IODINE
RESIDENCY: July 10-12
STAGED READING:
Saturday, July 13, 2024 @ 3 PM - BUY TICKETS HERE
Sunday, July 14, 2024 @ 3 PM - BUY TICKETS HERE
IODINE is a psychological puzzle exploring the life of an unconventional college senior. Tracey Sue Pennington is living a highly functional if impoverished existence after running away from her abusive home, and is forced to face her painful past when she falls in love with a much older man. A traumatic childhood involving exorcisms, alien abduction and a fragmented reality slowly comes into focus as this young woman's heart begins to open.
Director Notes:
"Prior to moving back to the Berkshires after many decades away, I was a screenwriter in Hollywood and wrote ten studio screenplays, of which many were book adaptations. Haven Kimmel's IODINE was a novel that I always longed to adapt. Now that I am back working in the theatre, I jumped at the chance to finally tackle this complex and fascinating story for the stage. IODINE is a challenging psychological puzzle, and a highly theatrical one. I'm hoping that my vision of puppets, shadow art, double casting and an intense sound scape will enhance the world of alien abductions, exorcisms, misplaced sexual desire and the mythic core of the book.
At its heart, IODINE is a detective story. A brilliant young woman must excavate her traumatic childhood, and she invites the audience as her guide. As her fragmented reality slowly comes into focus, audience and character learn that memories are difficult to trust, and they ultimately obscure as much as they reveal."
The Residency:
The Adams Theater Incubator invites independent artists and collectives to use our physical space to develop bold, original works that promote cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaborations. We select residency projects with an eye towards those that would cultivate meaningful interactions between the visiting artists and the local communities.
For the Incubator / Residency work, we have received an Arts Build Community Incubation Grant from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation to support three residencies in 2024.
We are thrilled that the new play IODINE by Michelle Joyner has been selected for one of these residencies in the 2024 season. IODINE is a highly theatrical and complex work that our artistic team feels will benefit immeasurably with this opportunity. It will give creator Michelle Joyner the opportunity to work with a full cast, puppeteer, soundscape and limited design to create the next important step in the process of creating a new play. We will present two public readings on July 13 and 14, followed by a talkback with an expert in the field of childhood trauma after the presentations. We are grateful for the grants and individual donations that make this residency possible. We are excited that North Adams-based artist David Lane will join the team on puppetry design and collaborations.