A Day in the Life of a Plains Playwright

Catherine Trieschmann is one of the only professional playwrights we know who is living—and writing—full-time in Kansas. The author of How the World Began—now enjoying its world premiere—is not only a full-time writer, but also a mother of two.  After living in New York and Washington, D.C., Catherine left for Hays, Kansas, in 2006, after her husband got a position teaching philosophy at the local university. We asked Catherine to chronicle a typical day in her life in Kansas—writing, children and all.

Baby on the Plains.  Martha, age 1.

8 a.m.
Wake up in an attic bedroom in our 1910 cottage in need of much renovation. Stumble down the stairs and get Sophie (age 4) and Martha (age 1) fed and dressed.

9 a.m.
Ignore the kids while I check e-mail and slurp down coffee while sitting at my grandmother's old dining table.

9:30 a.m.
Return any urgent phone calls from my agent, directors and producers.

Sophie, age 4, on the jungle gym
under the prairie sky.

10 a.m.
Out the door with the girls to the library, museum, park or somewhere similar, hopefully to meet up with other Moms so I don't feel so alone in the world. They think I'm a little strange, what with this playwriting career and all, but they tolerate my eccentricities well enough.

11 a.m.
Feed everyone lunch—usually out of a box.

12 p.m.
Drop Sophie off at O'Loughlin Elementary School for pre-school. Put Martha down for a nap in her crib.

12-2:45 p.m.
Ignore the dirty dishes, pile of laundry, unanswered e-mails and WRITE.

3 p.m.
Pick up Sophie from pre-school.

The first old house we renovated in Hays.

3:30 p.m.
Drop the girls off at the daycare at my gym and swim laps.

or
Weed the garden.
or
Return phone calls.

5 p.m.
Make dinner, preferably un-boxed, preferably with vegetables from our big garden, while the girls entertain themselves by dancing, drawing, climbing on things and pulling out all of the pots and pans from the kitchen shelves.

6 p.m.
Eat dinner with the whole family.

Winter on the Plains.  Catherine and Sophie
bundled up in the snow.

6:30 p.m.
Wash the dishes, while my husband and the girls pick up the house. (This is great thinking time.)

7 p.m.
Take everyone to the park across the street, where we swing on the swing set under the big sky. If it's too cold, we'll build a fire and horse around the living room.

8 p.m.
Put Martha to bed. Read to Sophie—Victorian poetry and Pippi Longstocking at the moment.

9 p.m.
While my husband puts Sophie to bed, meet a director for a phone date.

10 p.m.
Answer some of those unanswered emails.

10:30 p.m.
Read scripts and/or research until I fall asleep.

"Pride and Prejudice" Opens the Season to Cheering Throngs

First Night of South Coast Repertory’s 2011-12 Season was something to cheer about, beginning with the curtain speeches for Pride and Prejudice on the Segerstrom Stage and continuing until the Cast Party closed down around midnight on Ela’s Terrace.

Among those who elicited cheers: SCR Board President Tom Phelps, Founding Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson, SCR’s new Artistic Director Marc Masterson and his co-CEO, Managing Director Paula Tomei.

The cheering continued for two couples who have vigorously supported the theatre through many seasons, Honorary Producers Jean and Tim Weiss and Tom and Marilyn Suttton; another staunch supporter, U.S. Bank, represented by Bill and Christy Cave; Segerstrom Stage season media partner PBS SoCal, represented by Mel and Marcia Rogers, and Pride and Prejudice media partner 89.3 KPCC.

And that was all before the play began. Then the 21-member cast brought theatre-goers to their feet with a stunning production of the Jane Austen classic, followed by a rocking Cast Party.



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A Magical Night for SCR

September 10, 2011.  It was a night of brief nostalgia and endless opportunity.

At “Theatre Magic: The Black & White Ball,” South Coast Repertory supporters looked back with pride on what they had helped achieve over 47 seasons and celebrated their founders who had brought SCR to the top ranks of theatre in America.

Then they looked forward to a new generation of leaders and the endless opportunities that lie ahead.

The two men whose artistic vision started it all (Founding Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson) joined the new generation of leaders (Artistic Director Marc Masterson and his co-CEO Managing Director Paula Tomei) and the two amazing Gala Chairs, Elaine Weinberg and her daughter Nancy Dahan, to welcome guests to the celebration.

Elaine and Nancy and their creative and hard-working 46-member Committee were responsible for making sure that the evening was celebratory—and fun.  They succeeded!



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A Play about Faith, Connection and Prejudice

A Few Questions for Catherine Trieschmann

Playwright Catherine Trieschmann is no stranger to SCR’s artistic staff. We’ve been following her work for years—and commissioned her in 2007—and we’re thrilled to be co-producing the world premiere of her latest play, How the World Began. With rehearsals underway, we asked Catherine to reflect on her inspiration for writing the play—and the intersection of life, religion and weather in her town of Hays, Kansas.

Playwright Catherine Trieschmann

What was the genesis for writing How the World Began?

