The curator of the Scripts in Play Festival has a good story to tell you.
By Quill Nebeker
I’m going to tell you a story about a script…in play…in Scripts in Play. It’s a story about what stories mean, who gets to tell them, and how some of the most important stories are ones that, through the telling of them, let us see the story we thought we knew in a new light. Those values drive what we do at Avant Bard, and never are they felt more than during Scripts in Play.
In 2015, before I joined the staff of Avant Bard, I was invited by then Director of Audience Engagement Maegan Clearwood to join the reading committee for a new program called Scripts in Play. A reading committee is often convened when a theatre company has more scripts to sift through than any one person can manage to read sanely. Such committees also happen when a company is trying to select a season, curate new works, or (as in this case) program a brand-new staged reading festival.
I don’t know exactly how many plays we read for that festival, but I recall it felt herculean. Maegan as the curator of the festival was tasked with building the script pool. An exceedingly thorough dramaturg, she saturated the pool with 2,500 years worth of scripts. I read Greek adaptations, early modern works, children’s folklore, and a little-known play by Lauren Gunderson called Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight.
For a complete guide to the 2019 Scripts in Play Festival, click here.
In committee Maegan and I both advocated for the play fiercely, but Tom Prewitt, our Artistic and Executive Director, was not convinced. At the time, he was concerned about if or how it fit into our classically-based ouvre (remember this: I’ll come back to it). Nevertheless, Maegan and I press-ganged him into giving it a second read. To this day I’m not sure exactly what changed Tom’s mind—the play, the twenty-something odd artists on either ear, or some combination of both. But he did finally decide Emilie was worth programming and said he wanted me to direct it.
Emilie was an important part of my growth as a storyteller. It was the first time I was to lead actors with much, much more experience than me. Acting Company Member Sara Barker agreed to play Emilie (a role she would reprise magnificently in full production). I have never said this to her face, but her patience with me as a verbose young director taught me a lot about the value of saying little.
Emilie was a festival fan favorite, drawing an unusually large crowd for a staged reading. It was at that reading that Tom, I believe, was won over by Gunderson’s charm, by Sara’s passion and nuance. It is also distinctly possible that he was won over from the beginning but wanted to entertain our youthful vigor—he can be mentorly in that way. Avant Bard would produce the play in 2017, and it would go on to inspire audiences well beyond that surprisingly large crowd in 2016.
During its rehearsal period and full run, Emilie attained a whole new meaning, one that Lauren put there waiting to find the right ears. The play found an audience of young women, passionate about science and mathematics, longing to see themselves in a history from which they have been historically and systematically erased. Never in my career have I seen more teenagers excited to be sitting in a theatre than during Emilie, and it was a privilege to witness that experience.
For a complete guide to the 2019 Scripts in Play Festival, click here.
With every staged reading in the Scripts in Play Festival, you get a small taste of a story coming to life, but also a story in flux, a story playing around with what it has been and might become. In witnessing a reading, you become a part of that story’s story—you help it find a shape, find new meaning, and eventually connect to audiences as Emilie did to those young scientists.
What’s more, though, the readings of Scripts in Play are our opportunity to explore with you, our audience, what makes an Avant Bard play. Recall earlier Tom’s hesitation about Emilie: does it fit into our classically-based ouvre? By now, we know the answer to that question–an emphatic “yes!”–yet at the time it was an important one to ask. In a subtle but significant way, Emilie challenged us to think about what is is that makes a “classic” in the first place.
Now, take a look at this year’s lineup: One modern adaptation, two classical remixes, and four (4!) plays that in some way or another challenge a conventional historical narrative. That is no accident, and is a reflection of the lasting lessons from Madame Du Châtelet.
So please: see a show (see several!) and tell us about what you saw. Because Scripts in Play is such a big part of Avant Bard’s present and future, it’s also your chance to let us know what resonated with you, what surprised you or inspired you. We hope that in doing so, you’ll also become a part of Avant Bard’s story.
Quill Nebeker (Director of Audience Engagement) is a community builder, connecting Avant Bard with local groups to create artistic space for community-driven dialogue. Quill has previously worked with Creative Cauldron, The Hub Theatre, Forum Theatre, Capital Fringe, and The Wolf Trap Foundation. Quill is also a creative with a fascination for interactivity and the intersection between reality and mythology. With Avant Bard, he was theAssistant Director on King John (2013) and King Lear (2017), and he curates Avant Bard’s Scripts in Play series. Quill also created and produces The Tarot Reading, an interactive
variety show where your presence is an experience. The series is called “fresh and daring” by DC Theatre Scene and “one of the city’s more unique offerings” by DCist (www.thetarotreading.org).
