Courtesy of Milwaukee Rep
Playwright Lauren Gunderson has quickly become a favorite with Milwaukee audiences given the range of her works performed in recent years at theaters ranging from Next Act to the Milwaukee Rep. As part of the Rep’s continuing “Our Home to Your Home” series of “micro-plays,” having Gunderson write an original piece immediately came to mind, says Rep Artistic Producer Laura Braza. “When we started to put together a list of artists we wanted to commission to write hopeful monologues about the pandemic, Lauren was at the top,” she explains. “So [Associate Artistic Director] May Adrales reached out to her, and true to form, Lauren put something poetic and moving and funny together for us.”
The Rep has commissioned 21 original pieces for the “Home” series from writers produced on Rep stages. Audiences will remember Gunderson’s Pride and Prejudice themed Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemeberley. However, Gunderson’s monologue, Crash Burn Gasp, pulls us straight into this modern-day Age of Pandemic with the story of the main character, “They,” missing her lover, a doctor.
Separated on opposite sides of the virus, imprisoned by windowpanes, all “They” really wants out of life is “...is that run-and-hug scene from movies where the two people in love just run like hell to each other and slam into each other and hug so hard they can’t talk. That’s what I want. That’s what I miss. Cause I had that. I had it.”
It’s a powerful moment that hits directly at the heart of what many are feeling—and fearing—today in these uncertain times. And the lone voice of “They” is a stinging reminder of the complexities of never-ending physical isolation. ”They” is played to passionate effect by Jessie Fisher; the close but distant companion she longs for, Candace Thomas.
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Virtual Rehearsal
Braza has directed Rep shows such as Grounded, Souvenir, Always...Patsy Cline, and the American premiere of Songs for Nobodies. Her Rep directorial debut in fact was Grounded which featured Fisher in the main role and Thomas as the understudy. “I jumped at the chance to bring them both in. It felt like a nice full circle moment to reunite the three of us in a virtual rehearsal room,” she says.
As audiences adjust to watching performances through a screen, how does that affect the preparation for such a production? “In these strange COVID-19 days, it’s all about the text,” Braza emphasizes. “When I’m directing something onstage, I have all sorts of different tools to tell the story—light changes, costumes, set pieces, the physical relationship between actors onstage. Here, it’s just a woman talking to a camera, so the text is what we've got.”
At times, watching Crash Gulp Gasp feels voyeuristic, listening in on someone’s cathartic confessional with nothing for us to do but listen and see the pain up close, vulnerable as it is. It’s as much a revelation to the director as it is the viewer.
“I’m learning a lot about the power of small movements on camera these days. I’m accustomed to working on stage, where every movement needs to read in the back row of an audience,” Braza points out. “On stage, to change her focal point so the audience can track it, an actress needs to turn her head at the neck. On camera, a flick of the eye does the trick.”
And what stands out to her in Crash Gulp Gasp? “Personally, my favorite moments are the ones that Jessie looks away out of embarrassment,” Braze says, adding, “Being in love is a little embarrassing.”
To view Crash Gulp Gasp and other virtual programming in the From Our Home to Your Home series, visit:www.MilwaukeeRep.com
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