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Final thoughts before the show

by Joshua Aaron Weinstein, director of Lower Debt

We’ve had an incredible experience being part of the DCA’s INCUBATOR Series this month and we’re thrilled to be presenting a reading tonight of the new work in development, ”Lower Debt.”

Set in the turbulent times we will live in, “Debt” tells the story of an everyman who falls from his white collar existence, ending up among the residents of a tent city looking for another way to live. The questions of community, economy, commodity and happiness are explored in this poetic and heartbreaking play.

It has been a writer’s dream to have a group of artists dedicated to my work. What has been a highly collaborative process is still missing one key element though, and that is you! We all know that bringing art and audience together is a tenant of live theater, but what we often overlook, specifically when developing new work, is the opportunity to have the audience play a part in what live theater can be. The showcase performance tonight will do just that.

LiveWire plans to mount a fully realized production of “Lower Debt” in the spring, but we need your help. What about this play inspires you? What doesn’t? What characters do you connect with, and which do you not care about? How does the language of the play feel to you? And what are your overall impressions of the piece? These are the questions we will be asking each and every audience member tomorrow night after we present our reading. We hope to take your responses and mix them in with our show, so that when the lights go up in the spring, “Lower Debt” won’t just be a play developed by a collective of artists, but by the community at large; the community of artists and audience.

See you at the show!