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I enjoyed reading Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom, and I would love to direct this play sometime in the future because I feel there's a lot to work with here. I feel it's aged fairly well given that it's from 2008 when Virtual Reality was barely starting up. However, I feel the "Smokey" play runs a lot deeper in terms relationships, and how they can sometimes become complicated over time. It was more relatable to me as a spectator to the relationships in my family. I cannot really say the same about Neighborhood 3 because, even though I am interested in the concept, I do not relate to the situations within the play. I feel as a director, I would do better work if I can relate to the content I am working with. Only You Can Prevent Wildfires takes the win for me.

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THE STORY IN MY MIND ACCORDING TO THE TITLE ALONE

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THE STORY IN MY MIND ACCORDING TO THE TITLE ALONE

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The story in my mind based on the title alone before reading anything:

Sounds to me like the title can be a metaphor for a problem or situation. Perhaps this problem can be avoided easily. Perhaps it has to do with relationships between people. My personal experiences with people tells me this is probably something similar. Is there betrayal? High school style drama in a sense that the conflict is not a big deal, but it becomes a big deal because of different ideologies. Is the wildfire a metaphor for disaster? Or is the story about a literal wildfire? Is it both? Can it be both?

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This play takes us back to 2002 when the biggest wildfire in Colorado's history took place. It follows a story of two couples whose relationships are slowly falling apart. On one side is Terry, a forest service technician and her unimpressive husband. And on the other we have Kim, a special agent trying to uncover the real cause of a wildfire who lives with her partner Kai, a housewife. Both couples are on opposite tracks. This play puts an emphasis on marriage and relationships, and how they can avoid catastrophe. After all, wildfires can be preventable.

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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What is the message of the play and what is your message with your production?

I believe the message of this play is to raise awareness about wildfires, and to just tell a story about two couples that are really going through it. In a nutshell, that's what I believe this is. It is certainly be much deeper than that. It's about two couples having relationship problems who are trying to figure out how to improve their situation. It's about financial crisis. It's about emotional stability. It's about wanting to be loved and appreciated. To be taken into consideration about each others needs. It's about feeling like they don't belong. It's about not feeling at home. It's about many little details that we don't notice but make a significant difference in our relationships.

With this play I want to give my own interpretation about the small things in life that affect our relationships. Why things don't work out. How things inevitably dissolve with time. How our choices create consequences. To me, this play is less about the literal wildfire and more about the metaphor of what a wildfire represents within a relationship. Wildfires are known to cause massive damage and destruction. They can be start by a tiny spark of an ember and quickly become an inevitable calamity. Such can be said about a relationship that is deteriorating. This could have started with something small such as a wrong small detail that gets noticed that continues to happen creating a change in how someone perceives their loved one. What was a small detail can evolve into a big fire that there's no coming back from. This can cause the end to a relationship, or worse, the end of a marriage.

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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Why do the play, why now?

I feel this play is extremely relatable to me. Not directly, but as a spectator in the lives of some of the people I am close to. Through out my life I have never seen a functional family within my own family. My mother divorce three times until she decided to be alone. My oldest sister was in a horribly toxic marriage that took her husband's death to finally feel liberated. My second sister was domestically abused, she was cheated on, and she became an extremely cold person as a result before she passed away. My youngest sister is divorced from her first husband and currently separated from her second. My niece's husband left her to fend for herself and her four kids. My brother temporarily moved to the US, and moved back home only to find his wife with another man. As a result, I don't believe in this fantasy we call marriage. Under my eyes and from what I've witnessed, love just simply doesn't last forever. Every thing ends and love is not an exception. I want that ideology to change.

I feel directing this play will be a great way for me to vent out my frustrations. But most importantly, I want to show people that love is not always sunshine and rainbows. It's dirty and gritty, and, unless you're willing to put the effort and investment, you will never have a successful marriage. I want to use this play as an example of what not to do. To pay more attention to the people who love you. To not take them for granted. I consider myself fortunate to have witnessed the misfortunes in others, because I can pick up on the things I should not do and work on things that will help me. I want to be a cycle breaker, and help others escape the mentality that love doesn't last forever.

