Garret and Lisa and John and the rest of us here at Stage West are excited to present the world premiere of Deer to the playwright himself this weekend! Please join us on Sunday March 26 for our matinee performance. Playwright Aaron Mark will be in attendance and will lead the Post-Show Conversation.
In the meantime, check out this interesting article Work in Progress: Deer - Playwright Aaron Mark talks about the unusual path his play Deer took for its world premiere at Stage West by Shelby-Allison Hibbs over at Theatre Jones (and excerpted below...)
Aaron Mark grew up in Houston, attending theatre and classes at the notable Theatre Under the Stars. Instead of taking the typical route of going to college and majoring in theatre, Mark decided to move directly to New York City after high school to start his career working in the theatre. He began by assistant directing numerous musicals. Mark mused about his past ambitions, “I was on a path to become a director of musicals.” He’s most known as a director, and has a notable amount of credits in the city.
But something changed as Mark began to take an interest in writing plays… weird plays, as he says. Deer was inspired by real events; a couple of Mark’s friends were driving in a wooded area when they suddenly hit a deer. It completely changed their night because the animal was not quite dead yet—one of them would have to kill it. Mark was fascinated by that situation. “Who is going to do it? What does it reveal about the dynamics of their relationship? What would it catalyze in their relationship? I was intrigued by the intensity of that moment.”
Deer is unusual from a development standpoint… because it has already been published. Even before a single production of the play had occurred. That is interesting…and almost unheard of.
Check out the full article at Theatre Jones to find out the rest of the path Deer took to its world premiere at Stage West.
Hope to see you all on Sunday with your questions and comments for the director.
(photo: Aaron Mark)
