Level Up: Attic Nostalgia

Gaslight members & actors at Misericordia on April 21.

This past Monday, Gaslight Theatre hosted their first open read through for this year's Playroom scripts! Various Board members and past Playroom actors gathered at Misericorida University for the staged reading of nine play submissions for the attic. Following each play, readers and audience alike contributed constructive feedback regarding content, story, characters, etc.

Although the Board reads through the scripts every year, this open format provided a great opportunity for additional feedback, and for the first time ever, some of the playwrights themselves heard their drafted work.

Matthew S. Hinton, writer and Playroom creator mentioned, "Sometimes we get too 'inside' our own works to hear the sour notes or revel in the sweet ones, so a read-through by new voices and a talk back from some early audiences is, I feel, and important part of the process." Lukas Tomasacci, a third time contributor, also added, "You really can get a sense of what works and what doesn't."

This year's line up certainly promises excitement, and to our surprise, the Attic has inspired a universal theme, which other Playroom rooms have yet to do. 

It's not just the memories that exist in the room upstairs, but the deep emotional attachment to the past. It's an experience; it's nostalgia. Of our families. Our history. Where we've come from and what we can hope for. Nostalgia can be a happy experience, but sometimes it can be painful. The Attic preserves and commemorates our past in a way that transcends time and space again and again. Whether it be an old bedroom or poker den, a room for storage, a place to seek refuge, or a place to simply hide Christmas gifts; the attic is the portal to those material memories. A dusty snow-cone machine. An old pirate radio station. Knowledge and wisdom gained. It's the gateway to a time that was before. A place where we can remember what it means to feel. To find our inspirations, to give up ourselves, or to lose others. To be human. 

The attic is a magical place and we are more than thrilled to being moving forward on what is already a truly inspiring room.

--Brandi George

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