Book and Lyrics by Dana Yeaton
Music by Andy Mitton
"So there I am, a lapsed Catholic at a Baptist revival meeting, and all of sudden, I'm on my feet, hands in the air, accepting Jesus as my personal savior...until a few days later when someone sat me down and explained, 'Of course you'll have to cut your hair and get rid of that jewelry.' So that ended my Baptist period."
That's not a line from Swing State; that's what our sound designer, David Margolin Lawson, said in rehearsal yesterday. It was his first time in the room, but the way our director, Igor Goldin, runs a rehearsal, it wasn't at all weird to hear someone sharing a personal experience about religion, or homophobia, or the wonderful messed up extended families we all seem to have. I've never had a director so committed to tunneling down, fracking the characters, until we see the intersections between their lives and ours.
And of course, you can't vote or have a political opinion in America right now without getting sucked into the vortex of where you stand on God. Which I really HATE – but I'm pretty sure it makes good theatre. And I know it makes for an interesting rehearsal process...
-Dana Yeaton
To buy tickets or to learn more about Swing State go to www.nymf.org/swingstate or call 212-352-3101
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