Why now? I think any time is good for a play such as this one. It can be now, it can be in ten years, or it could have been twenty years ago. Timing for this play does not matter. The topics portrayed within this play are relatable through every generation. I don't see a reason to limit this play to a specific time period. Now is always better however.

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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WHAT IS YOUR CONCEPT FOR YOUR PRODUCTION?

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How will you approach this play?

I would like to approach this play by detailing the important event that occurred in 2002, but my primary focus would be to tell a story. A story about two couples who are losing their relationship. I want to emphasize the importance of paying attention to the small details when it comes to oneself and our partners. It is often the small things that we don't recognize that start the spark that can grow into a wildfire. And it can all be prevented if we only pay attention, listen, comprehend, and empathize with our partners. Divorce is a very common thing nowadays, and I wish this was not the case. I want people to be happy with the persons they chose. To make them aware that they don't have to end things.

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Projections:

Dead Woods

Wildfire Burning

News Reports

Forest

Night Skies

National Park Backgrounds

Moving Set Pieces:

Court Podium

Bed on Wheels and Door

Door and Recliner

Campfire Sight

Full Bar

Large Climbable Tree

Picnic Table for Kim

Sounds:

Wildlife

Fire

Bar Chatter

Music

Fire Crackling

Firefighters

Water

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How will you approach casting?

I want two lesbian or bi actors to play Kim and Kai. I believe they should be actors who identify as such to more accurately portray these two characters.

As for John and Terry, I know the real Terry is a white blonde woman. However, I feel that the actor's race can be flexible. I would prefer to be more accurate to their real life reference, but I don't mind if they cast a person of different race or ethnicity. Same would apply for John.

Smokey wears a mask throughout the entire play; the actor must be male but can be any race as well. Keeping in mind he is the man Terry wish she had, and Kims inner superhero detective agent who helps her think. Kim used to look up to these heroic men who would help people in need. Hence why Smokey as a male figure would seem appropriate.

What information will you share with actors in casting process?

Firstly, I would describe the characters to them as it is written on the script, and then I would give them a quick character analysis of what I think about them. I would also show the actors footage of the real documentaries and news reports. This way they can learn who the people of this play are based on. I feel the actors would have a better understanding of the characters is they learn about the original reference this play was based on.

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Who do you need to work with to share this story?

In order to share this story, I would want to work with a proper dramaturge. I feel having a dramaturge would significantly help every one understand the source and purpose of this play on a much deeper level.

I would need an intimacy director to help work with the blocking of intimate scenes. There are various scenes in which the characters touch each other. I would like to have someone moderate that to keep a healthy, respectful and safe environment for the actors along with everyone else in the production.

I would need a projection's designer to help set the various scenes of this world. The same goes for the set designer. Although I want the scenic elements of this play to be shiftable and easily removable. This can be either by wheels or by flying them down to the stage.

A lighting designer would be crucial for scene transitions. This play has people disappearing and appearing more than entering and exiting. I feel using lights to make the actors appear and disappear would be ideal for this play.

A costume designer would be needed to give the characters personality, and to emphasize the various jobs each characters has outside of their home. As well as what they wear when they are sleeping or at home. And to have a good looking Smokey The Bear costume.

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Forest Greens

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Wildfire

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Hayman Fire News Reports

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Aftermath

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The Bar

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PLAY: Any general information about how the play operates in time and space.

This play entertains the concept of time in an interesting way. I've seen this before in other plays, but I feel it works for this play as a whole.

It starts off with a court hearing and then goes into the past. And within that past we go into several flashbacks that are cut in bewtween scenes almost inconveniently.

