WHEELHOUSE

“Wheelhouse”, set in a Silver City trailer park, is a hilarious comedy about the journeys we all either choose or have thrust upon us.  Virus Theater fans will not be disappointed as “Wheelhouse” is filled with the fantastical sets, music and lighting they have come to expect. This play is not necessarily recommended for young children due to sexual innuendos and adult language, however, the trailer park’s colorful and off color characters will steal your heart and leave you laughing at them as well as at yourself.

 Director's Notes on Wheelhouse

This play was created over the last four months by the ensemble and myself. We started with a blank slate. I tried to convince myself and the others that we were in charge of what we were about to create...that it would do our bidding and we could train it to grow towards our intentions. Well, the Virus Process is always full of lessons and surprises. It turns out I was wrong. No matter how we tried, this wayward creature in our hands was finding its own path. As we latched onto a simple concept, it suddenly burst into story rolling quickly down a hill and completely out of our control. I think no one knows at which point we lost control and this monster we call "Wheelhouse" began to grow hair and multiply eyeballs and breathe its own breath. Its will seemed stronger than the force of all of us to tame it. There were some awkward months there when the monster and we did not sopeak the same language nor fully trust each other. It is only in the final week of this process that I am able to see the shape of the thing and sense its needs and intentions. It is almost miraculous how the wild pieces suddenly start to slip together, seemingly of their own accord. And then I realize this beast is made up of the individual actors, artists, musicians, all stubbornly committing each their own vision to this piece. No artist alone could conceptualize the complex wackiness about to unfold before you. The culmination of the Virus process is a chaotic clashing of a dozen individuals' passion to express something they believe, or want to believe, or instinctively know, is worth sharing. The beast we have brought you tonight may have a mind of its own, but its parts are made up of the unique human beings I am lucky enough to share this creation with.