allows us to understand more of our own assumptions or misunderstandings about our own parents, whether we are close with them or they were taken from us too early. It’s also so special to me as a director and for the actors because in the Act II the same performers play the parents of their Act I characters. If you know my work you’ll know I love stories that give actors the terrific challenge of playing multiple characters. Thank you for sharing this heart-warming and sometimes heart-breaking tale with me.

I give special thanks to my wonderful cast (Tasi, Robert, and Katie), my wonderful production team (Rachel, Kat, Nate, Karl, John, Jess, and Jacqueline), and the amazing support staff behind the scenes of Dragon (Kim, Taylor, Max, Alika, Josiah, Nancy, and Karen). I wouldn’t have wanted to go on this roller-coaster ride with anyone else. 

Thank you!

Meredith Hagedorn
Founding Artistic Director of Dragon Productions Theatre

The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler: From The Director

You may be wondering: Do I have to know Hedda Gabler to follow this play?

If you can identify with wanting to make a change than the answer is no. It’s fascinating to think about the possibility of a place of nothing but stereotypes…and then tease them with the thought that they might actually be able to change. That’s the world of The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler and really all you need to know in advance.

Aside from the possibility of a fantastic drinking game (take a swig every time you see a new famous character. what can I say… this is how my mind works), the world created by The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler is way more important to us right now in the world than it might seem at first pass. Arguments around if we should place a modern sensibility to representations of history have never been more heated... or tragic. I think it’s in the absurd tone of this play that we are allowed a relatively easy access point to what might be described, at least in part, as the theatrical equivalent of Civil War era statues. It seems cringe worthy to say so. There’s no doubt its tough (as if often the case, who would have known when this particular play was selected that it would be so well timed?) but I think the pay off and insights that this work offers makes it worth it.

Lean in, engage and enjoy The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler!