On April 7, Touchstone Theatre will celebrate their 30th anniversary season with the world premiere of co-founder Bill George's new drama, The Whitman Piece. The show is produced in collaboration with Moravian College and will be performing at the Charles A. Brown Ice House in Bethlehem, PA.
The Whitman Piece tells the story of a small theatre company made up of different characters and goals. Danny, a playwright struggling with his fears and demons, is trying to write a transcendent new play about the great American poet
Walt Whitman and the Civil War; but the director can't seem to stage the piece in a way that fulfills his artistic vision; and the manager fights tirelessly to keep the constantly sinking business afloat. On top of this, the company's apprentices are bordering on mutiny, the aggressive press threatens to overturn the boat with negative publicity, and the star of Danny's play is starting to act just a little too much like Whitman. Through it all, the artists strive to find moments of joy and beauty and the ever-elusive American Dream.
The Whitman Piece is, for playwright Bill George, the culmination of over a year's effort of research and writing. "Such excitement," he effuses, "after a year and a half of channeling the spirit of the company and the country into this dense drama!" In addition to writing, George is also performing as Danny, a playwright playing a playwright. He adds, "You'd be surprised, what a completely different chore it is, to interpret what I've written, than it is to write it-that it's actually possible, and in fact a constant occurrence, to find things in the material that I didn't know were there."
This performance comes at a particularly appropriate time. Besides capping off Touchstone's 30th anniversary season, this April production also marks the beginning of the Historic Bethlehem Partnership's 150th Anniversary of the Civil War, a Lehigh Valley collaborative recognizing and commemorating the Civil War through art, discussions, music, and drama.
Additionally, The Whitman Piece is a part of the ongoing partnership between
Touchstone Theatre and Moravian College. The cast features five performers from the Moravian College Theatre Company, original music composed by a Moravian College student, and direction by Christopher Shorr, professor of Theatre Arts at Moravian College.
Shorr notes that the play's themes of freedom and what it means to be American are especially pertinent today: "On one level, it's the story of a struggling theatre company, but the play works on many levels. It raises big questions about America, and about freedom. It asks us to think deeply about what is important to us. It's easy for things to get lost in the hustle and bustle of modern life. Sometimes big things get lost-things we take for granted. I look at the world today-at the struggles for freedom in North Africa the Middle East-and I hope that those struggles can be a reminder for Americans to hold on tight to the things we have. As this play reminds us, they can slip away if you ignore them."
The Whitman Piece plays Thursday April 7 through Sunday April 10 at the Charles
A. Brown Ice House. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday shows start at 8:00 pm, with a Sunday matinee at 2:00 pm. Regular admission is $25, with $15 tickets available to students and seniors; group rates available. Opening night, Touchstone offers "pay-what-you-will at the door," where audience members who buy their tickets at the venue that night may name their own purchase price. Other tickets may be purchased by phone at 610-867-1689, or online at
www.lvartsboxoffice.org. For a calendar of events and more information on the Civil War commemoration, go to
www.historicbethlehem.org and click on "Civil War."
Celebrating thirty years, Touchstone Theatre produces and presents both original and classic productions, with a dedication to the renewal of theatre as a vital art form. Touchstone works to foster collaboration on a local and national level through educational and youth empowerment programs, using theatre as a community building tool. Visit us on the web at www.touchstone.org
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