At times there are two scenes happening at the same time. At other times they take turns bouncing from one scene to the other. Sometimes we even see three scenes happening in the same space. And sometimes we see these scenes blend into each other.

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PLAY: Key moments and transitions and how you would address them

The biggest and most common transitions happen in the middle of scenes. These give an understanding that different situations are happening at the same time.

I would address these scenes by cutting the stage in half.

On one side we would have Terry and John.

On the other it would be Kim and Kai.

For the bar scene, this can be positioned on either side upstage at a diagonal.

Given that Smokey The Bear is an almost omnipotent entity, I feel he can roam around and be in between all the characters. Mostly between Terry and Kim.

These scenes would also change the scenic elements.

With some sets being simple and straight to the point such as a bed that would symbolize Kim's home. A Court Hearing Stand section for Terry. And (among other movable sets) the bar where John and Kai have drinks together.

These set pieces can be shifted around with either built in wheels or they can be flown in and out.

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EXCERPT: Thorough blocking/staging for your excerpt

In my excerpt I would want to keep The Bar slightly upstage diagonally on either side.

Then I would have Terry be downstage on whichever side The Bar would be placed.

Kim would be adjacent to Terry on the opposite side of the stage also downstage.

Smokey The Bear would roam in the center between everyone. This way he can shift his attention between Terry and Kim.

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EXCERPT: Beat work, events of scenes in your excerpt

I want my excerpt to start with Terry lighting up her cigarette at the top of pg. 36. She'll pass it to Smokey and they will smoke it together for a beat or two. Just enough for each to inhale and exhale at least once.

Lights will dim for them and new lights will focus on the bar where Kai and John are having a conversation.

Lights unfocus on them at the bottom of pg. 37. And they'll rise back up on Terry at the top of pg. 38.

Here we see Terry continue her conversation with Smokey.

Light goes off on Terry but stays on Smokey and at the same time lights goes up on Kim who will now light a cigarette of her own.

Kim now carries a conversation with Smokey.

Then the switch between Terry and Kim happens again with the light change.

Here we have Terry reminiscing on an old song she used to love. She will sing this with no music.

John walks down from the bar and starts twisting Terry with a dancing movement. Then John sings a small verse with no music.

Once Terry takes John's hand the song "Twist The Night Away" will play and they will dance for the duration of the lyrics written in the script.

John slowly detaches himself and goes back into the dark bar.

Terry move back to her original position where she calls her last line at the bottom of pg. 40.

And with this my excerpt comes to a finish.

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Homes

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This song would play during the dance sequence in my excerpt. Pg. 40

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Sharp-eyed agent solves Colorado's Hayman fire

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Sentence extended for woman who started Hayman Fire

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Agents: 2002 fire not heat of the moment

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New Mexico struggles against raging wildfires amid evacuations

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Elaborately presented but dramatically deficient, playwright Harrison David Rivers' Only You Can Prevent Wildfires imagines the events surrounding the largest forest fire in Colorado history in 2002. Smokey The Bear appears throughout the play. He's "A figment of everyone's imagination. Or maybe not."

The incident might have made for a 1970's style, all-star cast disaster movie, or a simple theatrical inquiry. Instead, Mr. Rivers offers a dull marital drama that's been realized by tremendous stagecraft to no great purpose.

The Hayman fire caused nearly $40 million in firefighting costs, burned 133 homes, 138,114 acres, and forced the evacuation of 5,340 people. One person died from an asthma attack brought on by the fire and five firefighters died from injuries sustained in a traffic accident en route to the fire. The play doesn't go into much detail about these facts. The cause was determined to be arson. Rivers' scenario is a fantasia on the matter.

Forestry technician Terry Lynn Barton has been married to John Barton, an amiable workingman, for 15 years. They have two small daughters, are under a lot of economic pressure and their marriage has become strained. We certainly know this because Dolly Parton's song "Jolene" is frequently played in the background. John has been hooking up with other women and taking cross-country jobs, and Terry files for divorce. John writes her a letter, the contents of which are never known as the emotionally distraught Terry burns it, and that causes the fire. That she later a received a prison sentence is not mentioned.

