Campaign starts to support Fox Valley Rep's Collider 2012 New Play Project

Four playwrights, four scientists and four thousand dollars will ignite three world premier staged readings this July for Fox Valley Rep's Collider 2012 New Play Project. In partnership with Fermilab, Fox Valley Repertory's selected playwrights are hard at work penning their science-related new works, scheduled to make their premiere readings during the St. Charles Summer Theater Fest on Saturday afternoons this July.

Now in its 2nd year, the Collider New Play Project pairs four playwrights from around the country with four Fermilab scientists to develop new works that focus on the mysteries of the universe as they relate to human existence.

These playwrights and their respective plays are Gloria Bond Clunie of Chicago with “Quark,” Co-playwrights Kevin Kautzman of Texas and Charles Midwinter of Minnesota with “Life Electric", and Monica Byrne of North Carolina with “The Pentaeon.”

These readings will take place at 1 p.m. Saturdays, July 7-21, at Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 E. Main St. in St. Charles.

For this project, $3,999 is needed to support the playwrights, actors, and directors for their time, research, and talents. The campaign launched on Friday, June 15, 2012 on the national Indiegogo fundraising site to give people the opportunity to support this project.

“We only have five weeks to reach this goal. We are grateful for the donors that instantly stepped up to the plate to support our efforts in bringing new works to our community,” says Development Manager Scott Piner. “We are 10% of the way there, but need 90% more in order to keep this project going. Most of this money will go towards compensating these playwrights, who are putting countless hours, energy, and research into making this project a truly remarkable experience for the Fox Valley area.”

Interested supporters can visit the online campaign directly at www.indiegogo.com/collider2012 or www.foxvalleyrep.org. Donation rewards include a signed script, a Collider “brainstorming” pad of paper and pen, the opportunity to meet the Collider team after a reading over appetizers and further conversations.

For more information on Fox Valley Repertory, the St. Charles Summer Theater Festival or the Collider New Play Project, please visit www.summertheaterfest.org or www.foxvalleyrep.org.

Collider 2012 Staged Readings Schedule:

Quark

By Gloria Bond Clunie of Chicago

Directed by Chuck Smith

Staged Reading & Talkback: Saturday, July 7, 2012 @ 1pm

Gloria Bond Clunie's “Quark” embraces love, death, and the stars when Dr. Alexandra Seabold, an astrophysicist, and her husband Terry, a kindergarten teacher, wrestle with personal tragedy, commercial space travel, and feeding our starving planet as they struggle with – is “a taste of space” worth it? A highly introspective and very visual play, Quark uplifts as it tackles the challenging themes of death and dying, social responsibility, education and scientific literacy, and love and loss.

Life Electric

By Kevin Kautzman of Texas and Charlies Midwinter of Minnesota

Directed by Ronan Marra

Staged Reading & Talkback: Saturday, July 14, 2012 @ 1pm

Co-playwrights Kevin Kautzman and Charles Midwinter's “Life Electric” is inspired by James Delbourgo's A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders. The play will take place in the world of the 1740s and 50s and tackle issues around electricity, performance and enlightenment at the root of the American character. The play will explore the diminishment of spectacle and wonder around scientific innovation as electricity (or the “electric fire”) moves from the hands of a second-class showman and into the hands of Benjamin Franklin, a man who helped shape America as much as any other in the 18th century.

The Pentaeon

By Monica Byrne of North Carolina

Directed by Reshmi Hazra

Staged Reading: Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ 1pm

Monica Byrne's “The Pentaeon” follows six members of the Caltech astrophysics department as they settle into their annual “The Fate of the Universe” fall retreat at a redwood forest lodge. There, the strongest evidence yet for how the universe will end is presented: in a slow dissipation--the “Big Freeze”-- rather than a reunion, or a “Big Crunch.” Over bag lunches, the characters discuss this finding. Their reactions range from logical to emotional, and they begin to question how this finding reflects on the nature of existence itself. On the last day, the group takes a hike in the woods, during which they all become separated and lost, leaving them nothing but time to ponder the fate of the universe.