WEST ORANGE, NJ — Luna Stage has launched a series of programs to connect, celebrate and inspire local communities during the time of COVID-19. These include free 10-minute playwriting classes for community writers, solo show creation workshops featuring voices from across the country, a song cycle of commissioned pieces inspired by local heroes and three summer camps.
“In times like this, we are reminded that a theater is much more than a building,” Luna Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith said. “Our role is to bring people together, to inspire connection and creativity. And it may require a little bit of ingenuity and shape-shifting to do that, but as theater artists that’s what we do.”
Luna’s first community program, a workshop on “Writing the 10-Minute Play,” led by playwright Jenny Lyn Bader, whose “Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library” had its world premiere at Luna in October 2019, filled to capacity within 10 minutes of being announced. A second session was immediately added, led by Stephen Kaplan, whose full and 10-minute plays have been featured at Luna, and instantly filled as well. A third session is being scheduled, and will be announced on Luna’s website, www.lunastage.org.
“We had a feeling there might be a need, but had no idea how much our community wants opportunities like this,” Kreith said. The playwriting program is free — with an optional registration fee — to ensure that it is accessible to everyone. Luna also plans to present readings of all the 10-minute plays created in the workshop once it is safe to do so.
Also part of Luna’s virtual education program is “Voices Across America: Write An Original Solo Show In Six Weeks,” which will be collaboratively facilitated by three solo artists. The program is inspired by Luna’s “American Voices” series and will be led by Ami Brabson, Will Nolan and Aizzah Fatima. Participants in the solo show creation workshop will be drawn from across the country.
“At this unique moment in time, we feel as geographically close to people across the country as we do to those in a neighboring town,” Kreith said. “It’s a unique opportunity to connect and listen to one another, and our hope is that this project will invite us to empathize with one another’s experiences.”
Meanwhile, an existing Luna performance project has been reimagined to exist online. The commissioned song cycle “Secret Cities: Songs of Unsung Heroes” had initially been slated for site-specific performance in May. However, the series is now being released online — a new song goes live every Monday — on the company’s website and via social media.
“We haven’t given up on a live performance later this summer, but meanwhile this is an opportunity to uplift and inspire our community by sharing new music inspired by local people making a difference,” Kreith said.
The first song, “We Knead,” inspired by Phil Serrani’s Sanitary Bakery in Orange, written by Miranda Ferriss Jones and performed by Allison Posner with accompaniment by Ben Morss, is currently live on the company’s website.
Luna has also announced pay-what-you-wish summer acting and filmmaking programs for young people, ranging from a “Create Your Own Zoom Mystery” camp for elementary students to a month-long on-camera acting and web series design conservatory for middle and high schoolers. Information on these and other summer programs can be found on Luna’s website at www.lunastage.org/camps.
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