Scissortail Gets Oklahoma City Premier

As many of you know, I wrote a play in 2014 that was later produced in Chicago with my friends at Adapt Theatre in 2015. The play is titled Scissortail and it is loosely based on the events of the Oklahoma City Bombing. I say “loosely” because while the play is centered around the attack, it’s less about the bombing and more about what it’s like to lose someone close to you. I started working on this piece 2 years after my dad died. He was 46, I was 23. It was sudden and devastating.

So this play was and still is an exploration of grief for me. It’s been subtitled as “A Story of Loss, Grief, and Recovery: Based on the Events of the Oklahoma City Bombing”. We see McVeigh’s story, we learn about his childhood, we get a grasp on his motives, and we see how all of it affects one person, 20 years later. It’s a play about grief but it’s also very much a play about Oklahoma and the people who call this place home. That’s why I’m incredibly excited that it will be premiering in Oklahoma City in the spring of 2018.

Some of you may remember that the show was scheduled to be produced last year but the production fell through due to some unforeseen circumstances with that company. It’s been picked up by a different theatre company and I’m so excited to get to partner with a couple of great organizations and a bunch of talented people.

First, is Fresh Paint Performance Lab. Fresh Paint is a relatively new company formed by several of my good friends from OCU. They specialize in new work and do an amazing job of cultivating Oklahoma art and developing Oklahoma Artists. They are creative, open, and an incredibly talented group of people. I couldn’t be more excited to have them bring this show to an Oklahoma audience.

We are also privileged to get to partner with Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre (CityRep). Scissortail will be a partner production presented by CityRep and will be performed in the City Space Theatre at the Civic Center. This theatre is very intimate and the perfect space for the show. CityRep’s Artistic Director Donald Jordan has graciously stepped into an advisory role for the show, bringing to the table a true love for the Oklahoma arts scene and years of professional theatre experience.

Scissortail will be directed by Fresh Paint’s Artistic Director, Chelcy Harrell and production managed by Daniel Leeman Smith. I have a great amount of respect for their artistic vision and capabilities. I have both seen and performed in shows directed by Chelcy and love how she sees plays, communicates with actors, navigates the stage, and constructs worlds. I’m also very excited to have a bold female voice at the helm of this relatively male heavy show. We have a couple other theatre artists that will be joining the production team that I’m very excited about, so stay tuned.

The run of this show in Chicago was a great success and learning experience for me as a writer and for Adapt as a company. Since it’s inception, the goal has always been to see it performed for the people that it’s written for and about. We’re only a few months away and  I’ve been so excited by the pre-production work.

Stay tuned, I’ll continue to post updates here. For additional information including auditions, follow Fresh Paint on Facebook.

I can’t wait to share this story with you.

Categories: News, Theatre, UncategorizedTags: announcement, fresh paint performance lab, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Bombing, play, Scissortail, Theatre, Timothy mcveigh