DefibRillator by Jennie Ward - 3m, 5w
Labels: drama, Minnesota connection, new work
posted by Jim Vogel at 10:39 AM
Jan 1, 2024
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5 Comments:
No, for so many reasons. It's all about a woman who had a heart attack. It has a heart puppet as a major character. All the characters are named Lasagna. Jennie Ward is the only tie to Minnesota. Nobody will come.
This is an expansion of a Fringe Festival show which received fairly good reviews. It was produced by Justice Theatre Consortium, a Twin Cities group which works to "Amplify reach of artists and organizations which intentionally champion the work of BIPOC, LGBTQI+, women and disabled"
The playwright/subject of the play if from the Twin Cities. The play takes place in the Twin Cities.
I don't think this version is ready for a production but could possibly use further development ...workshop. Even with that, I am not certain if it would draw an audience.
An advantage of producing a play such as this is opening possible connections with organizations which teach CPR (Am Heart Association and Am Red Cross) and groups which emergently interact with these people ....EMTs, ER nurses, Providers, etc.
I am super interested in workshopping this piece with Jennie to get it performance ready at some point. So selfishly, if we don't put it in our season, maybe I can direct it for somewhere else. I do not think the script is finished as is, but I do think with workshopping this would be a powerful play. (full disclosure, I am a founder of Justice Theatre Consortium and worked with Jennie to workshop the script for the original Fringe production, which is basically Act I of the current script). Minnesota has the lowest rate of heart disease deaths per 100,000 adults ages 45 to 64. We don't have the lowest rate of disease, but our Minnesota healthcare system has found a way to reduce death from cardiac arrest. This is one that could easily get community partners and offer CPR training associated with it etc. Things that draw me to this story: The reverse and then forward timeline, the synchronized movement of the Lasagna Moms, the experimental staging, experiencing this event from the viewpoint of the lasagna Moms in Act I (which feel very Minnesotan to me). Things that aren't ready to me: Act II and Act I feel very disconnected. I would like to see the Lasagna Moms woven into Act II more and the nurses/family woven into Act 1. I would like to see the Jenny character in Act I, even if she adds voice at the beginning and remains silent until Act II.
I agree with others that this one does not feel "complete" yet, but may be worth workshopping. Even then, though, I don't know that it would have a lot of audience appeal. While we learned with Endometriosis that a play about a health issue could be highly enjoyable, this one doesn't seem to have nearly the same potential for audience appeal as Endo did. However, having said that, I would still support TRP providing workshop opportunities to help it grow.
Agreed with what has said that this is not finished yet and would need significant workshopping. The two acts are very disconnected. It is a hard script to read because it is a devised work and depends on movement (and these stage directions are not written very clearly so it is very hard to imagine). Personally, I was not in the right head space to read that second act, maybe because I know Jennie and know this is a true story, but it was too real for me. That second act feels like a really good artistic representation of a very traumatizing event...but because of that it was really scary and disturbing. I wasn't expecting to have to experience the story from the inside...not sure if that makes sense. One concern I have about workshopping this type of piece is that it works better to workshop with actors in space...and that would be hard to do with the demands on the building.
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