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Production History
In October of 1996, the playwright was
celebrating a birthday (which one isn't that important, is it?) and
received a book from her brother who lives in Paris, France. The
book (you guessed it!) was When I Was Five I Killed Myself by
Howard Buten. The title of the book caught her attention.
She read the first chapter and was sucked in immediately. By the
end of the second chapter she was thinking, This would make a really
interesting piece of theater. By the end of the book, she knew
she had her work cut out for her.
Undeterred, Teddi spent the next year and
a half doing very little socially and adapting the book. She knew she
wanted above all else to retain Burt's voice, but at the same time it
needed to work as a piece of theater. After that year and a half,
she finally worked up the muster to start showing it to people.
Book-It Repertory Theatre's artistic directors Myra Platt and Jane
Jones were generous
enough to offer Teddi a full workshop (6-8 weeks of rehearsal, three performances
in their space, and a budget, as well as access to their mailing list!),
and she jumped (literally) at the opportunity. There was no question
whom she wanted to direct it. She had seen John Vreeke's work
at Book-It and anxiously awaited his reply. (He answered with an
enthusiastic Yes!) The cast of the workshop was as follows:
Burt.................................Brian
Culver
Jessica............................Tina Kunz
Ensemble Actor 1.............Cory Nealy
Ensemble Actor 2.............Jonathan
Bowlby
Ensemble Actor 3.............Andy Neel
Ensemble Actor 4.............Eva Doak
Ensemble Actor 5.............Traci Timmons
The cast rehearsed full-time for a good
7-8 weeks (which was above normal for a workshop and truly a labor of
love). The workshop performances took place September 11-13, 1998.
Lighting was designed by Amanda Potter, lights were run by Brian Harper,
the set was constructed by Greg Carter, and Andy Jensen moderated the
post-play discussions. The audience turnout and response were
overwhelming. By the end of the weekend, the third performance
was completely sold out, with chairs added in every nook and cranny
imaginable. The feedback from the audience during the post-play
discussions was invaluable and has helped shape the revised script,
which has continued to be worked on for the past couple of years.
The play even placed as a finalist for the 1999 Puget Sound New Plays
Project at the Whidbey Island Center for the Arts.
A (much) revised script was read on October
21, 2000 by a very talented group of actors who graciously donated their
time and input: Stephen Hando, Tina Kunz, Eva Doak, Howard Stregack,
Gregory Lyle-Newton, Heather Hawkins and James Lapan. Teddi is
also fortunate enough to have found another director who has a strong
vision for the play - Susanna Wilson, and a mostly new cast (see Cast
List).
Burt (or When I
Was Five I Killed Myself) was produced at the Seattle Fringe Theatre
Festival, "A Fringe Oddity", in March 2001. All
performances were at the Northwest Actors Studio, at 1100 E. Pike on
Capitol Hill. There were six performances between March
9th-18th. The Fringe Festival
cast was as follows:
Burt.................................Brian
Culver
Jessica............................Jennifer Pratt
Ensemble Actor 1.............Greg Lyle-Newton
Ensemble Actor 2.............Jason Hedden
Ensemble Actor 3.............Howard Stregack
Ensemble Actor 4.............Susanna Burney
Ensemble Actor 5.............Morgan Rowe
The production
team was as follows:
Producer:
Teddi Yaeger
Assistant Director: Adam Herzig
Stage Manager: Amy LaZerte
Costume Designer: Heather Moore
Sound Designer: Nathaniel Whitten
Light Designer: Mike Lindgren
Propsmaster: Arita Vernon
Sound
Operator: Andy Neel
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