THE MOMENT as a stage show.

The retreat started at 6pm on a Monday night.  Not the typical time retreats start, but this was no typical retreat.  The goal: develop our  virtual musical THE MOMENT into a stage show.  The participants: James Zager (dramaturg), Nicholas Reinhart (Assistant Producer) and myself.  We had 1 ½ days to find a way to make this work.

You see, THE MOMENT was designed as a “virtual” show – to be rehearsed over zoom, then have the actors record their sections (all monologues) on their phones in their own homes and then combine the recordings into a YouTube video.  Our pilot production of the virtual version was directed by the great NYC director, Kenny Ingram, and you can watch it HERE. But now that COVID restrictions are letting up, it is time to take this great show, add characters, create scenes – yes dialogue – and imagine how it could be staged.

Why are we having this retreat now?  Because we have scheduled THE MOMENT for a full staged reading in August!   Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin will host a reading of the show using a cast from Milwaukee and the suburbs.  I am thrilled that it will be directed by James Zager.

So, let me tell you about some of the new characters and stories.  You may recall that each scene/character experiences “the moment” when their life changes.

Radika is a Black woman, of a certain age, who is on her way to the final day of a yoga teacher training course.  She will finally get her spiritual name.  Along the way she encounters Tyshawn (who was already a character in the show) and they connect about their special days.  My favorite part about this scene is the first line that Radika says “The Black Fat Pussy Cat.”  Imagine where it will go from there.

Magda is a cleaning woman.  Her client invites her to have coffee before the day starts and Magda lets it all out.  Her daughter is spewing garbage on social media, her husband wants to quit his steady job to be a tattoo artist and she is dealing with a lot of anger and change in her home.  But, she has one vice.  One thing that gives her hope. One thing that makes her think life can be beautiful.  And that is….. well, I’m not going to spoil it for you.

Find out soon.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Larry Little