Trustus Playwrights' Festival Winner PINE to Premiere on Thigpen Main Stage, 8/10

NYC playwright Eugenie Carabatsos is coming to Columbia at the start of August as her Trustus Playwrights' Festival winning script PINE comes to life on the stage for the first time. This premiere production will have a limited run. PINE opens on the Thigpen Main Stage on August 2nd, at 8:00 p.m. The show runs through August 10, 2013, and tickets may be purchased at www.trustus.org.

The Trustus Playwrights' Festival is considered by various publications to be one of the best in the nation. Not only do winning scripts garner a professional reading, but they also receive a full production on the Trustus Thigpen Main Stage. Past winners of this festival such as Jon Tuttle, Stephen Belber, and Andrea Lepico have gone on to have their scripts published and performed all over the nation. Past winner David Lindsay-Abaire was even awarded the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award later in his career. Now NYC playwright Eugenie Carabatsos joins the fine company of Playwrights' Festival winners as her play PINE makes its professional debut right here in the Capital City.

PINE, under the direction of Trustus Artistic Director Dewey Scott-Wiley, is a ghost story - with humor and a tremendous amount of heart. As the lights come up, audiences are introduced to the White family. Gathering for the Christmas holidays, we realize that older son Colin White seems to go throughout the house unnoticed. Further exposition reveals that Colin is actually a ghost following a fatal car accident years earlier. Colin constantly tries to avoid his overbearing mother and to communicate with his younger brother Teddy, but Teddy can't see him...or can he? The plot thickens as Colin's ex-girlfriend shows up to the White home for a holiday visit with her new boyfriend. The White's Christmas takes many turns as Colin's memory and spectral presence make us wonder if Colin's family is beyond his reach.

Sarah Hammond, a Columbia native who is now a successful playwright in NYC, is the Trustus Literary Manager and oversees the festival submissions. "We went electronic with our competition last year," said Hammond. "This year, for the first time ever, we also eliminated the submission fee for playwrights, which increased the number of submissions substantially. We got 400 submissions this year from all over the country." Submissions consist of playwright bios, a play synopsis, and a 10-page script sample which Hammond has to peruse thoroughly. She then asks for full plays from 25-40 of the playwrights submitting. "When asking for those full scripts, we look first for voices that leap off the page," says Hammond "Is it theater? Does it feel live? Some dialogue just sings, and that's apparent in a ten-page sample. There's a rhythm - an energy - that comes from a playwright's gut. While we don't have one aesthetic for the new work at Trustus, we do tend to favor scripts with a very strong current of personal truth." After the full scripts have been read, the top five make their way to Columbia, SC where the Trustus Artistic Director chooses the winner. Obviously, Ms. Carabatsos' PINE found itself in the winner's circle in 2012.

"I came up with the concept for PINE and thought about it for a couple months," said playwright Carabatsos. "However, I didn't write anything down. This is my typical 'writing process': I come up with an idea, think about it for a long time, and then write a first draft relatively quickly. I attended an artist-in-residence program through the Platte Clove and so went up to live in the Catskills for a week. It was there that I wrote the first draft of PINE. After that, I continued to rewrite and revise."

The play began to take shape for Carabatsos when she started developing the characters. "When I'm in the midst of writing a play, I am more focused on fully-fleshing out the characters," said Carabatsos. "If you have strong, developed characters, people are more likely to empathize with them and connect with the play as a whole. I want the audiences for PINE to relate to the characters and their experiences with grief (and hopefully laugh, too). Along with this, for each project I work on, I try to set a specific structural or stylistic goal and that goal should be something that I haven't done before. For example, for PINE my goal was to write something funny."

Director Dewey Scott-Wiley has assembled a talented cast to bring Carabatsos' characters to life for the first time. Long-time Trustus Company member Becky Hunter (PALACE OF THE MOORISH KING) takes the stage as Rita, the matriarch of the White family. Hunter Bolton (LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!) makes his Trustus debut as Colin, the ghost. Playing Teddy and Julie, Colin's siblings, are Cory Alpert and Rachel Kuhnle respectively. Playing Julie's husband is USC MFA in Acting candidate Josiah Lauberstien (BOEING BOEING). Portraying Colin's ex-girlfriend Rachel is Jennifer Moody Sanchez (MY FIRST TIME), and with her is Harrison Saunders (RED) as Rachel's new boyfriend and soon to be fiancée.

PINE makes its premiere on the Trustus Thigpen Main Stage on Friday, August 2nd at 8:00 p.m. and runs through August 10, 2013. Main Stage shows start at 8:00 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and Sunday matinees are at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are $22.00 for adults, $20.00 for military and seniors, and $15.00 for students. Half-price Student Rush-Tickets are available 15 minutes prior to curtain.

Trustus Theatre is located at 520 Lady Street, behind the Gervais St. Publix. Parking is available on Lady St. and on Pulaski St. The Main Stage entrance is located on the Publix side of the building.

For more information or reservations call the box office Tuesdays through Saturdays 1-6 pm at 803-254-9732. Visit www.trustus.org for all show information and season information.

Pictured: Josiah Lauberstein, Rachel Kuhnle, Becky Hunter, Cory Alpert, and Hunter Bolton. Photo Credit: Jonathan Sharpe.

To post a comment, you must register and login.