FirstWords

Changing Lanes Director Elizabeth Ross Way back at the beginning of the year I was incredibly pleased to be selected to direct a staged reading of Changing Lanes by Maggie Kearnan and Taylor Buehler, the 2020 selection for our FirstWorks program for new plays. When I first read Changing Lanes I knew it was a very special script and its themes of identity, reaching out for human connection, and the difficult necessity of changing plans in the face of tragedy would be profoundly affecting for our audience. Little did I know how much more resonant the work would become during this world crisis.  FirstWorks isn’t like other Theatre@First productions. We’re not just trying to put on the best show possible, the purpose of FirstWorks is to help our playwrights refine their play through the editing process and by receiving responses from our audience. We couldn’t let a beautiful play like Changing Lanes not be produced and it would be a disservice to our authors to not fin...

Cast members (from top) Sarah Brinks, Leslie Drecher, Kat Buckingham, Jason Merrill, Adam Schofield-Bodt, and Ryan Marchant rehearse with enthusiastic support from Director Mike Haddad.  by Mike Haddad, Director of  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) This show is 100% Grade A madcap insanity...and I wouldn't have it any other way. We have just finished blocking all the scenes in the show, and with each scene fresh ideas for added jokes, outdated pop culture references, and bizarre props have been suggested by cast and crew alike. This show has been a wonderful and truly collaborative effort thus far. I don't think I have ever laughed so much during a rehearsal process. Shakespeare nerd or not, this show is full of laughs, both of the high and low brow.  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)  shatters the fourth wall. While rehearsing and realizing the number of opportunities for audience interaction in the show, we...