Lovers of the theatre have the opportunity to be transported back to the days of the Dust Bowl in the season opener at Lincoln County On-Stage, “Black Sunday.”
The production is a world premiere, written by Chandler resident Ben Myers and directed by his wife, Mandy Myers. The play is based on Myers’ book of poetry of the same title, written during his tenure as the Poet Laureate of Oklahoma and published in 2019.
“I wanted to talk about the essence of Oklahomans as a people. And it just really seemed to me that the Dust Bowl is to Oklahoma sort of like what the Trojan War is to ancient Greece or something like that. It’s the story behind the story that’s kind of the epic challenge of the state history,” Myers said.
He added that at the same time, he was looking for a project that gave him a chance to write about suffering and hope, saying you can’t write about hope without writing about suffering or intense challenges.
The play is told through the perspective of six characters, who use Myers’ poems as a vehicle to share their stories of the Dust Bowl. It’s a somber play, yet also shows the hope behind the significant challenges that time in Oklahoma history presented to everyday people.
It also includes musical interludes performed by the Flying Armadillo with original music written by Eli Bridge, Aaron Gardner and Ben Myers.
Myers said the idea of turning his book into a play came about right after its release. He was contacted by people who had done readings of it -- it’s written as dramatic monologues. When he heard that, he thought it was an interesting idea. Staging the production at Lincoln County On-Stage came from his wife Mandy, who has been involved with the group for many years.
Myers said they both very much believe in local art, so it made sense to bring the production here and do it in their home.
A couple years ago, they began going through which poems would be best to adapt to the stage, since performing the entire book would be far too long for a production.
“So, first we started selecting the pieces to include and then sort of put that away for a while to wait for the right theatrical season to do it. And then started working on the production in earnest about four or five months ago,” he said.
Myers said he hopes audiences walk away from the show with a sense of the time period and what people went through.
“I think one thing that art can do, fiction, drama can do, is sort of build our historical imaginations, help us think about what it must have been like to be there, and in doing that, help build our sympathy and empathy for other people,” he said.
He continued that he really wants to put the audience in the shoes of people who are going through unimaginable difficulties and help them to actually imagine what it felt like to experience that. He also hopes that they can reflect on the human ability to survive and hang on to hope.
“Black Sunday” stars local actors Eli Bridge, James Conway, Kim Leatherwood, Mary Miller, Shawn Miller, Sharon Reese and Christie Sherrill. It premiered on April 10 and there are two more showings on April 17 and 17 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online at lconstage.com or by calling the box office at 405-258-1718.