White Elephant (World Premiere)

Picture it: December 2018. I am a recent college grad living in a new town, working at a theatre, and trying not to unravel thinking about what comes next. That’s a lot of energy to sit with, so I wrote instead of exploding. The first word I typed onto a page was in our apprentice office. The first time I realized how I wanted the play to end was in the car on the way to work. The first time I heard these words read out loud by someone other than myself was about a week before my contract ended. Since then, I have worked on this piece with over 50 different artists, workshopping it, crying over it, and celebrating it.

White Elephant has gone through quite a few facelifts, and I have the following people to thank:

-My group of coworkers at Riverside Theatre who did the very first table-read over lasagna at my coffee table

-Rachel Scherer; who always knows how to pick the perfect gift ;)

-Karen Sternberg & David Ian Lee, who were the first Nashville artists to read my play

-Every single human at Salon with Pipeline Collective who ever read/directed/gave feedback about the script

-Ali Ebbs for creating amazing artwork that I have now used on various social media platforms

-Possibilities Theatre Company in Chicago for giving “White Elephant” its virtual world premiere.

-Actors Bridge Ensemble; for giving me a Zoom table reading

-Leslie Marberry; for accidentally becoming my best friend and the artist who finally forced me to realize I wrote a play worth producing

-Woven Theatre/Barbershop Theatre for giving me my first in-person staged reading; and the unbelievably talented cast that made that performance happen

-Benjamin Lundy for being there the moment this play was conceptualized

While this is a long list (that also includes many unnamed people), it is not the final list of people I want to thank for the success of this show…I want to add YOU to this list.

White Elephant has a long road ahead of it, and my team and I are happy to do the work; we just can’t do it alone. If you have ever heard me talk about this story, you know it has been a journey of growth, anger, and healing. It is a story we are all too familiar with, and I want YOU to be a part of it.

Your generous donation will help us:

-offset the cost of renting the theatre space

-contribute to our budget for props, set, and costumes

-pay the artists and creative team

-continue the development of and hopeful future publication of “White Elephant”

While any donation is wildly appreciated, we do have some programs in place to thank you for your overwhelming generosity: 

• Donate $100 or more and receive a gift from the creative team
• Donate $150 or more and receive a gift and a signed copy of the program 
• Donate $200 or more and receive a gift, letter, signed program, and a “High-level Donor” title that will be featured in the program

Thank you all in advance for your support, and we can’y wait for you to see our show!