Posted May 17, 2024
A great play is much like a great friendship. It treasures shared moments: small and large, intimate and robust, tragic and comedic. Both value the power of language and both lean in when words either don’t come easy or arise to stay off an approaching discomfort with wit and wiles.
The Heartbeat of the Sun invites us to share in these and so many more moments within the lasting friendship between Althea and Bea. As only theatre can, we are able to spend time with these two as their past selves and their present ones concurrently. This theatrical convention of concurrent time beams with inviting rays of discovery.
In the moments of origin, the rays lead the playwright from inspiration into language and plot’s beginning, middle and end. From there the beams lead to rehearsal and design necessitating stage management. Ultimately, the diversity of these rays beams brightest when their shine and glow allow you, the audience, to bask in the company and situations of the characters. This play further provides you with the opportunity to, perhaps (hopefully), see yourself and your friendships through the ever-changing rays of time, place, and circumstance.
This Sun beams all the brighter from the work and artistry of Jessica Robblee, Mark Collins, Troy Lakey, Ryan Omar Stack, and Christopher Robin Donaldson. This Sun sings, too, thanks to Susan Draus. Additional appreciation to Susie Snodgrass, David Petzinger, American Dog, Aspen Academy, and to the audiences who joined us for the staged readings of this (or any other new) play in development.
