Millibo Art Theatre to host ‘The Making of a Great Moment’
What lengths will artists go to show to showcase their work?
That’s the question actors Anna Faye Hunter and Michael Lee will explore in “The Making of a Great Moment”, opening at the Millibo Art Theatre on Thursday. The play will run through March 24.
“It’s a good comedy; there’s lots of laughs in it,” said Jim Jackson, the executive director of the MAT. “It’s a fun experience. I mean, certainly for theater people, but also for people who’ve ever dabbled in the difficulties of art.”
The show follows two actors: Mona, played by Hunter, and Terry, played by Lee. The duo are on a quest: tour their play “Great Moments in Human Achievement” across the country, which they’re traveling by bicycle, Jackson said.
“The play is booked into all sorts of community centers and nursing homes, different places like that. Anything but a real theater,” Jackson said about the play within the play.
What: “The Making of a Great Moment”
When: 7:30 p.m Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; March 7-9, 14-17 and 21-24
Where: Millibo Art Theatre, 1626 S Tejon St.
Price: $25-$28; 719-465-6321; themat.org
Throughout the show, Mona and Terry fluctuate between performing a series of vignettes for the play and interacting as themselves on the road.
“One of them is a very jaded, very experienced actor, who finds himself stuck in a two-person play. And the other one is a very idealistic, optimistic young actor who is his partner in the place, so their interaction forms a lot of the dialogue and the tension of the play,” Jackson said.
The play premiered in San Francisco two years ago and was chosen by Jackson because of its unique take on the artistic experience.
“I read it and I just really enjoyed the quirkiness of it. The fact that it’s really the story of what theater people go through to put their plays on, for me, as a touring artist for many years, and also just sort of pokes a lot of fun at the ridiculous things that we put together to perform,” he said.
And while it’s a good comedy, it’s the deeper message that drew Jackson to the story. “People who are artists go to extreme lengths to make their art, whether they’re theatre artists or visual artists or musicians or writers,” he said.
“They have to do it, it’s who they are. They test themselves to extremes sometimes, and that’s what is exemplified by the bicycling.”
“The Making of a Great Moment” is opening at the Millibo Art Theatre on Thursday. The play, starring Anna Faye Hunter and Michael Lee, will run through March 24.
“The Making of a Great Moment” is opening at the Millibo Art Theatre this Thursday. The play, starring Anna Faye Hunter and Michael Lee, will run through March 24.
“The Making of a Great Moment” is opening at the Millibo Art Theatre this Thursday. The play, starring Anna Faye Hunter and Michael Lee, will run through March 24.