Last summer my play, The Midnight Ride of Sean & Lucy, was going to have a staged reading in Portland, Maine. For obvious reasons that never happened but as reentry looms the reading is now set for July, 31st and it will be the first time I’ve done live theatre since I heard my play Dixieland out loud in February, 2020. I was concerned that maybe Midnight Ride wouldn’t work well anymore since we’ve all experienced so much loss, and as many of you know I write a lot about grief and connection over loss. The director, Gavin Witt, suggested I dust it off and listen to the play now with a fresh perspective. So, I called up a couple trusting friends, and we put together a reading over zoom last Wednesday. It’s been a gift to be able to stay connected through technology, and while personally I haven’t leaned into the zoom theatre phenomena, I was so grateful that trusted collaborators were able to gather quickly so I could hear this old piece.
I started writing Midnight Ride a couple years after the Boston Marathon bombing after I pitched the idea to Jill Rafson at Roundabout Theatre. Roundabout included it in its 2015 underground reading series and Elisabeth Moss and Bryce Pinkham were cast. They had been doing The Heidi Chronicles at the time, and they both were in town, it was a two hander, and the stars aligned. It was one of my first professional readings after graduate school and to say I was intimidated by the cast is an understatement but it was also thrilling. Elizabeth Moss even played my guitar and was really wonderful to work with.
When the reading was over, with no immediate production on the horizon, I put it up on the shelf. It has stayed there until last week when I realized, with the help of Gavin, that it is more relevant now than ever. Sean and Lucy are strangers who find themselves waking up after a one-night stand to a shelter in place order. They cannot leave Sean’s Belmont home which is absolutely unheard of at the time. The play deals with different degrees of intimacy and Sean and Lucy ultimately find peace in their connection over loss; a connection we have all shared to varying degrees over this last year.
I’m looking forward to bringing this play back into the world and hope that we all continue to care for one another. This year has been traumatic for everyone and we need each other to continue to move forward. While we do move forward may we never forget those we lost, but live brightly in their honor. I’m grateful to have a chance to see my work come alive again and that I have people in my life, like Gavin, who help me see the importance in my own work.
