But you may be asking yourself the same question I often do: How on earth did we end up here?
In last week’s blog post, Robin told us about RFT’s genesis – the excitement we felt at breathing life into this adventure and the odd and powerful feeling we have now as we see it being born in front of us, measurably and tangibly extant in the form of our debut production, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries.
We weren’t always planning on this show – it’s a title we tossed around a few times early on as we discussed what our ideal initial season would be, but it wasn’t until one day, around a table full of beverages (not an entirely irregular sight among the four of us) as we discussed how we would fit a show into a slot so early that we came to the conclusion we’d need a small, intimate show to start us off - and we got to talking. Among discussions of some of our favorite two-handers, Gruesome peeked its grizzled little head in and we got to thinking… now there’s something.
To this day, we’re unsure if it was the beer on the table, the adrenaline of knowing we were actually going to produce something, or divine intervention that led to a momentary lapse in our trademark bickering, but we all agreed on the script pretty quick.
And what’s even more crazy? We decided I would be the one to direct it.
So. Fast forward a few months and I find myself sitting at my desk with only a few days left before we open our debut production… and let me tell you guys,
I don’t think you want to miss this one.
These two actors have come together and, in less than a month, familiarized themselves with these layered characters in a complicated, troubling life that is all at once funny and heartbreaking and beautiful. Our friends at ThreeHouse have given us a space that has exceeded all our expectations and this team has come together to build something that we at RFT have been dreaming of for a long time now:
Visceral work that inspires and reflects our humanity.
I hope you enjoy the show as much as I’ve enjoyed my part in making it happen.
On behalf of RFT, I’ll leave you with one final thank you – from the bottom of our hearts – to everybody supporting us. This one’s for you. They’re all for you.
Jakob Vernon Reha
Vice President, RFT