Just as life can be unexpected, inspiration can also happen at serendipitous or seemingly irrelevant moments. Like reading a newspaper, for example. An article about a set of old photographs by a Depression-era photographer, propelled Madison-based playwright Gwen Rice into a research frenzy back in 2004.
Now, nearly eight years later, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) is presenting the world premiere of Rice’s original play inspired by these Walker Evans photographs called A Thousands Words. MCT is collaborating with Madison’s Forward Theatre Company to present the play featuring all Wisconsin-based artists. Although it’s Rice’s fourth play, this New Play Project award-winner is the first to receive full production by a professional theater company.
A Thousand Words moves between the 1930s and present day. It weaves together the stories of Walker Evans, a photographer on assignment documenting the condition of sharecroppers in the West and Midwest, and Sally Quinn, an exhibitions manager at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also in the Midwest in search of antique quilts for a new exhibit. “Normally when I write, I find two disparate stories, start at opposite ends of the spectrum and let them intersect,” says Rice.
In the present day, Quinn stumbles upon a young woman who claims to be a link to the renowned photographer Walker Evans and his rare photographs. “I learned that Hemingway was actually living in the bar when the Walker Evans pictures were discovered among his possessions. They were two men with very similar artistic sensibilities and it turns out that they had met in Key West. Walker was working on a book about the dictator and so he gave the photos to Hemingway for safekeeping,” explains Rice.
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| Josh Aaron McCabe and Molly Rhode Photo by Nick Berard. |
Jumping back and forth between the present day and the 1930s, both characters find themselves caught in the complexities of communication, personal relationships and the way we give meaning to images. Essentially it’s a play about art – what art is and how we value it – with a little Nancy Drew twist. “It’s about the power of words and pictures. It’s about the ownership of art, and the ability of art and artists to change the world,” explains Rice. “Walker pioneered the documentary style photography. He had a fascination with documenting life as it happened and finding little moments and putting them in the right context to tell the story.”
Another important topic the play addresses is the business of curated and outside art and the relationship between art and commerce. Rice pointed out the quilts of Gee’s Bend that Quinn is looking to acquire in the play come from a real story. They were made from impoverished women in Alabama who were descendants of slaves. The quilts became famous and valuable for their intricate beauty, though the women did not profit.
In the play, both Quinn and Evans search for authenticity on both personal and artistic levels through their work. Rice revealed, “I always try to write authentically by finding a way to communicate an idea to touch people as deeply as it has touched me.”
A Thousand Words will be at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre (158 N. Broadway) until March 12. It comes to Milwaukee fresh off a three-week run at Madison’s Overture Center. Forward Theater Artistic Director Jennifer Uphoff Gray directs the six-member cast. See MCT’s website for specials events and talkbacks to accompany this much-anticipated presentation.
Tickets, $31-$36, are available by calling the Broadway Theatre Center Box Office (414) 291-7800 or online by clicking here.
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