The Conservation of Mass
It’s the summer of 1974 and local teen Larissa has discovered that rock musician Paul McCartney has secretly rented a farm just outside Nashville for a few weeks. Larissa camps out on the farm, watching through her binoculars for Paul, certain that his presence in her small town means all sorts of miraculous things are sure to happen. But Larissa has a secret of her own and her need for a miracle becomes the focal point of the summer of ‘74.
Productions
Behind The Scenes
With Playwright Donna Seage
What inspired you to write this play?
I was in a store and heard the song that Paul McCartney wrote about his time that summer living on this farm outside Nashville. Suddenly I could see this teen girl in my head, hiding in the bushes with binoculars trying to get a glimpse of Paul. I wrote the play so I could find out what she was doing there.
What's your favorite part or line in the play? Why?
I love the parts with the movement based ensemble, I wanted it to allow for a bit of freedom for different casts and their directors. It's amazing to me how many different ways productions have come up with to express the themes carried by the ensemble. They're definitely the heart of the story.
Where did the characters come from? Are they based on people you know?
These particular characters aren't really based on anyone specific. I find when I write that certain things need to happen from a storyline/plot perspective and generally a character pops up and gets it done. I have a few characters in my head when I start writing but others come along during the writing process to accomplish things that need doing.
What did you try to achieve with this play?
I wrote this not long after my own mom passed away and I found that it helped me work through some of that. The notion that even though we're not here our stories are still important is a big deal to me. I'm a believer that the smallest unit of human communication isn't the word or the sentence, it's the story. Storytelling is a natural part of being human.
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
I started writing really late in life because I thought what I wrote would never be good enough to be seen by anyone. As I've gotten older I realize how much time I've wasted worrying that I wasn't good enough. The only way to get good at something is to take the risk of being bad at it for a while. So, write something awful!. Paint horribly, sing badly, drive your family crazy learning an instrument...take creative risks when you're young because it only gets more difficult to risk things as you get older.