Going green: Macalester College and Carson Kreitzer pair up through New Plays on Campus

Harry Waters Jr. and Carson Kreitzer

New Plays on Campus (NPOC) is a program that allows college and university theaters to connect their students with living playwrights and collaborate on new plays. Macalester College has taken full advantage of NPOC and created a unique opportunity for their theater department and college campus.

Harry Waters Jr., who became the Chair of Macalester College’s Theatre and Dance Department in January of last year says, “It [NPOC] was an opportunity to connect with amazing playwrights right here in the Twin Cities. We’re a theater department. We like doing plays. What about new plays? We’re members of New Plays on Campus, so let’s take advantage of the benefits.”

Waters wanted to share their department’s theme, Dreaming the World Forward, in a way that had never been told before. So he reached out to the Playwrights’ Center asking if a playwright would be interested in collaborating on an original piece that highlighted this theme.

“I wanted something that would appeal to college students,” Waters continues, “that would have a good issue that they could hook into, and that was also going to be challenging for us to do.”

Not only did Waters want to tell a new story, he also wanted to tell a new story in a different way. “I’ve been working with a lot of theaters in the Twin Cities as an actor, director, and dramaturg. One of these theaters is Ten Thousand Things. The way they do their presentations, it’s very actor-driven—it’s in a room with the lights on. I thought, what an idea for us to possibly do that style with a new play. I wanted to do it in different sites all over the campus, so that it’s an opportunity for us and the campus to experience theater in a different way.”

When Waters read Carson Kreitzer’s work, he was intrigued by her writing style and the themes she incorporates. “Carson first submitted another play to us, an adaption of The Three Sisters, and I liked the writing of it. We had a conversation and knew that this partnership could be something interesting. And then she said, ‘I have another play.’”

Kreitzer says, “green originated during one of Paula Vogel’s Bake-Off workshops. Paula gives you a list of ingredients and all the playwrights have 48 hours to sit down and write the play. When Harry said the theme for this year was Dreaming the World Forward, I immediately thought of this piece.”

green: an elegy to summer tells the story of an eco-commune living in a world that is running out of water. A Joan of Arc-type character joins the commune with a possible solution. As Kreitzer describes the setting, “The place is mostly an abandoned Borders bookstore that has turned into an eco-commune. So there are plants everywhere and bean vines growing up through the atrium. They have dug up the parking lot and planted food plants. And the time is listed as ‘yeah, pretty soon now.’”

As part of Waters and Kreitzer’s New Plays on Campus collaboration, green received a developmental workshop and public reading at the Playwrights’ Center. Throughout the workshop, there were many discoveries, new collaborations, and new opportunities.

Waters says, “We brought in a musician, Peter Morrow, who initially was just going to do soundscape. But it ended up he has written three songs that the students are performing. They are original pieces that just made sense as a part of this commune that got created.” Waters describes the collaboration as, “It was like being a matchmaker. There’s just no way we could’ve predicted this before the workshop. It’s been one of those moments we treasure in theater.”

Kreitzer adds, “Thanks to Harry bringing in Peter Morrow, the 'folk song that rallies,’ one of the original Bake-Off ingredients, has become so woven through the fabric of the piece it is practically a musical. It’s a play with music. That’s been such a thrilling discovery.”

The workshop also gave Macalester theater students experience in a new play development setting. Waters says, “It gave the actors the opportunity to raise their game because they’re being paid, and they’re working at the Playwrights’ Center.”

For Kreitzer, the workshop “gave me a chance go back and open up the play a little bit, and I was able to write parts tailored to the cast that we have.”

Kreitzer says she hopes the people who see green “will walk out thinking change is possible, and that they need to help make it happen. I hope a lot of people are going to go home and start planting bee-friendly flowers. That is something we can do now: change your little piece of ground.”

green: an elegy to summer will be performed October 1-4 and 8-10, 2015, in several locations throughout the Macalester College campus. See the schedule.

Learn more about Carson Kreitzer and New Plays on Campus.