Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Reading: Lumottu

I am very pleased to announce that my play Lumottu will receive a fully cast reading at the Arts Society of Kingston on May 31st. Casting will commence soon. As they make clear on the website, "These are workshops rather than productions, whose focus is on process, not product. It is the hope of the Lab that playwrights will listen to all feedback without defending or explaining their work, then sift through the feedback at their leisure. In the end, only the playwright can decide what feedback to use or lose."

The name of the play is the Finnish word for "enchanted" and it explores the power of myth for people in difficult situations. Here's the description they're using for mailings:

Arja lives with one foot in this world and the other in the mythic world of ancient Finland. Her family has moved to the new world, but the old world’s magic clings to their lives — and deaths.

Sound intriguing? I hope so. This play first jumped from my head Athena-like when I was on the boat in Lake Saimaa heading out to see the ancient rock paintings. I saw it as a performance: a woman dressed as Louhi with her eagle wings behind a girl who was telling the story. It's wonderful to have this one step closer to realising that image.



Much unexpected fun last night: John Crowley was reading at the UAlbany Art Museum. Who knew? Thanks, Christopher for mentioning it in time for me to get there. And we all went out to The Point afterward which was delightful as always. In addition to the super-duper volume of Little Big, he and his wife worked on a new Helen Keller documentary that will be part of American Masters this fall.

4 comments:

Todd Mason said...

They wrote the script? Isn't it fun how things are so poorly publicized that natural audiences don't know about them? (Still grumbled about missing Borges speaking about a mile and change from my house in 1985...found out the next day.)

C. Margery Kempe said...

I believe they did write the script. I didn't realise that he started out in that field. I used to be on the New York State Writers Institute mailing list, but I seem to have fallen off it.

Todd Mason said...

I haven't read much of his relevant work (make that Any of his relevant work in this wise), but did you ever come across Emil Petaja, Finnish-American fantasy and sf writer, who did a bit, I gather, of specifically Finnish-influenced work?

C. Margery Kempe said...

Yes, awful awful stuff but loosely based on the Kalevala. Tried to get through them, haven't made it yet. Also got a couple of books by Ian Watson that are supposed to deal with some of the Kalevala stories, but I haven't cracked them open. Maybe still shuddering when I think of Petaja.