Big Dreams in Little Pasadena
By Terry Miller
Born out of a workshop that was an adjunct to John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, - Big Dreams in Pasadena gave four young writers a chance to see their work performed on stage.
Steinbeck’s story is about thwarted hopes and dreams and about friendships when those hopes are shattered.
The four young writers in this workshop ( Deleah Davis, Kelsea Mayfield, Sharay Traylor and Morgan Tucker, used these ideas for their narratives.
Instead of going for Steinbeck’s tragic ending, Big Dreams in Pasadena ends on a far more positive note. Directed by Diane Namm the play was presented in the intimate theatre upstairs from the Pasadena Playhouse, home to Furious Theatre Company.
Big Dreams is a modern day filmmaking challenge the young people have taken on via You Tube. The idea is to create a film, edit and post on line in twenty-four hours. It has to be done on a Macintosh laptop (which the actors did on a Dell with a picture of apple hurriedly pasted on the front of the laptop for good measure) – This caused a good laugh when the audience realized the joke.
They (the four teens) hope to come away from the experience with fame and fortune.
Instead, the teens find something far more valuable.
The play is about 50 minutes long and features professional actors Rafael Noble, Jessica Jones, Chioma Nwosu, Rick Vargas, Jaimyon Parker and Nichole Joubert.
Two of the authors participated in the real Apple 24 hour film competition.
Their three minute film can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WlmXRA_DYO
The production is a joint effort of the Pasadena Playhouse and West of Broadway Theatre Company.
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