[Jef Hall-Flavin]

2003 - GUTHRIE ON TOUR

In 1999, artistic director Joe Dowling revived the Guthrie Theater's touring program, and I was fortunate to direct one of the productions serving towns in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Michigan, Missouri, and Illinois.

Imagine if the tragic figures of Antigone, Hamlet, Cyrano, Nora Helmer, and Willy Loman all found themselves in a room together. What would they say to one another? Surely they couldn't help but compete for the best story about how they failed or died... in a "No Exit" kind of way (but funnier).

I teamed up with playwright Bill Corbett (of Mystery Science 3000 fame) to create The Stuff of Dreams. We used excerpts from the five plays, interwoven with snappy dialogue in a portable production that could thrive in theaters, gyms, community centers, and cafeterias. In four months, we introduced over 10,000 people to five indelible characters of classic Western theater.