Fringe Fest production goes biblical
[attach]1937[/attach]Playwright Dorothy Lichtblau’s latest Fringe Festival production is going back to biblical times.
Putting a spin on the story of Creation, Eve’s Garden, a one-act play, simply came to Lichtblau during a writer’s course with the late poet and short short writer Libby Scheier.
“During the course Eve came to me … after she and Adam had been ousted from the Garden,” says Lichtblau, a Forest Hill resident and longtime Fringe Fest contributor.
She took that idea and transformed it into a three-character piece involving Eve, Adam and a character named Viatti.
Originally written as a monologue, Lichtblau’s work retells the story of Adam and Eve from a particularly female point of view.
Lichtblau wrote and produced the play under her company, Moon in June Productions.
Lichtblau isn’t new to writing. She has been involved in Fringe productions since the early 1990s, penning such works as Gesuhndheit (1992) and Maiden Mother Crone (1998).
Prior to that, Lichtblau edited and published a small newsletter called the Jewish Womens Forum.
She is also a member of the Toronto Storytellers Association. She says the Fringe Festival is a good opportunity for local, national and international theatre artists to come together and show work.
“For the audience [the Fringe] allows them to know what is the depth and possibility in theatre.”
Lichtblau adds that she enjoys the chance to try out new ideas on the audience without the pressures that might come from a more traditional theatre festival that is juried and has a certain mandate attached to it.
Lichtblau hopes audiences see that there is not just one story when it comes to the Creation.
She describes her character Eve as feisty and witty – unafraid to question things and go after things she wants.
Lichtblau says her protagonist is determined to regain entry into the Garden. At the heart of it though, Eve’s Garden is a love story.
Not simply in the traditional sense of love but to be open to living with love in one’s life, she says.
“She grew with me,” Lichtblau says. “The character of Eve didn’t leave me.”
Along with wanting to present audiences with a different version to the famous tale, Lichtblau wants theatregoers to be entertained.
After all, good theatre revolves around education and entertainment, Lichtblau says.
“I want them to take a journey,” she says. “I want them to think about where we hear stories from.”
Eve’s Garden final showtime is Sunday, July 11 at 1 p.m. at St. Vladimir’s Theatre. 620 Spadina Avenue.