The US premiere at Anchorage East High School in Anchorage, AK. Photo by Jill Bess Neimeyer.
In ASHES, four teenagers, lost in the remains of a forest after a devastating fire, search for the former camp site of their friend who started the blaze - but find that memories, secrets, and guilt endure long after the flames have died.
It's a spooky, classic ghost story in the gothic tradition.
Why this play?
The inspiration for the locale was probably subconscious anxiety after the Camp Fire and the Woolsey Fire caused such devastation in California in the fall of 2018. I had friends who lost their homes, some literally escaping through the flames… but after the initial concept of setting a story in a burned out forest, the rest of the play flowed organically, without referencing real people or particular places. I think the forest rapidly became metaphor in my mind: the sense that ghosts - if they exist - are like wood ashes after a fire. The life has gone, leaving something insubstantial but persistent.
The play is published by YouthPLAYS, Inc, and will also be included in their upcoming anthology of horror plays for teens. Perfect for your Halloween productions this fall!
ASHES in Warsaw, IN at Warsaw Community High School.
Ashes will be produced at Warsaw Community High School, in Warsaw, IN on May 5th.
The world premiere of Ashes at Art in Motion Theatre in Australia!
Ashes had its world premiere in Thornlie, Western Australia by Art in Motion Theater Company on August 24th, 2019.
US Premiere at the East Anchorage High School.
Ashes had its US premiere, alongside New Kid Next Door, as part of East Anchorage High School's Terrifying Tales halloween show in October of 2019.
Sample Dialogue...
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