Get to Know the Director

Three years ago on a whim Kevin Kirby decided to audition for the first time for a community theatre production.  He was cast in the small role of the G-Man in Prince William Little Theatre's (PWLT) production of You Can't Take It With You.   An engineer in his day job, Kevin also volunteered to design and build the pyrotechnic special effects for the show and his efforts were nominated for a WATCH (Washington Area Theatre Community Honors) award for excellence.  Encouraged by his early success he then auditioned for and was cast in the role of Richard Greatham in Castaways repertory Theatre's (CRT) production of Hay Fever.  He was hooked and has participated in a solid string of productions either on the stage or as part of the production staff for set design, lighting, special effects, or as stage manager.  He recently completed a playwriting class at the local community college and the first 10-minute play he authored won third place in the school's writing contest.

Although Kevin is now preparing for his first community theatre production as director and producer he is not completely unfamiliar with being in charge of a production.  Like Coppola, Spielberg, and Lucas, as a child Kevin made his own films using his dad's 8mm silent movie camera.  His live-action and stop-action animated home movies showed his flair for creativity and special effects even as a child.  To create the effect of a ray gun blast he would use a magnifying glass to help him see as he used a needle to etch each small frame of film.  In the late 80's and early 90's he used his first video camera not just to film family get-togethers but rather to create impromptu Ed Wood-like films featuring members of his family.  One memorable Thanksgiving instead of retiring to the living room for an after-dinner nap, he carted his extended family, a collection of toy weapons and rubber masks and the faithful video camera to a scrap yard to film the post apocalyptic zombie movie Mutant Afternoon.

Before being in community theatre, Kevin and children were avid community theatre audience members.  Community theatre has been a true family affair.  Kevin's daughter, Kerstin, who majored in theatre at The University of Mary Washington, stage managed an NVTA One-Act Play Festival entry in which her father ironically portrayed a college student.  Kevin's son Logan worked with his dad doing lighting for PWLT's production of Children of Eden.  Logan has volunteered to run the light board for this production.  To  bring even more of his home-life to the play, Kevin's entire living room furnishing will be used for the set pieces and décor.

With this production Kevin plans to merge his day job into his theatre life.  Three long-time colleagues from Kevin's office who have faithfully been to see his productions over the past three years have now been roped into being part of the production team.  Gary Lindsey, Kevin's former boss who is also a woodworking enthusiast, has volunteered to build the set.  Candy Ferris and Don Butler from Kevin's office will be assistant stage managers and environmental background performers.

Kevin looks forward to the challenges of producing a stylistic production on a shoestring budget.  He feels the limited budget and the constraints of performing in a borrowed county facility it what inspires ingenuity and creativity.  The magic is to create a beautiful and professional looking production out of found items and Trompe L'oeil and optical illusion. 

Previous productions have long lamented the lighting (or lack thereof) at this particular venue.  The director and his talented lighting designer, Kevin King, plan to embrace the notorious "dark spots" to accentuate the chiaroscuro theme of the play.  Chiaroscuro is Italian for chiaro (bright) and oscuro (dark) and is an art term used to describe the aesthetic of light and shadow characteristic of classic film noir.  The theme of shadow and light is appropriate for a play in which there are motives hidden in shadow and even things that are apparent are discovered to be other than they seem.

The Unexpected Guest may be new to audience members and although the script has the characteristic Agatha Christie plot twists and clever dialog it will be presented in this production more in the style of the CBS television series CSI than the PBS series Miss Marple.  Imagine Quentin Tarantino meets Agatha Christie.  The crisp, well-written script lends itself well to this interpretation.  Instead of delivering the rich dialog with English accents the words will be spoken in the style and cadence of Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre.

Each of the well-written characters has rich personality with depth of character and a nuanced range of emotion.  Although the production will have a striking visual style and special effects, the heart of the play will be the very eccentric yet realistic characters.

One of the featured roles is the character of Jan, a wonderful 19-year-old young man the script describes as "retarded".   Analysis of clues in the script would likely result in a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome.  Individuals with this condition are often of normal intelligence and language development, but exhibit autistic-like behaviors and marked deficiencies in social and communication skills.

The director invites first timers as well as experienced thespians to audition.  Race, age, body shape, and in some cases even gender, are much less important than enthusiasm, personality, chemistry and charisma.