Nearly a century ago, St. Louis, Missouri was the town that artists like Josephine Baker and Tennessee Williams couldn’t wait to leave… now it’s a town I can’t wait to get back to.
The quality of the work that Upstream Theater put into the world premiere of Wildfire, my translation of David Paquet’s Le brasier, was thrilling. The St. Louis-based cast was first-rate, and Philip Boehm has a distinguished team of design collaborators who regularly come from all over the States because they are so passionate about the work his company is doing to open up the American theater to voices from the rest of the world…… as well as young local team members fired up with the love of theatre. The thing I found most personally gratifying? Too often in a new production, the translator (sometimes even even the playwright) is treated as an irrelevance, a hindrance, or even a direct threat to the director’s vision. Philip, for all his many accomplishments, treated me like a collaborator and even a resource. He welcomed me to his rehearsal hall and made time to listen. Almost as if he believed we were on the same side!
This production’s universally stellar reviews reflect the passion and rigour of this team in interpreting David’s lucid, humane, hilarious dialogue and audacious theatricality.
I hope that other producers take note, because this Wildfire is officially scorching.
“Minimalist and mesmeric, Wildfire is the first must see theater event of the year.” – Broadway World
More reviews and production details here.
On my last day in St. Louis, Philip Boehm took his old friend and frequent collaborator Steve Carmichael and I on a tour of the city: here we are under Eero Saarinen’s iconic arch. In ten years of working with Upstream, it was Steve’s first day of sightseeing and his first time downtown, so we Canadians have our uses! I also explored the National Blues Museum… and enjoyed talking to the wonderful Ron Himes after seeing him in an outstanding production of August Wilson’s TWO TRAINS RUNNING at his distinguished company, the Black Rep.