Program: Emme and the Taking of the Woods, New Works Reading Series
Emme and the Taking of the Woods
Content Warning
Depictions of Death and Violence
Playwright's Note
It is a great honor to have my new play, Emme and the Taking of the Woods, produced as a reading by the theatre department at Western Washington University. The reading will be instrumental in making edits to the play as I prepare for a tentatively scheduled full production at Columbia Basin College in the Fall of 2021. Thanks to the Alexa Rose Foundation, and the Department of Humanities at LCSC, and Alicia, Mette, and Sam for their support in the writing of this play. Thank you to Jay, Kamarie, Jim, Clara, Melanie, Jack, and all of the amazing actors who made this reading happen.
Director's Note
“‘Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood....”
- S. Sondheim
I am a good mix of both my father and my mother. I have my dad’s sense of humor - My mother’s compassion.
At nine I wasn’t ready to say goodbye -at sixty-five I have questions -a myriad of hellos. In this time of uncertainty love still conquers all.
The quest and journey goes on and on and on...
...and on.
Emme
Sophie Burns
Mother/Captain L.I.S.A
Marina Clever
Dusky Dazzle
Joe Moore
Artax
David Bolden
Queen Solaria
Shona Carter
Pom Chavel/Dali
Ian Frank
O’Keeffe
Erin Smith
Frida
Jennie LeVeque
Basquiat
Fox Cunningham
Bunnicorn
Levi Collins
Captain Bartolomeu P. Feignwell
Mitch Stevens
Supernumeraries
- Layton Gaskins
- Evan Schwaab
- Austin Denton
- Bianca! Custer
Playwright
Jef Petersen
Director
Assistant Director
Sarah McBride
Dramaturg
Kevin Harris
Stage Manager
Melanie Ashby
Production Stage Manager and Virtual Technical Director
Clara King
Production Manager
Savannah LeCornu
Company Managers
Mark Kuntz, Kamarie Chapman
Sound and Props Design
Jack Harbick
Chauncey Drummond
to the disAbility Access Center for live closed captioning!
I want to acknowledge that this virtual gathering and celebration is being produced by this Western Washington University on the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples past and present, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This calls me to commit to continuing to learn how to be a better steward of the land I inhabit as well.
It is important to acknowledge the long-standing history that has brought us all to reside on the land, and to seek to understand our place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need to build our mindfulness of our present participation. It is also worth noting that acknowledging the land is Indigenous protocol.
I would also like to recognize all the people who have built, created, and died in the process of this society being what it is today. The diasporic actions of the Euro colonizers have created damaging ripples in those communities that still require action to be taken.
Here in Bellingham Washington we recognize the Lummi, Semiahmoo and Nooksack tribes and their neighboring stewards the Samish, Stilliguamish, Sauk-Suiattle and Swinomish tribes.