The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis will conduct a reading of Professor of Theatre Arts Tim Troy’s latest play “Radio & Juliet” Monday, March 14 at 6:30 p.m. as part of its Early Stage Reading program.
The reading, which is free and open to the public, will allow Troy to hear and evaluate this still developing work for a fresh audience. A short discussion follows the reading.
Inspired by Troy’s passion for radio drama and his participation in a 2009 Lawrence-sponsored trip to China to study water resource management, the play takes place in the aftermath of an environmental crisis.
Two citizen classes inhabit the Great Lakes Basin: “Arids” occupy the recently exposed lakebed while “Old Shores” protect the fresh water supply. Juliet falls for a New Shore pirate broadcaster who defies her widowed father, a police detective who protects the endangered natural resources. “Radio & Juliet” re-imagines Shakespeare’s themes in a cautionary tale with shades of George Orwell amid the workings of an elusive crime spree only Juliet can solve.
Written in early 2010, a draft of “Radio and Juliet” was first read last April on campus in Harper Hall.