We are proud to have made semi-finals in the 2023
Eugene O'Neill National Music Theater Conference !
Artistic Statement for Mayflower Avenue, A Multimedia Play With Songs
It’s morning in America…..again. Mayflower Avenue is a living room drama meets tech-driven magical realism fueled by a mashup of genre shifting contemporary songs. Set in a suburban NY enclave, on the eve of yet another election in the distant but near future, Mayflower Avenue offers an unrelenting glimpse into the intimate lives of four neighboring families, each poised on the edge of personal and national change. Why now? The creators of Mayflower Avenue believe it's right on time! We have been witness to tumultuous national and local elections, an attack on our nation's capital, 900k+ pandemic deaths,air quality alerts and a country that continues to struggle to define itself and defend the tenuous experiment we call democracy.
We call Mayflower Avenue a “play with songs” because it is uniquely dialogue heavy for a musical. It’s really a play that features stand-alone songs sung by the characters that will leave the audience humming. It is a collective project, made with love and humility, examining what community means, what racial reckoning and healing looks like and helps the audience to pause, examine where we are and reimagine how we move forward if American Democracy is a fragile experiment and the laboratory is on fire.
Production Concept(s):
On the page, Mayflower Avenue reads like a traditional musical, with actors singing songs and performing the book. We have no doubt it can deliver dramatically in that classic form.
However, in our ideal production, 11 actors would perform the play, backed by a five-piece rock band, with the musical numbers simultaneously being shown on social media platforms and getting “likes” and “comments”. Our families are forever under surveillance.
The broadcasting of “News Segments” are a constant bombardment that dances across TV screens, phones, laptops, etc.
The people in this world have become so connected to technology that they unconsciously repeat moments when triggered by TLAs (truth loop alerts). This happens when the truth is escaping them and their once sharp human instincts are challenged.
Some key points to keep in mind as you imagine a production of Mayflower Avenue:
The News Segments are fluid and can be pre-recorded and easily updated.
The News remains ambiguously apocalyptic and might even contradict itself depending on what network they are broadcast on. Ex: One network might say the air quality is getting better, another outlet may say it’s not.
The Mayflower Avenue creative team believes that theater should be challenging, transformative, and healing. Whether Mayflower Avenue finds a production in the next year - or in the distant but near future, it will continue to ask its audience a fundamental question…What will we cling to - and what will fall away in our shared search for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
With Deep Gratitude,
Nicole and Stephanie