I was lucky enough to receive a Sloan commission from Manhattan Theatre Club, which is a commission designed to get playwrights writing about science and scientists. Since moving to Kansas five years ago, I've been struck by the heated debates concerning creationism and evolution that are periodically held in my small town of 20,000. How the World Began is my attempt to make sense of why people are so passionate about this issue.

Could you tell us more about the importance of the play’s location to you?

My first year in Kansas, the small town of Greensburg (located about an hour south of me) was decimated by a tornado, and the images from that natural disaster have haunted me ever since.

One of the most striking things about living in Western Kansas is the powerful effect of weather on the community. It, of course, affects the farming community profoundly, but even we townspeople have to beware of heavy hail, thunderstorms and tornados—not to mention extreme heat and cold. The sky is ever-changing on the plains, and it is simultaneously majestic and scary and beautiful.

The play’s characters seem to represent three very different perspectives on the continuum of religious and scientific beliefs. In crafting these characters—and their conflicts—how important was it to you to represent all sides of the ever-changing battle over evolution and creationism?

In writing the play, I don't know that I was so intent upon representing all sides of the evolution vs. creationism debate as much as I was intent upon creating characters that were extreme in their beliefs but sympathetic in their portrayal. There are no moderate views in the play, perhaps because moderation is not the most dramatic of choices, but also because it was the extreme passion and commitment I saw expressed by the people of my town which drew me to the material in the first place. I personally have no problem reconciling evolution and the existence of God, but I was intrigued by people who do.

NEXT WEEK:  Catherine Trieschmann presents “A Day in the Life of a Plains Playwright.”

Playwright Catherine Trieschmann has been living and writing in Hays, Kansas, for the last five years. But her newest play, How the World Began, which will premiere on SCR’s Julianne Argyros Stage on Sept. 25, is her first play about Kansas.

In it, she tells the story of Susan Pierce, a new biology teacher from New York who moves to the small town of Plainview to teach in the wake of a devastating tornado. Susan says, “Haven’t you ever looked at photographs after a tsunami or an earthquake half-way across the world and thought, if only I could do something? Wouldn’t it be great to go to bed at the end of the day, tired and used up, knowing you actually helped people?”

Greensburg, Kansas following a F-5 Tornado in 2007.

 
Susan moved to Plainview to lend a hand—and to start a new life.  But she is an outsider in this small, farming town, and unprepared for the firestorm that will erupt after she makes a careless comment while teaching the origins of life.

When student Micah Staab, a devout Christian, takes offense and confronts Susan, she at first denies having made the comment, then tries to explain that she was talking about early non-scientific beliefs that had nothing to do with God. But Micah feels disrespected, and when Susan refuses to apologize, his guardian Gene gets involved. Gene Hinkle is the town’s garrulous ex-postmaster, and soon everyone in town believes that Susan is an evolutionary zealot.  The town gossip leads to building pressure that threatens to dismantle Susan’s new life and vocation.

Trieschmann’s drama subtly explores the hot-button topics of creationism and evolution—as they’re taught (or not taught) in modern classrooms today—through the prism of three character’s strongly held personal beliefs. It’s a character-driven play about faith, connection and the innate prejudices people sometimes have toward beliefs different from their own.

Jarrett Sleeper, Kirsten Potter and Joe Spano in rehearsal for the 2011
Pacific Playwrights Festival reading of How the World Began.

 
How the World Began was presented in a reading during SCR’s 2011 Pacific Playwrights Festival and is being produced in association with Women’s Project Theater in New York. Daniella Topol is directing both the SCR production and the one at Women’s Project, which will produce the play in January 2012. How the World Began will have its European premiere at Out of Joint Theatre in London this fall.

SCR Honors Founders with Endowment Fund

Patricia Melvin and Marc Masterson.

When South Coast Repertory Artistic Director Marc Masterson stepped forward to greet guests at the 2011 Gala, a new era began.

Of course, the moment was filled with nostalgia, as supporters of SCR recalled so many wonderful moments over the 47 years since Founding Artistic Directors David Emmes and Martin Benson envisioned a new theatre for our community—first touring from the back of a Studebaker station wagon, later in a converted warehouse and then a converted dime store!  Now, home is our dynamic theatre center—one of the country’s finest—in the heart of Orange County.

The memories are sweet.  But David and Martin aren’t dwelling on them.  They’re looking toward the future and the new generation of leaders in whom they have put their trust.

David Emmes and Martin Benson.

To ensure that future, the SCR Board of Trustees has announced The Emmes/Benson Endowment Fund, which will provide the income to fund future exceptional creative opportunities—the unique visionary needs that go beyond original budget plans—in perpetuity.  These are the resources that will allow SCR not only to achieve greatness but to sustain greatness.

We invite everyone to join us in honoring David and Martin through the Emmes/Benson Endowment Fund.  Find out about the numerous opportunities—including making a gift to the Take-Your-Seat Campaign to permanently name a seat in one of SCR’s three theatres.