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| The Cast and Crew of Path 2012 Love Makes the World Go Round |
Our Second Annual Path Festival is past. It seems only yesterday that I awoke in the middle of the night with the phrase The Artist's Path ringing in my head, but it was May 2009 and here we are fast approaching May 2012. They say if you surround yourself with good people, you will achieve success. This was certainly the case with Love Makes the World Go Round.
The event's inception came out of my notion that I should do something light in order to have a contrast with the peace and social justice theme of 2011. When I put out the call for Monologues, I really had no idea what to expect. And really-- the show was always at the mercy of the submissions. I received over four dozen pieces from California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. While they were all interesting, 14 rose to the top and together created a performance piece that gave us fourteen windows into each playwright's vision of love. Many of the pieces dealt with loss or impending loss, expressed in strong dramatic terms because of the love that was part and parcel of the relationship. One monologue explored how a life off the rails can lead one to a very unhealthy relationship with food-- a relationship that at first looks like love, but is really a twisted version of it. In another piece a young pregnant widow of a soldier who died in Iraq discovers love from an unexpected quarter...her father-in-law. One of the funniest moments happened when a mother tries answering the question What is Sex?
In the end the pieces gave us, performers and patrons alike, a roller coaster ride as we laughed and cried our way through two hours. Some monologues had layers upon layers of meaning yet to be plumbed. Each piece was gift to all of us and I thank all the playwrights.
Love Makes the World Go Round turned out to be one of the most collaborative experiences I've had. I was blessed to have four playwrights see the show; indeed two of them also performed.The project also integrated two Phoenix based actors giving us an opportunity to work with new talent in our area and creating connections between Prescott and the Valley.
The final piece of the evening was a gracious bow to Elisabeth Barrett Browning who inspired me over 50 years ago when my husband passed a note to me in junior English on which was written her Go From Me sonnet.
But now it is time to let go gently of this wonderful experience and move on to the challenge of Path 2013, The Artist's Response to the Body Politic. In Prescott this project may well get me tarred, feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. And so it goes...
