Director Renana Fox shares her thoughts on 22 BOOM! Long ago I came across a quote by the author and museum director Kenneth Clark explaining the value of public art.
He said,
“The only reason for bringing together works of art in a public place is that…they produce in us a kind of exalted happiness. For a moment there is a clearing in the jungle, we pass on refreshed, with our capacity for life increased and with some memory of the sky.”
With that in mind, I hope audiences will fill their heads with images of the sun and clear blue skies as they leave the theater after watching 22 Boom! Written by Miranda Rose Hall and performing as part of the Capital Fringe Festival this summer, this play is full of surprises and joy at the unexpected.
A bit of context. During her year as a resident playwright at Center Stage in Baltimore, Hall would sit in the lobby of the theater during a production and talk with patrons. She would offer to write them a personalized short play based on their conversation; by the time they left the theater that evening, Hall would have written and printed them their commission to take home. The worlds Hall created are both grand and contained. Absurd and sincere. Ridiculous and relatable. Impossible and inevitable.
Scanning the pages of 22 Boom!, Hall’s full-length play that came from a compilation of her favorite commissioned short plays, I found myself uplifted. As Clark would put it, I was refreshed in a moment of clarity.
Theater has an incredible power to begin important conversations and tell stories our souls are silently longing to hear. With 22 Boom! the conversation that erupts is one of happiness and hope. In a world that so often feels dark and full of doom, Hall has created a space that is bright and filled with possibilities. She reminds us that dreams are worth pursuing and love is possible for anyone who yearns for it. Her stories inspired a production full of movement that is bright and unrestrained and will no doubt leave audiences rolling in laughter.
In the depths of the jungle beneath leaves that shield you from the light, there is something blue and open just above you. Come remind yourself of the beauty of open skies and full hearts at the Capital Fringe Festival this summer, and pull up a seat at 22 Boom!
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Renana Fox (director) is thrilled to be working with NuSass on yet another wonderful and innovative production. She has worked as a director on new play development with Inkwell, McLean Drama Company, Source Theatre Festival, Page-to-Stage, Spooky Action, NuSass and Duke Ellington School for the Arts in addition to directing new adaptations for Lean & Hungry Theatre in association with WAMU 88.5 FM. She has assistant directed at Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater, Infinity Theatre, and for New York Stage & Film. When she isn’t directing professionally, Renana works as a performer with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre and teaches theater to elementary and middle school students throughout the DC area. Check out her work at: http://renanafox.com/
22 Boom!
July 14 — July 24, 2016
The National Museum of Women in the Arts
5th Floor
1250 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC
Show details and tickets
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