For the next four weeks, theatergoers near Falmouth, Massachusetts, have the opportunity not only to see up-and-coming shows, but actually contribute to their development as part of the Cape Cod Theatre Project. Every week for the next four weeks, the program will present a new play written by a female playwright that changes over the course of its three-day run based on audience feedback from the previous nights.
The project’s artistic director, Hal Brooks, joined Boston Public Radio alongside playwright Gina Femia to share a bit about the format and Femia’s upcoming production, “The Violet Sisters.”
“The play that you see on Thursday is going to be very different from the play that you hear on Saturday, which gives [the crew] opportunities to make changes throughout the week,” Brooks said. “Even radical changes, if you'd like.”
Although the format might seem unorthodox, Femia explained that this kind of feedback is a crucial part of the script-writing process.
“As a playwright, you're putting your work out there constantly,” she said. “Theater is a constant collaboration, not only with your club, your artistic collaborators, but with the audience. So getting feedback in the moment from them is really valuable.”
Femia said the smaller size of this theater, compared to one for a Broadway show, has been an added benefit for her play. "The Violet Sisters" uses only one set and is formatted as a 90-minute conversation between two estranged sisters who reunite in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Plays like these “could really excel on a smaller stage where the audience really gets to like be right up in it,” said Feima.
It’s exactly that intimacy and realism which drew Brooks to Femia’s work. “One of the things that really appeals to me about Gina's writing, is that she is writing about the real Brooklyn. She's not writing about some Hollywood's sort of sugar-coated fantasy Brooklyn,” he said.
The monthlong project will feature four new plays, the first of which will be Femia’s "The Violet Sisters," running from June 30 to July 2. Tickets can be purchased on their website, which will also provide streamable versions of this year’s plays.
“It's been an exciting place to develop new work,” said Brooks. “It’s an incubator.”