During our first annual One Act Festival on June 19th, we’ll be hosting a live viewing party where you'll see a variety of new one act plays performed live, video recorded, or audio recorded.
We reached out to one-act director Carin Metzger about how her one-act is coming along and what the unique experience of directing Pick Up written by Jonathan Wickremasinghe-Kuhn has been like.
1. What are the challenges of directing under these circumstances?
So truly one of the biggest challenges of directing is feeling that I’m directing a movie without any resources – that to attempt to get the story across in a format that utilizes a screen but isn’t film, and yet having to have actors be their own semi-cinematographers - it has been a challenge to stay present with those obstacles while still doing my best to serve the intention of the script.
2. What have you found to be your biggest quarantine hobby?
My biggest quarantine hobby is sunset hikes. I do not take for granted that so much beauty is right here in WNC. Also does crying while listening to podcasts count as a hobby? Ok, we’ll count it.
3. What makes you most excited about the One Act Play Festival?
I had the great pleasure of being on the committee to pick the plays, so to see the awesome creative ways they are being mounted will be a real joy. But also to see all the talent in the community in my living room!
4. What is your favorite line from the one-act you’re directing and why?
“Life feels meaningless. And exhausting. Let’s start there.” I love this line because while on the surface it seems like some very vulnerable admissions, it is a clearly an “I can out-pain you” challenge. If that's where you START a conversation, it's certainly going to be an interesting ride.
5. What makes this experience special for you?
Honestly, it is the women that chose to devote their time, talent, and emotional integrity to this project. Sharing an emotional space, without sharing a physical one, seeing these women have the bandwidth to check in with me and themselves before diving into a piece that gets to, as I like to call it, people’s “hurty place,” it just gives me joy that they would choose to sign up to build the plane as we fly it.
Biography
Carin Metzger performs year-round in Asheville as Cookie Carter on LaZoom Comedy Bus Tours. Some recent highlights include Jeeves at Sea (Stella, NC Stage), As You Like It (Rosalind, NC Stage) The Legacy of Amelia Aldean (Amelia, The Magnetic Theatre), and WVL Presents: It’s a Wonderful Life (Kitty, Evelyn; Immediate Theatre Project).
Tickets are now on sale for our upcoming One Act Play Festival on June 19th! Grab yours here: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=114699