Sadie Hawkins Dance
Blue Shift X. Premiered: January 26th, 2018
In January of 2018 Blue Shift took a break from our usual production schedule and tried a collaborative experiment: groups of actors would ask interested pairs of writers to write a scene for them. The writers were told their cast, a genre, and a line of Emily Dickinson poetry. This is what followed:
Guardian Angels of High School
Genre: Historical Fiction
Emily Dickinson line:Saying Nothing Sometimes Says the Most
Written by Dennis Budde & Angelica Elliot
Performed by Sriparna Sen and Chris Reed
Amanda and George are the latest in a sacred order that seeks to complete the high school experience through deliberate meddling, but not all is well when George questions the virtue of their charge.
Script
Missile Babies
Genre: Documentary
Emily Dickinson line:They say that God is everywhere andyet we always think of him as somewhat of a recluse.
Written by Dustin Blanton & Paul Gallegos
Performed by Adam Bartel, Paul Gallegos, and Chris Reed
Famed Director Werner Herzog takes a long view of the last American Baby Boom.
Script
Natural Selection
Genre: Magical Realism
Emily Dickinson line:Truth is so rare, it is delightful to tell it.
Written by Jesse Garson & Krishna Surasi
Performed by Brian Kondrach, Sarah Keller, and Caryn Fulda
Mother nature gets tired of playing nice and calls in some idea men to get rid of her human infestation.
Script
Love is in the Air
Genre: Romantic COmedy
Emily Dickinson:A Wounded Deer Leaps the Highes
Written by Elayne Juten
Performed by: Rochelle Gomes, Steven Saltsman, Brian Kondrach, and Angelica Elliot
Love, and terror, proliferate at 10,000 feet in the air.
Script
Intergalactic Love
Genre: Sci-Fi
Emily Dickinson:Bring me the sunset in a cup
Written by Oriana Chen & Christian Toledo
Performed by Tom Daily II and Amy Kravitz
Two scientists explore the outer reaches of space, and their feelings for each other.
Script
All That Blood
Genre: Melodrama
Emily Dickinson:Old age comes on suddenly, and not gradually as is thought.
Written by: Arthur M. Jolly & Nicole Nodarse
Performed by Sarah Willet and Monica Marcha
A mom walks her blossoming daughter through the wonders of womanhood.
Script
Healing
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Emily Dickinson:I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to Heaven.
Written by Ben Seidensticker
Performed by Qasim Makkani, Oriana Chen, Amy Kravitz, Sarah Keller, and Jesse Garson
A group of friends struggles to accept a new members eccentricities.
Script
Dead Parents
Genre: Horror
Emily Dickinson:I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.
Written by John Doan & Paul Shinneman
Performed by Steven Saltsman, Sarah Willet, Jesse Garson, and Monica Marcha
Parent deaths can rend even the strongest of families. These guys weren’t that together to begin with.
Script
Unproduced
Due to actor sickness two of the scripts written for this project went unproduced.
The Goddamn Wild West
Genre: Western
Emily DIckinson: People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
Written by Conor Farrell
Time gets the best of all men, and while one sits in a cell, the other opines.
Script
I Don’t Want to Tell You What to Do
Genre: Family Sitcom
Emily DIckinson: Forever is compromised of Nows
Written by Bill Cox & Jamie West
When his nephew has lady problems, a wise uncle steps in to share his knowledge.