The Thrill of My Life: My First Play Will Have Its World Premier Next Month in Columbus
Starting
with preview performances before audiences on Wednesday and Thursday, October
16th and 17, and with an official opening night on Friday, October
18th , my play “The Turkey Men” will have a
professional production as Evolution Theatre Company’s
final show of its season here in Columbus, Ohio. Information about the play, including cast
and crew, can be found at https://www.theturkeymen.com/.
In
a prior blog I reported the circumstances that led to the creation of the play
[see “My First Play Will Be Produced Next Year,” May 29, 2018; https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html].
That post describes the play in some detail, but, briefly, it is a
comedy/romance that deals with a serious subject. I had learned of two Civil War soldiers who
met at Camp Chase, a prison in Columbus for Confederate captives, with one
guarding the other, both quite young.
Suddenly the war ended in 1865 and the one from Tennessee said he had no
place to go. The other replied that he
had a turkey farm south of Columbus and invited him to work there. They raised turkeys for 57 years (!), living
together, never marrying, being known locally as “The Turkey Men,” and now
buried next to each other (a little off from the other graves), dying in 1921
and 1922, their tombstones marked to show one had been a Confederate soldier and
the other a Yank. No one knows anything about
the nature of their relationship.
Speculating that this was a wonderful gay romance, I fictionalized that
story, changing their names and turning them into ghosts still haunting their
old turkey farm 150 years later. They
have lived through much of gay history but they are now certain that if they
materialize they will pop out of existence completely. The door to the abandoned old house opens and
in comes an older couple dragging a 16 year old lesbian entrusted to their care
by her parents in a “Pray Away the Gay” scheme.
Much happens thereafter.
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| [Click to enlarge] |
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| Mark Sschwamberger |
I
shopped the play to theater companies and in the spring of last year Mark
Schwamberger, the Artistic Director of Evolution Theatre Company, sent me an
email telling me that the company wished to produce my play. Frankly, that was the best email I have
ever received in my life! Mark
invited me to lunch and even suggested I bring along my actor/director husband,
David Vargo (with whom Mark has worked a lot).
At that lunch Mark asked me if I was planning to direct the show myself
(I had once directed a show for Evolution with both Mark and David in it) and I replied
no. I told him that I knew of this
director from Florida who now lives in Ohio and, or course, I meant David, who
has been handling the creation of the show ever since.
This
year Evolution, Columbus’ only L G B T Q Q I A theater company, has
become fully professional, with Equity actors and a paid crew. The season is entitled “History and Mystery”
with the shows alternating in themes between those two genres. Mark told me “The Turkey Men,” dealing with a
gay romance from the Civil War, would be the final production of the
season. He was delighted David would direct.
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| David Allen Vargo |
I
promised David I would stay out of the production and let him handle it without
interference, though willing to do whatever I could to help if asked. Since then there have been minor changes to
the script and a new song added (there was already an existing love song). I wrote the additional song in one day and we
tacked it onto the final scene.
The
play has one teenage actor and four older ones, and the latter all are
established professionals. They were
chosen by David at open auditions (and he is very pleased with his cast). Some of them had earlier participated in a
reading of the play at our house in 2018.
David and I had also invited to that reading Robin and Peter Hersha, local
theatrical benefactors. They have much enjoyed watching David (and
sometimes me) on the stage. After the reading
they said they liked “The Turkey Men” a lot, and Peter suggested two minor changes
that I promptly put into the script. Not
long after that the Hershas had supper with Mark, David, and me and announced
they wanted to become presenting sponsors of the show. We were very grateful for
their generous additional financial help.
To
put the cast and crew into the spirit of the play David gathered them together
with the Hershas for an outing. We met
at Camp Chase cemetery here in Columbus where over 2000 Confederate soldiers
are buried, then had lunch and went to Pleasant Cemetery in Mount Sterling,
Ohio, where the real soldiers whose story sparked our play are buried. David had James Harper and Ross Shirley, the
actors playing the soldiers, dress in period costumes and stand next to the
graves. It was both moving and
inspiring.
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| James Harper and Ross Shirley |
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| Cast and crew (the Hershas in the upper left) |
Last
Thursday there was a historical discussion of the play and Columbus’ involvement
in the Civil War at the Kelton House here in Columbus, sponsored by Evolution
Theatre Company. There was seating for
60 people and the room was packed. David
was the MC and a panel (me and two local historians) explored the play and its
historical background. A scene from the
play was also performed, and seeing it was a thrill for me.
 |
| Sophia Friend, James Harper, and Ross Shirley performing |
As
readers of this blog know I judge every important event or decision in my life by
what I call the “Deathbed Test.” The
test goes like this: imagine that you are in your late nineties, lying on your
deathbed and reviewing the incidents of your long life. What will make you slap your head in
annoyance and exclaim “How could I have been so stupid?” and what will make you
smile from ear to ear and think “Now that was wonderful!”? Anytime something of moment happens in my
life I try to think of how it will look from the point of view of that future
contemplative bed.
Other
than the brief scene from my show just performed at the Kelton House I have not
seen anything from my show.
I am staying away from rehearsals, which formally start at the end of
this week, and want everything to be a surprise to me.
On the opening night of “The Turkey Men” when
actor James Harper as Webster Carter walks out on the stage as the show begins,
turns on a light, and, per the script, says “I’ll be damned,” I will experience
a thrill that will certainly be a joy for any future deathbed retrospective to
revisit. Typing the script on my computer
was one thing, but it’s quite another for a live production of my words
to unfold itself right before my astonished eyes.
-----------------------------
Related
Posts:
“A Guide to the Best of My
Blog”; http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-guide-to-best-of-my-blog.html
“My
First Play Will Be Produced Next Year,” May 29, 2018; https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2018/05/my-first-play-will-be-produced-next-year.html].
"The Deathbed Test," July 27, 2010; https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=deathbed+test
"The Deathbed Test," July 27, 2010; https://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/search?q=deathbed+test
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