Exploring the destructive nature of creative genius
Ensemble Theatre opens ‘Dust’ for four shows
Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga welcomes back its Brave New Works New Play Series with “Dust” by Chicago playwright Robert Smith.
“Rob and I were college friends in North Carolina, and through our common interest of playwriting have managed to keep in touch. ETC presented a staged reading of the one-act version of “Dust” in 2009 with our New Play Tuesday series. As Rob lengthened, workshopped and premiered the longer version in Chicago, we kept in touch trying to find the right moment for us to present the full-length,” explains Garry Lee Posey, founder and executive director of ETC.
The one-act version of “Dust” received the highest honor for a short play in the Kennedy Center’s American College Theatre Festival shortly after Smith penned it.
The plot is simple. While sick, a father tries to reconcile with his estranged daughter. Carver, a successful composer, and Lucia, his promising violinist prodigy, find themselves overwhelmed by grief when Carver’s wife and Lucia’s mother (also a musician) dies unexpectedly in a car accident on her way home from a booking.
Carver dives deep into his creativity, Lucia loses interest in hers. Through intermittent flashbacks, Smith weaves the pasts and present of these two characters like a tense fugue, reaching a climax that questions the very nature of one’s identity.
“These characters are so complex. Stubborn at one moment, full of guilt at another; angry and unapologetic one moment, reminiscent later. There is a lot to really dig into,” says Gioia Fazzini, who plays Lucia.
Bruce Shaw, fresh from this season’s “Urinetown,” plays Carver. Rounding out the cast is Jennifer Bryant playing Maddie, Lucia’s best friend, and Joseph Tipton playing Ari, a friend of the family.
Making his directorial debut with ETC is onstage regular Joseph Watts.
ETC has partnered with local musician and composer Tim Henson-Hinck for “Dust” as well. Henson-Hinck has composed original music to accompany the play, which Fazzini will play live onstage.