Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Planet Connections Interview - Laura Cunningham of "Frack You!"

By Byrne Harrison

Name: Laura Cunningham
Play: Frack You!Relationship to production:  Playwright
Website: http://www.frackyoutheplay.com/

How did you first get involved in theatre?

I became involved as a writer; my first work was a two-act musical, So Long, Goodbye, produced by Windsor High School.

Who are your biggest influences?

My sister, Lynn, who has directed over thirty theatrical productions in our local high school. She also teaches vocal music and general music theory. Her best advice: “leave them with something good at intermission, so they’ll want to come back – because they don’t let us lock the doors."

What is your show about?

Fracking for natural gas. Fracking is very dynamic and current, not only in the United States, but around the world. It's also very timely given the recession, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the need to become less dependent on foreign energy sources. With money, natural resources, and the environment at stake, everyone is seeing green.

What inspired you to write it?

I wanted to present the issues about natural gas fracking in a way that it has not yet been presented – in a comedy.

Why was it important to you to be part of an eco-friendly theatre festival?

I enjoy working in an environment that respects the same things I do.

Planet Connections donates a portion of the box office for each show to a charity.  What charity has your production chosen and why?

I chose the Sierra Club because of its interest in the environment. I told them that my play was a comedy and tells both sides of the fracking issue. It turns out that the Sierra Club has members who have different opinions about fracking; this was very important to me.

What's next for you after Planet Connections?

Frack You! was written as a one-act comedy, presented in The Planet Connections Festivity as a staged reading. I plan to rewrite it as a two-act show; a small theater is interesting in a full production of it in September. I am also collaborating on a two-act comedy about internet dating, A Date with Fate. We have a full production planned for November.

If you could get any person, living or dead, to see this show who would you choose and why?

I would like that very first fracker to come see it!

Frack You!
Thursday, June 09 at 2:30PM

The Robert Moss Theatre
440 Lafayette Street

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