With safety as a paramount goal – plus a healthy dose of gratitude and cautious optimism – Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) will return with two new productions – on film – this spring: Dael Orlandersmith’s Until the Flood, based on a series of interviews after Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO, and Rebecca Gilman’s A Woman of the World, an evening with the adventurous woman who introduced Emily Dickinson to America.
The productions will include all of the remarkable theatrical effects audiences expect from MRT – top-notch acting, sets, costumes, and lighting, all filmed with multiple cameras before an extensive editing process. The preparation for producing these two shows on film has involved months of innovative thinking, union negotiations, and a 37-page safety plan, which incorporates the latest guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Until the Flood and A Woman of the World are generously sponsored by Enterprise Bank. The video will play April 17 to May 2 with A Woman of the World following from May 15-30. Current subscribers will automatically receive an email link for viewing. The previously announced productions of Wild Horses and Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End will be presented at a later date. Sale hopes to announce the remainder of the 2021-22 Season in May. For further information, visit www.mrt.org.
For Until the Flood, directed by Timothy Douglas, Orlandersmith interviewed a wide cross section of residents to create eight composite characters for her play, which reflects the aftermath of the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Gilman’s A Woman of the World features Mabel Loomis Todd, the original editor of the poems of Emily Dickinson, and an outspoken, controversial figure in her own right. Sale will direct.
Both playwrights are Pulitzer Prize finalists: Orlandersmith for Yellowman and Gilman for The Glory of Living.
MRT will offer two pricing options for ticket buyers for these two video-only productions: a regular Video on Demand package, which includes an introductory video and the play at an “early bird” rate of $19 per household (regular rate $29) and a Video on Demand Ultimate package, which includes the introductory video, the play, and interviews with the artists at the “early bird” rate of $29 per household (regular rate $39).
To reserve, visit www.mrt.org, or for further information, call the Enterprise Bank Box Office at 978-654-4678.
