Dragon Theatre to Open 2nd Stages Series with TOO MUCH, TOO MUCH, TOO MANY

Written by up and coming playwright Meghan Kennedy, Too Much, Too Much, Too Many is a look at two women who are grieving the loss of a loved one. More than six months ago Rose (played by Mary Price Moore) lost her husband James (played by W. Scott Whisler) of more than 40 years. She locks herself in her bedroom and refuses to leave it. Her daughter Emma (played by Kelly Battcher) becomes her mother's caregiver and invites the local pastor (played by Felix Abador) to the house to talk to Rose.

Playwright Meghan Kennedy says she wrote the play because she is "interested in grief. The ways in which it can take up space. The hold it has. It's a very particular power. That's really what the play is about at its core. But it's also about love-lasting, strong love. There are people in my life who have had the kind of love that Rose and James had, and seeing it has always completely leveled me. I don't know if there's anything more full than that kind of intimacy, that kind of closeness. So it's also a bit of a love letter to that."

At her day job, director and producer Nancy McClymont works as a counselor, so this story falls very much into her professional wheelhouse. She said that "as a helping professional I find that an enormous percentage of my work is due to the fact that people in our culture actively avoid pain. That sounds reasonable enough but the consequences of holding to that pattern too strongly are profound. My encouragement is that we really can sit with the discomfort, wade through the awkwardness, and emerge on the other side far stronger than we can currently imagine. Pain deferred does not, in fact, decrease. Quite the reverse! Let's talk about the important things, let's reach out to the people we cherish, and save all that sidestepping energy for really engaging in the present moment. That's where the good stuff is. No regrets."

Too Much, Too Much, Too Many is Meghan Kennedy's first play, and it was originally produced Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre in the fall of 2013. It was directed by Tony nominated director Sheryl Kaller and featured Rebecca Henderson, Luke Kirby, James Rebhorn, and Phyllis Somerville.

Playwright Kennedy is the winner of the 2012 David Calicchio Emerging American Playwright Prize for her play Light. Too Much, Too Much, Too Many was developed at the 2012 PlayPenn Conference and earned her Writer-In-Residence at the 2012 Cape Cod Theatre Project. Her other plays include Yours and The Greenest Month. They have been developed and/or produced around the country and in Ireland. She was a nominee for the 2013 Suzan Smith Blackburn Prize and a finalist for the 2013 Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship, 2011 PlayPenn Conference, 2011 Seven Devils Conference, and 2011 Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

Too Much, Too Much, Too Many is a part of the Dragon 2nd Stages series, in which local artists are invited to pitch their passion projects. As a part of the series they are not only granted a production slot in the Dragon Theatre season, but are given $3000 in seed money, mentoring from the Dragon staff, and learn how to become a theatre producer.

This production is sponsored in part by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation's Donor Circle for the Arts.

Featuring: Felix Abador (Pastor Hidge), Kelly Battcher (Emma), Mary Price Moore (Rose), and W. Scott Whisler (James)

Designers & Production Team: Ashley Taylor Frampton (Production Manager), Josiah Frampton (Box Office Manager), Meredith Hagedorn (Executive Artistic Director), Lance Huntley (Sound Designer), Edward Hunter (Lighting Designer), Drew Jones (Assistant Director), Nancy McClymont (Producer/Director), Evelyn O'Donnell (Costume Designer), Linda Olbourne (Company Manager), Jesse Ploog (Stage Manager/Properties Design), Kimberly Wadycki (Managing Director and Press Inquiries), Ting Na Wang (Scenic Designer), Kimberlee Wittlieb (Photographer), Maggie Ziomek (Graphic Designer)

To post a comment, you must register and login.