Professional Workshop a Big Hit
Writer John Orlock’s new work, Some Things That Can Go Wrong At 35,000 Ft. debuted April 9 in Sheafer Theater as part of the Department of Theater Studies festival of New Works in Process. Audiences praised the professional workshop and inquired about the future of the play. Director Michael Parva, Artistic Director of The Directors Company in New York, is considering the production for New York.
"We are excited about the play and believe that it does have a future," says Zannie Voss, producing director of the production. "However, nothing has been extensively discussed. Given the response we've received, there is a strong possibility that further work will be done on it."
Critics also responded positively:
"...some of the area's best acting is currently taking place on the Shaefer stage. 35,000 Feet also has a future, I'd say." writes Indy critic, Byron Woods
As a Critic's Pick in the News and Observer, Orla Swift adds: "Michael Parva directs a superb cast, which performs script in hand but with such emotional intensity and focus that it renders the production's bare-bones presentation irrelevant. The characters are fully drawn and distinct, their debates fascinating and believable. Orlock's characters discuss the nature of genius, adventure, duty, creativity, grief, love and war with jaw-dropping eloquence. They guide us with humor and grace to the inevitable tragedy that history has already written: the disappearance of Saint-Exupery's airplane while on a reconnaissance mission over occupied France during World War II. Just as the words of Saint-Exupery's "Little Prince" linger long after the last page is turned, so, too, does Orlock's poignant homage. Take this journey with him before it, too, disappears."
The play is set initially in 1939 but shifts into earlier and later years and centers around the little known encounter between Charles and Anne Lindbergh and French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of Le Petit Prince. “The play is fluid, in that the scenes and spaces often blend and overlap one another,” comments Orlock. “As the scenes jump from one location to another, carefully selected scenic detail should set the location…”The play opened as recent news of the finding of Saint-Exupery's aircraft was discovered off the coast of the Mediterranean city of Marseille. "Saint Ex" is known as one the country's biggest heroes and the discovery is truly a "galvanizing moment for France..."
John Hickok, who has appeared in the Tony Award-winning Paradise on Broadway as well as Elton John’s Aida, acted the role of Charles Lindbergh and Wynn Harmon filled the role of Antoine de Saint-Exupery. They were accompanied by Duke students Caroline Patterson (Anne Lindbergh) and Kymberlie Stansell (Narrator/Maid).
Orlock, recipient of writing fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment of the Arts, has had works produced at major regional theaters around the country, including the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival. His play Indulgences in the Louisville Harem was co-winner (along with Gin Game) of the Actors Theater of Louisville’s Great American Play Contest, and in 2000 had its Eastern European premiere at the Hungarian National Theater.
