This is one way to describe the project:
"Gwen goes off-script so she can listen to you. Lost characters from a different play, a volunteer from the audience, a song, and a gun. We don't know everything that will happen."
In the time since I wrote this description, we've also added Country line-dancing, discovered even more layers and worlds, and kind of blown the lid off of my previous understanding of the play.
Nina (Cristina Flores) and Gwen (Susan Myburgh) in Big Iron Fires. Hyde Park Theatre: Austin, TX. Photo by Mike Vernusky.
We are all very excited to share this work, and I am incredibly grateful to be working with this particular group of artists-- all of whom are talented, smart, generous, thoughtful, surprising, and have all been very brave in trying out some theatrically dangerous ideas.
Big thank yous to actors Susan Myburgh, Cristina Flores, and Brooks Laney; costume designer Stephanie Fisher; composer Mike Vernusky; and for help from Dan Caffrey. Enormous thank yous to director Jess Shoemaker, whose idea it was to work on this play and who has stewarded a process that has been full of creative rewards and exciting moments of discovery and collaboration. Thank you also to the University of Texas-Austin students who have participated in rehearsal, offering insights and productive questions.
And thank yous to the FronteraFest staff and crew, who are doing exhaustive work in making everything look and sound excellent, and for their grace and humor.
Continued thank yous to Gregory Johnson and Montana Repertory Theatre's "5 x 5 Playwriting Slam" project, for which this play was originally written.
much love,
ROMERO
