Touchstone Hosts Reading Of The Whitman Piece 1/20/11

This January, the Touchstone Ensemble will be joined by Moravian College students, local theatre artists, and Bethlehem community members for a public reading of Bill George's new play, The Whitman Piece. This will mark the third and final preliminary reading for the play, before it opens as part of Touchstone Theatre's mainstage season in April. The public reading will be held on January 20, 2011.

After a private reading over the summer, an invited reading in September, and an intensive workshop process in the fall, The Whitman Piece has been a constantly evolving work, each draft incorporating ideas and suggestions raised in previous sessions. After this reading, there will be time for questions and critiques from the audience, which will be considered and worked into the final edits and re-writes of the show before rehearsals begin in March.

The Whitman Piece tells the story of a small theatre company, working to create a meaningful play about Walt Whitman and the Civil War. In their struggles, on and off the stage, they strive to make something beautiful and resonant, a process balanced and thwarted by their having to deal with mundane, day-to-day difficulties.

"This play," playwright Bill George says, "is not so much about Union over State, or individual over the collective. It is about the two principles, part of a whole, striving for an ideal-the American Dream when it comes to the nation and transcendent beauty on the stage, when it comes to the little theatre company. As with all dreams, it is ultimately unattainable in any absolute or complete sense due to the limitations of physical reality. And, that of long-lasting value is only accomplished through love; everything else comes and goes."

After the reading, George and director Christopher Shorr will begin the final stage of work on the script. By the time of its world premier on April 7, The Whitman Piece will have been a living dramatic work for a solid year and a half.

The public reading of The Whitman Piece will be held on Thursday January 20 at 8:00 pm; admission is free but reservations are strongly encouraged. For further insights on the artistic process, check out the playwright's blog at litlpond.tumblr.com.

Celebrating thirty years, Touchstone Theatre produces and presents both original and classic productions, with a dedication to the renewal of theatre as a vital art form. Touchstone works to foster collaboration on a local and national level through educational and youth empowerment programs, using theatre as a community-building tool. Visit us on the web at www.touchstone.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.