Hey out there

It's been a good, long summer and 11:11 is ready for the stage again.  I hope everyone out there had a great season of sun.  As we do every summer, 11:11 took a bit of a break from production for a couple months to collectively recharge our creative batteries.  Kayley, our treasurer, went off to Peru.  I think Sarah, our managing director, was seen on the cape a few times and was in an assortment of weddings.  I have no idea where Evan was.  Probably New Hampshire.  Louise, our literary manager, went to Hawaii.  I myself, got on a few trains and went around the country visiting friends and loved ones.   Starting a week after our previous season ended, Louise started plowing through an avalanche of submitted scripts.  I started writing drafts of the new plays and have been working pen to paper ever since.  The group got back together in the first week of August and started honing the scripts and putting the productions together.   All of our creativity was focused on the season theme...Leave the Light On:  Four Plays in Search of Home.  The theme came from our desire to celebrate our company finding home in many ways.  Firstly, after years and years of moving theaters all across town, we finally have a residency and our first physical home!  We're incredibly excited to be presenting all four of our 09-10' season plays at The Factory Theater.  The Factory is an intimate space that we feel very comfortable in.  There isn't a bad seat in the house there.  Pretty cool that the Factory is also rich in fringe theater history going back to its days as a literal piano factory.  As a company, 11:11 has also started to feel at home with our place in the Boston artistic community.  We've become familiar with the theater scene and our community.  We're starting to have a good idea of what our audience enjoys.  Home is a peculiar word.  It can conjure an extremely wide range of images and reactions.  It is incredibly tangible at times, a physical place where you live, and at other times, it comes off as an incredibly elusive desire of belonging.  We got excited at the thought, just as we were finding our new home at the Factory, to explore the meaning of the word, and to see what the word conjured for us creatively.  

When looking at a classic, home immediately made me think of Great Expectations.  Pip's journey to find his place in society struck me as the perfect play to lead off our season with.  When we couldn't find a good adaptation, we just adapted the book ourselves, seeking to stay as true to Dicken's brilliant words as possible.  I think you'll be happy with this world premiere adaptation.  In December, we look for the funny bone of home in our twisted re-telling of the three wise men adventure.  Balthasar and friends trudge across the holy land in search of an unpaid debt.  Needless to say, hilarity ensues.  In the Spring, we look to the home of youth in our world premiere play Foreverendia, where a small group of friends start their own imaginary country.  Our season will close with the triumphant return of resident writer Jen Dubois, hot off her stint at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, for an as yet untitled world premiere play.  Jen has written two previous works for 11:11, which both received rave reviews by area critics.  We're really lucky to have her in residence with 11:11.  Iv'e taken a sneak peak at her newest play, and I'm excited to say that it will be Jen's best yet.  

As you can see, we have an excited season ahead of us.  I hope you can join us for all four plays this season.  Our marketing team has made a special point this year given the challenging economic times, to make our plays as affordable as possible.  Our most expensive ticket this season is a measley $15.  There are countless ways to get discounts as well, in addition to a pay what you can night for every production.  We also have a season subscription available and a flex pass that gets you tickets for two plays at a reduced rate.  We have some really good productions this season.  I can't wait for you to see them.  Look out for more updates to come.  See you at the theater!

Brian Tuttle
Artistic Director
11:11
 


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