An audience vote that failed to produce a single winner has become a two-show evening for Clarion Theatre Company. The company will stage Fairhaven and In Time, original one-act musicals by Southern Oregon playwrights, at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center on October 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24.
Last year, Clarion asked local theatergoers to choose among several new musical scripts. The selections drew enough support that the vote produced no clear favorite. In cooperation with the writers, the company decided to present two of the works together. The resulting production pairs stories with different settings and characters, giving audiences both musicals in a single event. What began as a choice between scripts will put two local writers’ work before audiences across five performances.
Fairhaven, written and directed by John Sleadd, follows residents living under the strict indoctrination of an organization called Creative Counsel Control, or CCC. The musical is set in a dystopian world governed by that organization, with a turn in the story that Clarion has left undisclosed ahead of opening night. Sleadd has written five plays for the company. This production will be the first time he has directed one of his own works, adding a new role to his history with Clarion as he brings Fairhaven to the stage.
The second musical, In Time, is written by local playwright Maxwell Bruhn. Its central character is a young man confronting the collapse of his dreams and the realization that he cannot control the course of his life. Audiences saw a brief preview last fall; October’s performances will present the character’s full story for the first time. The preview introduced the work, while the upcoming production gives the story its official debut as part of Clarion’s two-musical program.
The pairing places two different approaches to a character’s circumstances within one evening. In Fairhaven, the residents live under the rules and indoctrination of Creative Counsel Control. In In Time, the young man faces the loss of the future he had imagined for himself. Each musical has its own writer and story, and both emerged from the group of scripts Clarion placed before its audience for consideration last year.
The cast brings together seasoned local performers and actors appearing for the first time. Rehearsals began in early August as the company prepared the characters and original scores for both productions. The ensemble includes Steve Roby, Anne Turner, Brooklyn Morrison, Erik Rose, Madison Heth, Micheal Lee Shomler, Michele Spohn, Naomi Drevenstedt, Peter Goodwill, Rebekah Goodwill, Kara Dale, Noah Dale and Thomas Dale. Clarion has not specified which performers appear in each musical.
The five performances are scheduled across two weekends at the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center: October 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24. Audiences who participated in last year’s selection process will have the opportunity to see the two scripts that ultimately shared the program, while other theatergoers will encounter both original works in a single performance. Show information and tickets are available at clarionor.org.