Centre Theatre is working on a play called How to Save Ourselves. If you haven’t heard of it before, that’s because it is currently being created, through a collaboration Centre College has with a theater company up in New York. Dr. Goff is a theater professor at Centre and the director of this play. She was interviewed by The Cento in order to share the details about this exciting opportunity!
What is the current play Centre Theatre is working on right now?
“We are working on a brand new script called How to Save Ourselves by Enid Graham. It’s part of The Farm Theater College Collaboration Project. The play runs April 23-26.”
What is the Farm Theater and what is Centre’s connection to it?
“The Farm Theater is a company based in Brooklyn that is dedicated to developing early career theatre artists. Like how the Farm Team System in baseball seeks to train the next great pros – that’s where the name came from! The artistic director Padraic Lillis was childhood friends with Matthew Hallock – our tech/design professor – so when he had this crazy idea about commissioning plays to be developed at colleges in partnership with the playwrights, Centre was the very first to sign up. It starts with a playwright interviewing students from each of the participating colleges about a topic they are interested in writing about. Then, we gather in NYC with students and professors from each school, as well as professional actors, and the playwright and artistic director for three days of reading and analyzing the first draft of the script. The playwright continues to revise, and comes out to work with each of the schools and sees each production – each step along the way learning more about the play. Finally, at the end of all of this, The Farm chooses students from each production to go back out to NYC to perform alongside professionals in a public reading of the finished play. It’s a pretty amazing way to see the play development process from the inside, and to tap into the theatre world in New York!”
How long has Centre Theater been working with the Farm theater?
“I just looked it up, and the first show Centre did with The Farm was in the 2014-2015 season… so this makes ten years of partnership, which is pretty cool! The process takes 18 months from beginning to end, so this is the sixth play that we have staged as part of this collaboration.
The script for this show is being written and changed as people work on it. “
How does that make this production work differently from other productions you’ve worked on?
“This is my third time working on a Farm Theater collaboration, so I’ve worked with these changing scripts before, and it’s always really interesting. Because at any point during the process, we might get changes. There could be a couple of words changed here and there, or there could be brand new pages. Either way, with each change, we’re learning more about the play that the playwright is trying to write, and the playwright is learning more too. I love seeing the way that the students’ work inspires the playwright, and how they make their mark on what the play becomes. I think it also sort of demystifies the process of playwriting. Sometimes it can feel like plays are these perfect things that emerge fully formed from lofty geniuses. But this lets us see the messy process of writing, and perhaps makes it feel more possible for students to achieve!”
What would you say this show is about?
“In a literal sense, this is a play about six college-aged characters who come together for various reasons to volunteer for six weeks at a food bank distribution center. During this time, they disagree, they fight, they deal with the really difficult realities of coming of age in a world full of heavy challenges, and they also find real connections and possibly even some hope along the way. Beyond that, I think this is a play about community and isolation, and the balance between those things in our lives. Ultimately, though, community has to win if we are to find our way through the very real hardships of the modern world. And I think this play really believes in the power of community and relationships to make a difference in the world and in each other.”
What are you looking forward to in this show?
“There are some interesting challenges built into this play by the playwright, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how the cast and I will figure them out. I’m also really excited to see how the audience reacts to the messaging and to the subtleties of this play. It does deal with some really difficult topics that are close to the surface for all of us these days. And I think it grapples with those things in ways that don’t give any neat, tidy solutions. So I am looking forward to the conversations that the play might inspire.”
What got you interested in theater?
“I often blame my maternal grandfather for my love of theatre. He was an engineer, but he was also a singer and a storyteller and this really magical person who made me fall in love with the power of a good story. So when I came upon theatre sometime around middle school, I found a place where I could make storytelling a central part of my life. And as I learned more, I really came to believe that theatre is not only fun, but a really meaningful tool for making sense of the world around me.”
What has your experience with Centre theater been like so far?
“This is my 8th year here, which is crazy to think about, really. We have done a lot of different kinds of theatre in that time. In that sense, I think my experience has been really varied. We’ve had our ups and downs and excitements and disappointments for sure. Trying to focus on something specific – I think I’m really impressed with the way that we have rebuilt since the disruption of Covid. The current first and second year students we have in particular have been bringing such a renewed sense of energy and eagerness to the program – to the classes and to the productions. I think seeing that kind of passion again is really getting me excited for what’s to come.”
Anything else you would like to add?
“The cast for this production is a really strong, creative, fun group of humans. I think they are going to meet this script really effectively and I think they are going to really make the audience care about this world in some important ways. We’re just a week in and everyone is doing really good work! We have so much ahead of us before we open in April. I can’t wait to see what these actors will accomplish in that time!”