The Fort Lewis College theatre department’s first showing of its production “The Flick” was 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the MainStage Theatre
This production will show a total of nine times on campus in the theatre building, showing at 7:30 p.m. on the 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of October, with 2:00 p.m. matinees on Oct. 9 and 16.
“The Flick,” written by Annie Baker, a contemporary American playwright, won a Pulitzer award for drama in 2014, Dennis Elkins, chair of the theatre department, said.
“For us to get the rights to do a show this recent is a big deal for us,” Elkins said.
Two months after submitting a request to perform the play the FLC theatre department received permission from the agents handling the playwright, he said.
“The Flick,” a 2 hour and 30 minute show with a 10 minute intermission, takes place in an old run-down movie theater during the transition from 35 millimeter film projectors to the digital age, causing the theater to be sold, he said.
“It’s a constant theme that we can play with, ‘Where does this generation go? ‘What do they have to look forward to?’” Elkins said.
Sam and Rose, two characters in “The Flick,” have been working in the theater for a while when a new kid, Avery, comes on the scene, Elkins said. Through Avery, the dynamics of the developments between characters are shown.
Theresa Carson, the artistic director of the theater program at the Durango Arts Center, was asked to guest direct the FLC production of, “The Flick,” Elkins said.
This is normal for FLC, and each year the theatre department brings in at least one guest director, he said.
“We really do strive to work in collaboration with other theatre organizations in the community,” Elkins said.
To perform the play, the theatre department pays the playwright per performance, Elkins said.
The production of a play costs from $45-$1,400 a performance depending on the type of play being performed, he said.
FLC students help fund performances, sets and costumes, by paying an arts student fee of 55 cents per credit hour taken during a semester, Elkins said.
With a four-week rehearsing period, Carson and the cast were challenged with the task of performing a well crafted play, Carson said.
Carson and the cast first started the planning of the production with table work, digging deep into the characters and creating many different possibilities that the actors could take in the characters roles, she said.
“We do our research, and we talk and we discuss what this play’s about and what these characters want,” Carson said.
The last stage is adding all the elements of set, lights, sound and costumes for the opening day, she said.
“So it has been a mixture of we will run a scene, we will talk about it, we will play with some different staging techniques, until we land on something that feels really good,” she said.
The depth of the play was stunning to Carson, she said.
“We do strive to present plays that not only entertain but they make you think, as well as to give our students and the community this wide array of theatrical opportunities,” Elkins said.
One of these opportunities come in the seating for this production, which is flipped, Carson said. This means the stage is set in the house, where the audience usually is, while the audience is on the stage.
“I think it is a really neat experience for actors and audiences alike to stretch the boundaries of what a stage is,” she said.