Rosemary and Timon by Gregory S. Carr(Fade to Black Staged Reading Series, Jan 2024)
My Roles:
Director, Lighting Designer, Sound Designer
DIRECTOR - ANDREW ROBLYER
LIGHTING & SOUND DESIGN - ANDREW ROBLYER
PRODUCTION PHOTOGRPAPHER - RUDY MUI
Why This Show?
When I was invited to direct for the festival, all possible scripts were dropped at the same time, so we had to move fast. Due to my work with The Octarine Accord, I was particularly interested in any sort of work with an Afrofuturist lens, and was thrilled to find this piece by Gregory. The Afrofuturist lens combined with the references to classical literary figures and discussion of the medical field felt like it aligned perfectly with my interests and experience.
Lessons Learned
As one of the only white directors selected to direct for the festival, I felt a lot of responsibility of caring for not only this play, but its place as part of an ongoing history of Black playwright development and celebration. It was an absolute joy to direct, and getting to work with Fiona and Ronson again made it especially enjoyable.
Concept
The company structured the event so that scenic elements are limited to chairs and tables, actors are dressed in black, and scripts must be in hand the whole time. Despite this, we were able to use sound and lighting design to effectively place the characters in the hospital environment of the play. My favorite directorial/design moment was the start of the scene, when both actors are lit entirely by the light from their tablet screens; unfortunately this wasn’t captured in the production photos.