New play ‘Pinto’ drives collaboration between students and Chicago theatre artists
A new play by Damon Kiely brings students and Chicago theatre professionals together through a collaborative mentorship project inspired by a controversial chapter in automotive history.
The year is 1978. Gas prices soar. President Carter struggles in the polls. The Ford Pinto is the #1 selling car in America—until the sporty hatchbacks start exploding in rear-end collisions. After a crash kills three teenage girls, an Indiana prosecutor charges Ford Motor Company with reckless homicide and recruits an idealistic DePaul law professor to help take on the corporation.
Now, almost fifty years later, that professor’s son has decided to write a play in an attempt to debunk and explore the polarizing event. In an exciting collaborative effort, The Theatre School and A Red Orchid Theatre will present a staged reading of Damon Kiely’s new play Pinto, directed by Kimberly Senior.
This effort centers around connecting Theatre School students with professionals to create a student/mentor dynamic. Along with writing the play, Kiely spearheaded the effort to join forces with an outside theater company.
“Last year we had a successful collaboration between TimeLine Theatre and DePaul with the show ‘Baldwin v. Buckley’, another play based off of a historical event,” said Kiely. “There were professional actors and student actors. There was a professional stage manager and a student ASM. Students worked alongside professionals and learned from them.”
Kiely originally pitched a two-week workshop with only students, but upon connecting with a colleague, Kimberly Senior, realized the interest in his project spread far beyond the walls of The Theatre School. Heidi Hoblit Graham, a donor at A Red Orchid, stepped up to fund the project, and, according to Kiely, the rest was history.
“Over the two weeks, we’re going to meet eight times. We’ll be reading the play, talking about it, rewriting, rereading, things like that,” Kiely said. “It’ll culminate in a staged reading on June 8, at 7 p.m.”
Kiely excitedly describes that every professional in the show has a student counterpart, providing one-on-one mentorship across all disciplines.
“As a group, we’ve written a curriculum,” Kiely said. “The curriculum makes it clear that the goal is to create a better play, but also teach everybody at the same time.”
The reading will feature actors Mea Allen, Kaylah Janssen, India Helzer, Tom Hickey, Shane Kenyon, Peyton Owen, Sadieh Rifai, Jordan Shappell and Rachel Rebekah Visser.
The reading will feature Stage Management by Alden Vasquez, Assistant Stage Management by Shreya Khanna, dramaturgy by Neena Arndt, assistant dramaturgy by Samantha Scott, assistant direction by Zoe Nisam, and script supervision by Morgan Crump.
Both The Theatre School and A Red Orchid Theatre communities are revving with excitement to get this show on the road!
The reading will take place on Monday, June 8th, at 7 PM in room 301 at The Theatre School at DePaul University.
Pinto was developed initially as a part of the A Red Orchid Studio.
This workshop is generously sponsored by Heidi Hoblit Graham.