September – December 2020
*..in this creative stretch, and discussions with Brendan, I craft a curated, immersive hour's experience of the play as 3 Frames / By Me.
It flows through pillars of conversation that expose the ‘undiscussed’ in a family history, delineating the journey of the main character- KEN, black, gay, creative, and suddenly untethered from memory -into landscape of discovering all the corners of his childhood that were true empty sockets due to choices, made in earlier unspoken history, of his father.
*..through this sculpting.. I come to connect how the deep damage in ‘weight of legacy’ is an undiscussed realm of black family trauma. Understanding this, the ambition now is to seek entities to partner with who are dedicating themselves to new efforts in ‘audience support’ that uniquely cosets space, in the afterward of performance, for audience reflection as pathway into empathy, rather than deliberately pointing into an individual's trauma, and asking “wasn’t that amazing?”..!
*..I think broadly, and in terms of a 12 month period.
I've concept of a timeline, out of recognizing that unique 'pandemic contracts' of Equity would keep casting costs stable, at ‘reachable’, until 21st Dec 2021. I believe that Zoom is the right place to make this transit by.
The gambit emerges for Brendan and me that we aim the curated version of 3 Frames / By Me, into three workshop landings across 2021, and complete the arc in November 2021 - well ahead of the Equity deadline for ‘pandemic special contracting’.
*I refer the scope of this ambition and view of timeline with colleagues and circle of support, and it is in this framing of timeline and consideration that Derek Goldman offers an anchor to the effort, in offering a slot for 3 Frames in The Lab’s, Cross Currents Festival, that is to be reconstituting in 2022.
*Having such as anchor, I can determine a journey for the work; 1 workshop for each frame.
Intention is: 1st workshop occurring in February/March 2021 ("Frame 1"); 2nd workshop occurring June/Jul 2021y (which would be the reprise of "Frame 1", stand up of "Frame 3"); 3rd workshop occurring October/November 2021 (presenting as "Frames 1-3").
*At this point, with more substance to the thinking.. I consider how else to identify potential companies - arts entities that support function as 'fiscal sponsor', through a 501c3, production team, and willing audience who are vested in experience new work.
*Jonathan Meth, another of my circle, steps up with suggestion & support; Jonathan, over years, has known my evolution as writer having been involved with it since the 1990's in London, and my work with New Playwrights Lab. Over time that resource and forum morphed into The Fence, an international forum for playwrights & companies, vested in new works, and new routes of dialogue in theatre. While I had been a member for some many years, I'd not had chance to ask support of the network - but now, at Jonathan urging and assistance, I reached out to Fence arts entity members who might be interested in the work & journey.
*Wayne Maugans, Artistic Dir of Voyage Theater Company was interested; but, after conversations, determined that the company, in pandemic straits, didn’t have the bandwidth to best support the opportunity. But Wayne immediately identified another company that might have the bandwidth – Quick Silver Theater Company - and reached out to their Founder/Dir Tyrone Mitchell Henderson.