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| 7/21/2010 9:29:00 AM Email this article • Print this article |
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Susannah Berryman, Brian Edelman, David Jones and Kelly Hutchinson star in the Hangar Theatre’s world-premiere production of “Penelope of Ithaca,” which runs July 21-31. (Photo by Thomas Hoebbel Photography) |
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An Odyssey to Ithaca: Hangar Theatre to premiere Kenny Finkle's "Penelope of Ithaca"
Jim Catalano
Arts Editor
The Hangar Theatre continues its 2010 Mainstage season with the world premiere of "Penelope of Ithaca," written by New York City playwright Kenny Finkle. Commissioned for the first season in the Hangar's newly renovated building, the play takes Penelope and Odysseus from their mythic Greek setting and moves them to current-day Ithaca, N.Y.
The show runs July 21-31, with a cast that includes Kelly Hutchinson, David Graham Jones, Susannah Berryman and Brian Edelman. Tickets are available at Ticket Center Ithaca on The Commons, by calling (607) 273-4497 or online at www.hangartheatre.org.
Earlier this week, Finkle sat down with the Ithaca Times for an email Q&A about the new play, his thoughts on the Hangar Theatre, and the creative process. (Read the complete Q&A at www.ithacatimes.com.)
Q: What was your reaction when (Hangar artistic director) Peter Flynn asked you to write a new work for the new Hangar?
Kenny Finkle: I was thrilled. The Hangar has been a really important part of my career and growth as an artist and I'm gratified to have been asked to write something for this year's first season in their new building.
Q: What do you think of the new Hangar building?
Finkle: I love it. I think it keeps all the integrity of the old building while really bringing the Hangar into the 21st century as a major regional theater.
Q: Whose idea was it to recast "The Odyssey" in current times? Without giving away the plot, are you literally just setting the story in modern Ithaca, or are you using Homer's tale as a launching point for something else entirely?
Finkle: It was my idea to use the "Penelope" story from the "The Odyssey." It actually had been brewing in my mind for a long time. I think about 8 years ago I did a playwriting residency at Boynton Middle School (through an Empire State Partnership grant through the Hangar) where I worked with the incredible Kim Fontana in several of her 6th and 7th grade English classes. They were studying the Odyssey and a lot of them adapted parts of the story to take place in Ithaca, N.Y.
I thought that was such a great idea and that maybe there was something there to build on, so when Peter and I started to talk about the commission this was the first thing that popped in my head and I sort of ran with it. The play is a modern adaptation of the Penelope story so a lot of the imagery, plot points, characters are pulled directly from "The Odyssey" and transplanted and remixed to fit into Ithaca, N.Y.
For example, weaving is a very big part of the play, which is central to Penelope's story in "The Odyssey." In the original story, Penelope weaves and undoes a funeral shroud every night for several years to avoid marrying her many suitors; in my play, Penelope is a weaver in Ithaca, N.Y. and along with her Aunt sells her wares at the Farmer's Market and her weaving becomes a large thematic element...
Initially I thought I was going to sway from the story completely but the more I kept working on the play, the more the myth kept calling to me and I used more and more of it as I went. I'd say it's both old and new.
Q: Can you describe how the Hangar Theatre has factored into your career over the years? I really liked "Indoor/Outdoor" from the 2004 season.
Finkle: Thank you. I loved the production of "Indoor/Outdoor" that the Hangar did. It was a real turning point in my work and I am so proud of what we created with that play and production.
I consider the Hangar Theatre my artistic home. The Hangar Theatre supported my work and believed in my voice before anyone else really did and has always encouraged me to be brave, take risks and reach for new ideas. When I was still in graduate school, the Hangar under Artistic Direction of Mark Ramont chose my very first play for the Wedge series called "Kinsey's Report" in 1998 and since then have produced, including "Penelope," three other plays of mine. Everyone who works at/with the Hangar is generous, thoughtful, excited by new work and willing to go the extra mile - this includes everyone the admin staff, production staff and the Hangar's incredible Board of Directors.
Q: How's the current production coming along? It must always be daunting to debut a new work, but perhaps more so in the current setting.
Finkle: It's a crazy quick process up here. Two weeks rehearsal and then we move into the theatre, so we've been working as fast and hard as we can. I think the production is coming along really well. We just moved into the theater last night and started working on the set, which is a huge adjustment for the world of the play and the actors but I'm excited. Sometimes the faster the process, the more thrilling the work is - less time to think about things, more necessity to take action. So luckily we don't have a lot of time to think or worry about what we're doing.
Q: Can you talk about the creative process a bit? Are you always writing, or do you work in the occasional frenzied rush? Do you work on several plays at once?
Finkle: I love this question. I'm obsessed with process and when I teach I try to convey to students that the process is the work. I'm always writing. Every day, every morning, I get up and write. Sometimes it's only for a few minutes (like now when deep in the trenches of production) but most days I write for several hours.
I've found over the years that if I write every day I stay connected to the "good stuff" - i.e. - my unconscious... It gets a little harder in rehearsal to keep up with this schedule but I do a fair amount of rewriting too so that becomes the morning's work. I get up early around 6 and work usually until lunch time, sometimes a little later. Around 2 p.m., I have to get out of the house or I go crazy. I used to work in the occasional frenzied rush but that feels like a symptom of my recent youth which has faded away.
Now I'm just kind of a work horse. Just plod away everyday - sometimes I have a good day at the "Play Factory" and sometimes I have a bad one. It keeps me more balanced in my personal life, which all my friends, my partner and family appreciate greatly. I am usually working on several plays at once. I like switching things around for myself and I also need to work on something for a period of time and then put it down so I can get perspective on it. I'm also more and more fascinated by how the themes in each play start to bleed into each other a little. I'm enjoying the overlap and finding it exciting.
Q: What's the best thing about being a playwright? What's the most challenging?
Finkle: The best thing about being a playwright? I think this connects to the previous question - I love the process of writing. I'm fascinated by it and am always interested in how it connects to life and the world around me. The other best thing about being a playwright is seeing my work produced. When we move into the theatre and suddenly there are so many people working on the play and I have to let go and realize the play isn't mine anymore - I love that feeling. Oh, and I love watching my work with an audience - even when its going badly (which happens just as often as it going well) it's a complete rush.
The most challenging thing about being a playwright is surviving. Robert Anderson who wrote "Tea and Sympathy" said once "You can't make a living in the theatre but you can make a killing." I haven't made a killing yet, so I struggle on...
Q: What else do you have in the works in the coming months?
Finkle: "Penelope" is coming at the end of a long year and a half of new plays and productions. I was traveling most of the year with productions in Virginia and in San Diego at the Old Globe as well as developing this play, workshopping a new play with the Atlantic Theatre and a commercial project which isn't going to move forward, so mostly I'm looking forward to getting back to my desk and starting something new in the coming year. A little theatre company in NYC is doing an older play of mine in October called "Transatlantica," so I'll be working a little bit on that and then I have a whole bunch of readings and things of new work and some teaching gigs but right now no major productions for the coming season - which is really a blessing. I think sometimes the best thing an artist can do is stop and breathe and live a little.
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