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McGaw, a noted playwright from Texas, spent time in Knoxville with this production's director, Dennis Perkins, as well as the cast of eleven actors. As a group, they read and discussed the play's difficult subject matter. McGaw explained that he felt compelled to write this play following the Columbine shooting in Colorado. Since then, landscape with stickfigures has been a work in progress - and still is.

For the Black Box's production, playwright, director and actors explored as a group the ways in which different people in a community would be affected by such a tragedy - from the mother of the shooter to the news reporters covering the event. The playwright's goal is to touch on these varying viewpoints, rather than give a one-sided account of the shooting. In order to achieve this, Perkins and McGraw tried to streamline and clarify each character's story as much as possible. In fact, the cast was still receiving cuts and rewrites in the final rehearsals. However, the broad scope of the script still would benefit from some whittling down in its next mounting.

Even in its current phase, landscape with stickfigures is a compelling story that needs to be told and deserves to be seen. The Actors Co-op was honored to receive a major grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, making it possible for this production to be seen by school groups in the area. They have also arranged for Child Psychiatrist, Michael Greer, to be on-hand at these outreach shows to address any questions. For information on tickets for schools or youth groups, please contact Lesley at (865)909-9300.

Cast and production staff for landscape with stickfigures is as follows:
Directed by Dennis E. Perkins and featuring Seth Crowe, Jacques Durand, Jarrod Hawn, Mandi Lawson, Julie Page, Chip Morris, Nicholas Robinson, Jessica Santrock, Ashley Shelton, Emma Wiseman and introducing Chad Wood as Ethan.

Production team includes Ellen Chemay, Jon Chemay, Sarah Campbell, Rob Link, Amy
Sinnott, Barak Weinstein, Katie Alley and Leigh Spencer Brown.

The Actors Co-op looks forward to its 10th Anniversary Season, beginning in July, which will feature its "greatest hits" of the past decade.

SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE ACTORS CO-OP:
The current Actors Co-op production, "landscape with stick figures" has presented the Actors Co-op a
unique opportunity to reach out to our community's schools and engage in meaningful dialogue with
them on the topic of school violence. Our focus on this intiative has necessitated that we alter our
performance schedule to accommodate our outreach performances. We appreciate your support and
understanding of this important part of our role in the community, and apologize for any
inconvenience this may have caused. We will hold two public performances on Saturday, April 21st
and 28th at 8pm at the Black Box Theatre, and we encourage any and all to come and join in the
dialogue. For advanced ticket sales, please contact www.knoxtix.com or call 523-7521.

Amy Hubbard
Executive Artistic Director
The Actors Co-op at the Black Box Theatre
865-909-9300