The summer is buzzing even when the blog is not! We've been working away like busy bees on our new play Voytto Tech: a scifi fable on bullying. In fact, we are having our first public reading on Friday, July 15 at 7 pm at Kefa Cafe, 963 Bonifant Street in Silver Spring, MD. Please come join us! The space at Kefa Cafe is small, but we'd love to get a bunch of folks out to hear the play and join in the action--after all, it's an InterAct play, which means there are LOTS of opportunities for audience InterActors to participate right from your seats. And most importantly, we'd love your feedback. This is an early draft of the play, and we want to hear your responses, questions, and feedback so we can make this play shine! So stay tuned for updates as we spin out into space and get the show ready for the school year.
What's the play about? Well, this new play for grades K-6 combines science, engineering, and technology with a strong anti-bullying message. Klipp Casey travels from a planet far, far away to study at Voytto Tech, the most famous science magnet school in the galaxy. Right away, Klipp has trouble fitting at his new school, and becomes a target for bullying. What can Klipp do? Who can he go to for help? And what can anyone do about the crisis threatening the planet?
The play is a collaboration between myself (Ali OK, General Director) and Ben Kingsland (Associate Artist and actor/playwright extraordinaire). I'm personally very excited about this piece; not only is it the first new play produced by InterAct since I became General Director, it's the first new InterAct play ever written by someone other than our founder, Lenore Blank Kelner. So we've got some pretty big shoes to fill! Happily, we have a great, creative community of artists pitching in on this, including our veteran InterActors, bleeding-edge technology expert and gadget geek consultant, aerospace experts (including an honest-to-goodness retired rocket scientist) and more! Plus some excellent audio/visual creations by Aisha Jordan and Jordan Multimedia and some out-of-this-world music and sound effects by none other than Helen Hayes award winner Tom Teasley.
