New play opens in Bloomington

"It's different this time." \nThis is the message of the Bloomington Playwrights Project's new play opening tonight, "Kate Crackernuts," by New York playwright Sheila Callaghan. The play is innovative theater at its best and is filled with poetic prose and a magical pulse. \n"Kate Crackernuts" is being heralded as one of the most compelling and inventive evenings of theater you'll see this year. It's different from most shows at the BPP. \n"This material takes a lot of chances that you normally would not get to see in Bloomington theatre," said Rick Perez, director and BPP artistic director. \nThe play is based on the folk tale "Kate Crackernuts" which has been revised to take place in the underground world of rave culture, as opposed to fairy dances of the original. The updated version is about the quest of two sisters searching for the recovery of a lost head and themselves. The play takes them on a journey through love, sickness, drugs, a talking sheep and the lure of sex to a techno beat. \nCallaghan said he used the rave scene because: "The hyper-kinetics and the odd loneliness of rave dancing is what most attracted me. The music is so charged and panicked, and even in the dreamy parts there is a tension that always verges on exploding into color. Rave dancing is all elbows and angles and rainbows and closed eyes." \nPhil Kasper, also a director of the show, was the person who came across Callaghan's script while interning at New York's "New Dramatist." \n"I was reading plays for a contest we administered and was drawn to Sheila's work," Kasper said. "So I just held on to it and contacted her about doing the show once I came to the BPP."\nThe words and visions of the play are spun into every scene and character, moving the audience with them. \n"Sometimes floods of images would just pour onto my keyboard and I felt like I was almost channeling," Callaghan said. "But the writing at times was a strenuous and tedious process of examining imagery and trying to find the most accurate, excellent, compelling, and fresh way of describing a thing. Then I'd just get so word-drunk, completely intoxicated by the pretty sentences."\nIn addition to the show, on opening night there will be an open reception with food and dancing to music performed by "Kate Crackernuts" D.J., "Special K" Scott Kellogg.\nThere will also be a talk back with playwright Sheila Callaghan after the November 3rd Sunday matinee. The audience will be free to discuss the show and ask questions of Callaghan, directors Rich Perez and Phil Kasper, and the actors. \n"Kate Crackernuts" is a mystical weave of truth and glitter opening tonight. It will run through Nov. 17 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.). Ticket cost is $15 General, $12 Students & Seniors. Show and ticket information can be received at The Bloomington Playwrights Project at 312 S. Washington St, or by calling the Reservation Hotline 355-9001.