Original Productions & Adaptations

Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir

Written by Leonard “Red” Bird
Adapted for Stage & Directed by Kathryn Moller

Fall 2006: Adapted from the novel by Durango-area poet Leonard “Red” Bird, Folding Paper Cranes: An Atomic Memoir, explores Bird’s journey through the atomic age. By juxtaposing the nuclear blast at Hiroshima, Japan, with Bird’s own duties as an “Atomic Marine” stationed at Yucca Flat, NV, we see the enormity of past decisions and the resulting fallout. Thus, we explore not only the devastation of nuclear blasts, but the hope that springs from destruction; “the phoenix rising from the ashes, transformed and radiant.” Fort Lewis College students from the United States and Japan work together as an ensemble to create a riveting performance you will not forget.

Merrano of the Dry Country

Written by Louis L'Amour
Adapted for Stage by Beau L'Amour
Directed by Kathryn Moller

Summer 2006: Originally adapted as a radio play by Beau L'Amour, this classic western tale appeared as part of the first annual Voices in American Drama Play Reading Series. Anglo ranchers, new to the western terrain, struggle with drought and their own mismanagement of the land. A thriving Hispanic rancher becomes the scapegoat as the cattle die and tensions raise. Cowboy hats, guns, good guys and bad, a classic western with a Hollywood ending.

The Voices in American Drama: Play Reading Series featured new works that were undergoing revisions and final edits. Authors were on hand to answer questions and work with the directors and actors to polish their work.

Click here for more information about the Voices in American Drama Play Reading Series

Skins

New York City Production - Winter 2005
Fort Lewis College Production - Fall 1997 Written by Elizabeth Ingraham & Kathryn Moller
Directed by Kathryn Moller

Skins is an ensemble collaborative work that brings together poetry, movement, voice, and music. Inspired by the poetry and sculpture work of Elizabeth Ingraham, Skins grew from the collaborative efforts of Ms. Ingraham and Kathryn Moller (Director/Choreographer). The performance-based piece combines multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual aspects in exploring what it means to be human.

Skins’ transformational themes include the shaping, limiting, and stripping of our “selves” by cultural, social and developmental patterns, and addressing the differences between genuine desires and expectations of society. With Ingraham’s poem, The Sea of Cortez, serving as its backbone and the richly-layered, multi-colored geography of the Southwest influencing the visuals for the performance work, Skins explores the inner landscape in all of us.

Skins was originally performed at Fort Lewis College in the Fall of 2004. In 2005, the production was taken to the LaMama E.T.C. Theatre in New York City where our theatre students worked hand in hand with professional actors, dancers, and directors.

Click here to read more about Skins

THE HOBBIT

Written by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Adapted for stage & directed by Kurt Lancaster.

December 2003: The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a story about Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, who helps the dwarves reclaim their kingdom after it was taken over by dragon Smaug. Bilbo has many adventures crossing forests and mountains while meeting trolls and goblins.

Through the Fire

Written by Maureen May & Kathryn Moller.
Directed by Kathryn Moller.

Fall 2000: Through the Fire is based on the collection of nine portraits painted by Maureen May.  Utilizing the survivor stories that she collected, as well as various other printed materials, prose and poetry, Through the Fire reflects the stories, metamorphoses, and freedoms of nine survivors of abuse. This abstract visual theatre piece combines stories from Native American, Hispanic, and Caucasian women as well as men. Crossing gender, age, and cultural differences, the juxtaposing stories combine to form an “everyperson” journey from which we hope to gain a different perspective of the complex issues of domestic abuse.  It is a collaborative endeavor between painter Maureen May, director/choreographer Kathryn Moller, Fort Lewis College students, and Durango community artists of various disciplines.  Live sound/music accompany the performance.

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis
from the binding once necessary cocoon of the
caterpillar past.

Struggling, fighting
through the birth-pangs of life
the Butterfly finally emerges.

Free to fly.
Athena

Portraits of Desire - Fall 1999

Adapted & Directed by Kathryn Moller

 

 

 

A Soldier's Tale

Adapted & Directed by Kathryn Moller

Fall 1995: In 1915, Igor Stravinsky was inspired to create a theatrical work based on the Russian folk tales he remembered from his youth. Derived from the Faustian legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil, A soldier’s Tale takes a simpler look at the exchanges people make for riches, power, youth, and wisdom. Stravinsky chose to create a true collaboration between theatre, dance, music, and the visual arts. He created A Soldier’s Tale for Ballets Russes, a company of Russian ballet dancers who had relocated to Paris in search of artistic freedom. Pablo Picasso was to design the set and costumes; Leonid Massine was to choreograph; and Stravinsky was to create the music.  Although these great artists had created many works together, this particular collaboration was interrupted by World War I and the disintegration of The Ballets Russes.  Determined to complete the project, Stravinsky re-adapted A Soldier’s Tale into a small, narrated ensemble work.

This production is an attempt to re-consider Stravinsky’s original full-scale idea.  Although the story line and music are the same, the heretofore silent characters and the dramatic dance scenes have been added.

During the composition of A soldier’s Tale, Stravinsky had a dream about a young gypsy sitting by the edge of the road.  “She had a child on her lap for whose entertainment she was playing a violin. … The child was very enthusiastic about the music and applauded it with his little hands.”  The violin is the soldier’s soul. Once the Devil has carried off the violin, the soldier can choose to either abandon his body, leaving only a skeleton behind, or fight.

Oresteia: Shifting Landscapes - Winter 1994

Adapted & Directed by Kathryn Moller