The adventure begins

I landed a new job this week — at a pay scale that will allow me to begin to put some money into founding and running Pathfinder Theatre.

Why start yet another theatre company in the Triad area of North Carolina?

I’m no longer interested in theatre for the sake of entertainment. I want to tell “stories that matter” — stories worth telling, stories that address the question “What does it mean to be human?”

What does it mean to grow up from child to adult? What does it mean to fall in love? Get your heart broken? Dream great dreams? Work at a dead-end job? Struggle with the ups and downs of relationships?

Some of the stories that Pathfinder Theatre presents may be original plays making their debut on the stage. Some of these original plays may be my own creations; some of them may come from other playwrights. Some of the plays we present may be existing works — but they are not likely to be plays that you’ve seen before. Unless we do Shakespeare. I happen to love Shakespearean plays — though I know many people find them intimidating or seemingly unapproachable.

At the moment, we have three projects that we are hoping to produce within the next 18 months. Our biggest need is space — we need rehearsal spaces and production venues. Two of the projects could be produced almost anywhere; they need very little in terms of set, lighting, or other technical requirements. The third project is a bit more complicated. It is not a musical, but it does contain three full-length dances, as the main character is taking ballroom dance lessons. We will need theatrical lighting — already installed or to be borrowed; we can put down platforms to create a dance floor — as long as someone is willing to provide a space for the production.

The first two projects are existing plays; I will soon post links on this site to excerpts that are available through Google Books. The third project is an original play; I’ll post an excerpt of it on this site within the next few days.