FREE ART: Scroll down to listen to our audio play Far Reaches, or to watch the recordings of our Zoom-staged readings from 2020.
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RLT presents our first audio play Far Reaches
cover art by Syl Simmons
written & directed by
ellen morbyrne
featuring
trenda loftin & linda tardif
production managed by SYL SIMMONS
sound recording, creation, & editing by RACHEL HALL
theme song by CYNTHIA ZAITZ, Ph.D
One Raft Person. One Witness. One world covered in endless ocean.
What do we remember? What does it mean to survive, and what is survival worth? Two people from radically different backgrounds reach towards friendship and understanding, following memories and stories as they seek some kind of truth.
Far Reaches follows a deeply curious, tender-hearted Witness from another world as they discover everything they can about the ocean-swallowed planet of the solitary Raft Person. As the Witness and the Raft Person become ever more entwined in friendship, startling discoveries lead to endless layers of questions: How many other raft people are there? How did the roaches and the people evolve together? What material is that raft made out of anyway? Will we ever learn what a stormfish really is? Do we, actually, know when and where we are? The Witness and the Raft Person will need to unlock deeply forgotten memories in order to understand what their futures might hold.
Listen for free, anytime, anywhere! Click below to stream directly through our site, or you can also listen on our YouTube channel. OR, find our Far Reaches album on Bandcamp using their free app (easy to download on your Apple or Android smartphone).
This program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst, Burlington, Greenfield, Hadley, Holyoke, South Hadley, and Springfield Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
In the summer of 2019 we spent a full week in residence (developing the script and sharing 2 public staged readings) during the WHAT WE SEE month of theatrical residencies hosted at 33 Hawley Street by A.P.E. & SCDT (see photos below).
Playwriting & Directing was by Ellen Morbyrne; Raft Person was played by Julissa Rodríguez and Witness was played by Trenda Loftin; costume and set/prop conception was by Julia Vincenza Whalen.
Before COVID19 we were gearing up for a local world premiere in August 2020, applying to festivals, and seeing where the waves took us. Now, we’ve adapted this script into an audio play! Thank you for YOUR SUPPORT in making this journey a reality.
Photos taken by Tyran Grillo during our 2017 run at Theater for the New City, NYC
On August 15th, 2020, Real Live Theatre presented a live “Zoom-staged” reading of our original feminist epic The Life & Death of Queen Margaret. A reimagining of the story of Margaret of Anjou, liberated from the four Shakespeare plays of which she was a part (the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III), and giving her body, context, motivation, and choice, so that she is no longer the male-imagined female villain, but rather the (complicated) hero of her own story.
A patchwork of text written mostly by William Shakespeare, as deconstructed and augmented by Toby Vera Bercovici and Dan Morbyrne.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS SHARING
Directed by Toby Vera Bercovici. With Choreography by Annelise Nielsen. Stage Management by Ezekiel Baskin. Sound Design by Catherine McCurry. Featuring an original song by Cynthia Zaitz, Ph.D.
This sharing featured a reunion of our 2017 cast & crew (currently living all over the Valley, in NYC, and in Denmark!):
Myka Plunkett, Linda Tardif, Kate Hare, Annelise Nielsen, Ellen Morbyrne, Emily Tanch, Jeannine Haas (AEA), and Lisa Abend (AEA).
This program was supported in part by grants from the Montague and Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
The touring cast of Lion & Clown in 2015
On June 5th, 2020, RLT presented a live "Zoom-staged" reading of our beloved original piece The Lion & The Clown: A Rumi Lovesong for Beauty & the Beast. A play filled with magic, beauty, obscenity, grief, and deep abiding love. As audiences said after its premiere in 2014 and again during its tour in 2015: "I really needed that." Thank you to everyone who came and felt the hope with us!
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE RECORDING OF THIS SHARING
This reading featured a reunion of original cast members (currently living all over the Valley, in NYC, in Florida, and in Pittsburgh!): Kate Hare, Dan Morbyrne, Mike Pray, Trenda Loftin, Alberto Carlos Peart, Rachel Hall, Toby Vera Bercovici, Lucy Gouvin, and Syl Simmons.
Written & directed by Ellen Morbyrne. Original music by Cynthia Zaitz, PhD.
This program was supported in part by grants from the Montague and Amherst Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
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