Kim Jones is the government investigator who is obsessed with bringing the culprit to justice. This takes a toll on her lesbian relationship with Kal, a pleasant woman who sold her New Mexico business to relocate to Colorado to be with Kim. The play shifts back and forth between the two couples. An actor in a ranger uniform and a bear mask wafts in and out interacting with everyone as Smokey The Bear. "Nothing stays the same" is representative of the words of wisdom that he imparts.

Rivers' treatment is uninvolving but the technical aspects are arresting, though these do not salvage the material from tedium.

The audience sitting on three sides of the airy playing area on wooden benches is part of Clifton Chadick's super, environmental scenic design. The floor is covered with wood chips, logs and tree stumps, there are a several jagged wooden poles and a few red fire buckets strewn about. On one end is a stage area and the other is a screen where Joey Moro's atmospheric projection design is shown. The crisp imagery includes fires, nature and abstractions. For several distracting instances the actors at the other end of the stage are projected onto the screen for no discernable reason other than as an aesthetic flourish.

Mark Van Hare's sound design is a pulsing mixture of effects and his eerie electronic score. A large, circular ceiling lamp that periodically burns red is a chief part of Serena Wong's vigorous lighting design. Ranger uniforms and well-selected street clothes are the elements of Stephanie Levin's fine costume design.

Caitlin Bailey and Ali Perkins' choreography is a series of dance-style movement and frenetic jogging sequences that are accomplished, but are arguably out of place in a play about a catastrophic fire. It's in keeping with the performance art incarnation of the material.

Director Sherri Eden Barber has creatively melded all of the superior technical features into a striking if at times a sensory overloaded production. The central performances are for the most part equally overwrought.

The excellent actors, Meryl Jones Williams and Drae Campbell respectively portray Terry Lynn Barton and Kim Jones. They both offer fiercely emotional characterizations that verge on the hyperbolic, and they're electric when confronting each other. At times they recall Inspector Javert's pursuit of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.

Mikaela Izquierdo is pleasantly understated as Kal and has some fine moments when erupting in anger. With his soothing voice and graceful physicality, the masked Adam A. Keller makes a warm impression as Smokey The Bear. The highly personable John J. Concado's low-key naturalism as John Barton is the most enjoyable highlight of the show.

In tackling such horrendous subject matter, Only You Can Prevent Wildfires could have used less flashiness and more straightforwardness.

Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (through October 28, 2017)

Ricochet Collective

Teatro Circulo, 64 East 4 th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 1-800-838-3006 or visit http://www.ricochetcollective.com

Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission

Smokey The Bear appears in this elaborately presented docudrama about a major Colorado forest fire in 2002 that was started by an unhappy female ranger.

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Only You Can Prevent Wildfires - Teatro Circulo - Harrison David Rivers

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Elaborately presented but dramatically deficient, playwright Harrison David Rivers' Only You Can Prevent Wildfires imagines the events surrounding the largest forest fire in Colorado history in 2002. Smokey The Bear appears throughout the play. He's "A figment of everyone's imagination. Or maybe not."

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Theatre Is Easy | Reviews | Only You Can Prevent Wildfires

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BOTTOM LINE: Only You Can Prevent Wildfires dramatizes the true story behind a massive wildfire started by U.S. Forest Service ranger Terry Lynn Barton.

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Click here to see the Actor's Packet.

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My final overview of this production is to be able to bring awareness to the way we perceive our loved ones. My goal is to get people thinking more about the people they claim to love in hopes to help them restore their relationships. And if they're in a healthy relationship, my goal is to remind them of the little details they can pay attention to so they don't accidentally lose the love spark with each other. And in doing so also spreading awareness about wildfires, and how these can too be prevented.