Well, loyal followers, here we are…the big day has arrived and we here at The@trics could not be more excited! Tonight thrifTheatre will be drawing back the curtains on all 10 of our new plays…but first, we have one more item, so HERE! IT! IS!
thrifTheatre item: Large PetMate Vari-Kennel plastic dog crate
- Inspired the play “Prom Night,” written by Shanee Edwards
- Directed by Tiffany Antone and Clint Slay, with Clint Slay, Melody Startzell, and Marnie Uhl
This awesome thing was sitting right inside the door of the CCJ Thrift Shop one day as I made my 2nd thrifTheatre sweep…and I knew we had to have it. I immediately grabbed it and actually lugged it around the store with me as I looked for more items, because, yes, I was that paranoid that someone else would come in and want it. It was just one of those gut feelings…
Then, after unsuccessfully trying to pawn off a digital scale to playwright Shanee Edwards, we mentioned we had a large dog kennel – and it was a match made in heaven. From there, I’ll let Shanee explain it herself:
A play about a crate. That was the task. My first question was, will a human fit in it? During my last jaunt to Prescott, I decided to see for myself. Yes, that’s me inside.
So now that I had proof a smallish person (perhaps a teenage girl?) could fit inside, I needed a why. I knew that the person inside the crate was there by choice. Yes, she put herself there to protect herself from something. But, what?
Much has been said about the “wired” generation – teens who’ve grown up with digital everything, never knowing what life was like before cell phones. Their brains behave differently than ours. They have greater confidence and higher expectations. I would too, if I grew up believing there was an App for all my problems…
But I wanted to entertain the idea of a girl who thinks it’s all too much. A girl whose mind is overwhelmed by society’s expectations of how she’ll spend her money, time, brain cells. A girl who just wants to listen to her heart, not her iPod.
And so I present my play “Prom Night,” directed with inspiration by the fabulous Tiffany Antone. How lucky am I? I hope you enjoy it.
Now – we all very happy that our audiences are going to get to enjoy it…because for a quick second, it looked like that wasn’t going to be an option. Just last Friday, we lost two of our actors that were supposed to be in “Prom Night.” For a little while, Tiffany and I were afraid we were going to have to pull the show. However, the director we had lined up, Clint Slay, happened to be able to step in – and look young enough to convincingly play Dean, a high schooler; Marnie Uhl stuck it out the cast changes and is a hilarious Mrs. Butkovich; and Melody Startzell jumped into the crate as Miley and has blown our theatrical minds by getting off book in a little over 50 hours and totally saving the day! Tiffany has amazingly teamed up with Clint (since he’s onstage now) to make “Prom Night” happen – and, like what happens when Shanee puts her mind to comedy, it’s a riot!
Now the countdown may be done, but it is not too late to get tickets! As always, hop on over to Brown Paper Tickets to get them online, buzz over to the CCJ Thrift Shop to get them in person, or get them tonight at the door starting at 7:00pm at First Congregational Church at 216 East Gurley Street (at Alarcon)!
Be sure to check back on the blog tomorrow for our opening night impressions, a post about the items we didn’t use in this round of thrifTheatre, and more information about our fantastic sponsors – Arizona’s Hometown Radio Group and the Puffin Foundation!
