MC Theatre, Foothills Community Players combine forces for world premiere of ‘Scarlet’
Jan. 26, 2023
Student-directed productions are a cornerstone of the Maryville College Theatre experience, but Rachel Ealy ’24 will be a part of something special when “Scarlet” premieres on Feb. 17 at the Clayton Center for the Arts.
For one, “Scarlet” — an original stage play by Theatre Studies and Writing Communication alum M. Nance ’22 — has yet to be staged publicly, meaning its run in the Clayton Center’s Haslam Family Flexible Theatre is the work’s world premiere. Secondly, the production is a partnership of the MC chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, the national theater honor society, and Foothills Community Players, a Blount County-based theatrical troupe that will be collaborating with APO for the first time.
“It’s a very new experience, and we thought partnering with APO would be a unique opportunity for a number of reasons,” said Nicci Williamson Grigsby ’08, president of FCP and a co-director of “Scarlet” alongside Ealy. “One of the things we really wanted to do at FCP, as a community theater group, was to provide to students with professional resources, people who have been working on and in theater in a variety of ways and in less educational settings.
“We wanted to tap into the experience of these individuals as community and professional actors and workers in the theater trades and have them on standby to serve as mentors, so that they can support the students and provide them guidance as needed. And I think it’s just a really cool opportunity to be able to do that.”
Each director has her own cast for “Scarlet” — Ealy’s will take the stage on opening night and for the matinee show on Feb. 18, and Grigsby’s cast will stage the production on the evening of Feb. 18 and for the Feb. 19 matinee.
“On the technical side of things, there’s a lot of mentorship happening between the students and Foothills Community Players members,” Ealy said. “The students are able to learn what their specific crafts are and get more hands-on experience with someone who has done it outside of an educational setting. Nicci, for example, is helping me to expand my directing, and I’m really grateful to her for that.”
The three-member cast, Ealy said, will address metaphysical topics and existential crises through the prism of a dark comedy with flourishes of film noir and hardboiled detective tales of the Dick Tracy era. According to the show’s official description, “A private investigator considers taking your new case as he regales the entire audience with the case that defined his career: The Scarlet Fever Killer. An actor determined to prove that she’s more than just some unnamed, plot device is introduced, killed, and proceeds to take on the roles of many other characters in the tale. By the time another man/amateur actor is introduced to enhance the storytelling, the private investigator is rethinking the entirety of his story/history, sanity, and sense of self.”
Without giving too much away, Ealy added, it provides a challenge to both the audience and the cast.
“What makes it really stick out to me is the way it simultaneously places an emphasis on aesthetic and content, and the film noir aspect of things is, in its own way, kind of a character as well,” Ealy said. “There are a lot of interesting emotional complexities in the play that I really love, and bringing that to life has been a really exciting challenge.”
And, Grigsby added, one that Nance is willing to assist in meeting: An East Tennessee resident, they plan to visit the combined cast of students and community members during the rehearsal process to “give us some inside into their creative process, and how they envisioned some aspects of the play,” Grigsby said.
“At FCP, when we read it, we absolutely adored it, and when we found out that APO was also interested in doing it, that’s what led to this collaboration,” Grigsby added. “I just love that we’re able to get these organizations together so we can offer more opportunities for students to go beyond educational theater and get some experience in community theater.”
And for Ealy, that opportunity translates into ways she can further her own goals: using theater to build community on campus while providing quality productions at the same time.
“That’s something I’m quite fond of and quite proud of having been able to do through the productions of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ I’ve directed,” Ealy said. “Watching Nicci’s direction, and having her watch mine, allows us to learn from each other, and it deepens your understanding of the play and the concepts of the play.
“It’s been really interesting to be a part of this process and discover how much an actor and a director can shape a show, and how it makes you feel to watch it, as an audience member.”
“Scarlet” will be staged at 8 p.m. Feb. 17 and 18 and 2 p.m. Feb. 18 and 19 in the Haslam Family Flexible Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors and free for Maryville College students, faculty and staff. For more information, call the Clayton Center box office at 865-981-8590. To purchase tickets online, visit the Clayton Center website.