By Laurelle Walsh
Out of the summer came fire. Out of the fire came stories.
Ten storytellers, all personally affected by the Carlton Complex fires of 2014, come together under the direction of Rose Weagant to tell their stories in “BURN: Stories of the Fire” at The Merc Playhouse on Saturday (Nov. 22) at 7 p.m.
A post-show talkback will be moderated by Humanities Washington trustee and scholar John Roth, to allow the audience to share their thoughts and emotions.
The writers — Ken Bevis, Shelley Block, Raleigh Bowden, Salyna Gracie, Christine Kendall, and the family of Alan and Marcia Ringgold, Nicole Ringgold, Derek van Marter and Cymone van Marter — take the stage and read their own works as arranged by Weagant. Weagant acts as narrator, laying out the events as recorded in daily updates from InciWeb’s Carlton Complex web page.
The assemblage tells the story of the fire as experienced from multiple perspectives.
“The stories are impactful on their own, but together it’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever been part of,” Weagant said. “I’m impressed by the writers’ willingness to offer the raw truth. It takes a lot of courage to do this.”
The material is part memoir, part poetry, part news report and part song, performed in the style of readers theater. The readers’ voices convey the fatigue, indecision, panic, love, and even humor in the unreal situations the writers found themselves in.
Living with smoke and heat, without electricity or running water, the urgency of communicating with loved ones — the familiar scenarios in “BURN” are shared by all who lived through those weeks of uncertainty and disbelief.
Block tells a first-person account of moving her horse out of harm’s way as flames approached, defying both physical injury and self doubt.
Kendall’s prose poem recounts evacuating her Beaver Creek home, packing up, and sleeping in her car on the streets of Twisp.
And the real-time texts that were sent among the Ringgold/van Marter family reveal the deep emotions and caring of people separated by miles but united by love.
“What you’ve created here is an epic poem,” Roth told the cast at a recent rehearsal. “It’s partly lamentation, partly testimony.”
The show is co-sponsored by The Merc Playhouse and Humanities Washington. Admission is by donation.
The Merc Playhouse is located at 101 S. Glover St. in Twisp. For more information, call 997-7529 or go to www.mercplayhouse.org.
