the things i forgot

In 2021, I taught a solo performance class at JMU with Prof. Jessica Del Vecchio, where we worked with students to write short solos. In an expression of solidarity, I began writing my first full length solo piece, the things i forgot at the same time, an adaptation of my play, Stained Glass. In my solo play, I’m surrounded by hundreds of shoes, switch quickly between characters, and puppeteer silks as water and Little Mermaid tails/tales. Although present, the sexual scandal of Stained Glass is less emphasized, and in this new adaptation I was more interested in the unique sub-culture of my childhood, the Jesus movement of the 1970s—fire and brimstone mixed with barefooted hippies preaching love and salvation. The writing of the things i forgot was supported by a grant from The Center for Art, Humor and Soul, a nonprofit for advancing the arts and spirituality and was produced at Fire Exit Theatre in Edmonton, Canada and Seat of the Pants Theatre Company in Canton, OH, after its premiere at Eastern Mennonite University  (EMU) in February 2023. The Daily News Record described the things i forgot as a “…part art installation, part movement and part storytelling…A powerful story of a woman traveling home to New Jersey for the funeral of her father, a Pentecostal pastor who had lost his family and his church in a scandal two decades before.”

DIRECTOR:  Ben Lambert

DESIGN TEAM: William Boles and Vandy Wood

SOUND BOARD:  Alexis Lewis

LIGHT BOARD:  Nick Trusty and Esme Martin

Photos by Richard Finkelstein and Rhys McCullogh