November 7–10, 2013
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Written by Amy Bernstein, Brent Englar, Michal Roxie Johnson, Kevin Kostic, and Susan Middaugh
Directed by Brent Englar CAST:
PROGRAM 
BROCHURE
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I am a semi-regular member of the Playwrights Group of Baltimore (we meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, at Loyola University Maryland). Every fall we collaborate on a modest project: typically readings of 10-minute plays, written to a theme. In the spring of 2013, however, five of us decided to create a show for the Charm City Fringe Festival (then in its second year). A sixth member, Rich Espey, volunteered to emcee the performances, and I offered to direct.
After some spitballing, we decided to write a series of before-and-after monologues. Initially, our only rule was that each character had to make an important decision; we figured we'd figure out the rest as we wrote, and incredibly—thanks to some combination of naivety, blind confidence, and pure luck—things fell into place as though following a plan. The concept we settled on involves a fracking-induced apocalypse. Audience members, safe aboard the last escape-rocket, hear pleas from ten characters hoping to win a ticket off Earth (the "before" monologues); during intermission, they vote for their favorites. Five winners are announced, but there's a twist: The top vote-getter impulsively backs out (actors rehearsed a different motivation for each character), thus opening up one more seat on the rocket. The five ... ahem ... lowest-performing characters make new pleas (the "after" monologues), the audience votes again, and the final winner leads everyone in a pledge to our future home planet. You can recite the pledge for yourself by downloading the brochure. If you have more questions, I suggest rovering to the information kiosk. | |||||
Media by Joshua D. Singer and Elizabeth Hanson
Kepler-62e brochure by Sarah Green
Kepler-62e brochure by Sarah Green