When I first moved home to Prescott (after an 11 year Los Angeles sojourn) I was unsure how I was going to find a new creative circle. Sure, there were many talented artists in Prescott, but were any of them playwrights? And, if so, how would I find them? After living so long in LA where I had constant contact with other crazy theatre & film addicts like myself, I had no idea how I would adapt to a more laid-back artist community. Well, it didn’t take long for me to learn that not only was Prescott full of passionate and dedicated theatre artists, but that there were a few wild and wily playwrights living here as well. Micki Shelton is one such Prescott playwright, and let me tell you, she’s got her creative ducks in a row!
When Micki first found out about the We’re Not Playing Initiative, she sent me a very appreciative email and expressed interest in writing something. When she sent me this play, I could see how very deeply our current election had effected her – so it was no surprise that on top of contributing a play, she has committed to producing a reading of plays from the Initiative in Prescott on Inauguration Day.
Awesome!
So if you’re in the Quad-City area, get ready for a really fantastic and powerful afternoon/evening of new play readings from the We’re Not Playing Initiative (they’re having two readings – details to come). And in the mean time, check out Micki’s play, FIX IT.
More about FIX IT by Micki Shelton:
In one way or another, I’ve been an activist for peace and justice certainly since the birth of my son 35 years ago, possibly since I staged my own protest for what I considered an injustice when I was in eighth grade.
One morning before the 2017 election, I awoke with the bones of this piece in mind. Coffee in hand, still in pajamas, taking my laptop to bed while making it clear to my sweetheart that I needed uninterrupted writing before the piece left my heart, I wrote the first draft of Fix It in 90 minutes. After the election, much of it had to change. The inciting incident, however, did not change. What had happened in my own extended family and my inability to fix it led me to question, “If I can’t even fix this, what hope is there to fix bigger problems?”—much bigger problems, that mushroomed after the election. Here is what came out. How relevant this play will be after January 20, 2017, I don’t know. But the bones are still there. The specifics will change. My question remains.
You can read more plays in the We’re Not Playing Initiative HERE.
You can read more about Micki HERE.
