
by munchman
Robin Walsh, longtime TVWriter™ friend and puppeteer genius behind The Devil You Say and It’s a SpongeBob Christmas has a new must-see show for us at the Hollywood Fringe, but not with SpongeBob or Satan this time. This year’s she’s showing a work-in-progress version of her new show: Forgotten Baggage: Stories from the Willard Suitcases.
The true backstory:
In 1995, workers cleaning out the Willard Psychiatric Center in upstate New York discovered hundreds of suitcases from former patients packed away, their owners buried and forgotten. The objects within were time capsules of lives disrupted and interrupted, simultaneously rich with details about their owner’s past yet devoid of answers to how or why. The suitcases were unfinished stories trapped in time.
Here’s where fiction comes in:
Forgotten Baggage is an evening told with Object Theatre, intimate and simple. Each scene is based on items from one suitcase, giving the objects inside a chance to live out their lives, if only for a brief moment. Essentially a work of fiction inspired by remnants of actual people, the tales have been gleaned from the objects themselves. Told both with and without words, the stories go from comedic, to fantastical, to tragic.
Together they weave a fractured yet cohesive evening, (echoing, perhaps, the mental states of the original patients). This Fringe production is a work in progress production, featuring 2-3 “Suitcase Stories.”
Currently in an early stage of development, this show is the recipient of a 2016 Henson Foundation Workshop Grant and is based on the photographic work of the actual suitcases by Jon Crispin. For more information, please visit www.willardsuitcases.com.
Also be sure to see the Crispin’s wonderful photos at www.joncrispin.com.
After receiving the Henson Foundation Workshop Grant, Robin decided to bring a small piece of the show to the Fringe this year and get feedback to help develop the concept further. We at TVWriter™ think that’s a great idea and suggest you grab a friend and come on down to see what’s she’s been up to and help make it even better!
Tickets are free, or pay what you can. At the new Sacred Fools space, in the Studio Theatre (the old Asylum theatre space), at 1078 Lillian Way, off of Santa Monica.
Preview is this Friday, June 3 at 7 pm. And just 2 shows – June 17 at 8 pm and June 24 at 11:30 pm. It’s a small theatre – so get your tickets now!
http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3411
Hope to see you there!!! (Think you’ll be able to spot me?)
