Goodnight Lovin’ Trail – What We’ll Leave Behind When We Go (FRIGID New York 2011)

Karen Tortora-Lee — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:10:46 +0000

Goodnight Lovin' Trail Featuring Nic Mevoli & Olivia Rorick (Photo by David Anthony)

Have you ever stupidly misplaced something that was really important to you? Just walked away from it, not realizing it was out of your hands until it was too late? Remember that panic that gripped you to the very core? How your blood turned to ice in your veins and your heart pounded so loud you could hear it in your ears? In John Patrick Bray’s One-Act, Goodnight Lovin’ Trail, this is the moment we meet a traveler who’s just realized he’s left behind the most important thing he owns – Della: his guitar. Without Della this stranger feels like ”a wave of the ocean hung out to dry.”

It’s the middle of the night and Lee (Olivia Rorick) is the lone waitress working the diner when the stranger (Nic Mevoli) rushes in, desperate to find the guitar he somehow lost track of during the night. He’s retracing his steps in the hopes that someone will recognize his rare guitar. Lee hasn’t seen it, she tells him, but she has an idea where someone who came across it may want to unload it, and she give him the address of a pawn shop which is, of course, closed at this time of night. It becomes obvious soon enough that Lee knows exactly where Della is. But she’s not telling.

With nothing much else to do the two settle down and share stories of their lives – the kinds of stories that tip out so easily when two people are alone together in a diner in the middle of the night. Late at night, we’ll tell strangers secrets. The more the two talk the more the stranger is sure his guitar will turn up; “Anything that is lost usually wants to be found. She‟ll find her way back to me.”

What unfolds between these two people is a perfect moment suspended in time, an act that can only exist when anonymity fuels a relationship and all guards come down. Lee and the stranger may never cross paths again, but their stories get written on top of one another’s for one night, and maybe that’s more important.

Goodnight Lovin’ Trail is about as perfect a one act play as I’ve ever come across; effectively comprised of all the parts that make a play work: characters who are brimming with contradiction, both hopeful and hopeless and a story line that drops in on the surface of these lives like a perfect teardrop. The arc is heartbreaking and real and, under the direction of Akia who uses a restrained hand, the actors play their parts straight-on neither tipping too far into needless brio or hopeless subjugation but just walking the line of solid truth. This play will leave you with tears glistening in your eyes – no small feat for a show that clocks in at just over half an hour.

A perfect gem found along a dusty trail; Goodnight Lovin’ Trail will leave you remembering the things you’ve lost along that road that stretches out behind you.

~~~

Goodnight Lovin’ Trail
Written by John Patrick Bray & Directed by Akia Squitieri
Presented by Rising Sun Performance Company New York, NY
The Red Room (85 East 4th Street) $12
Wed 2/23 @ 11pm, Sat 2/26 @ 6:30pm, Mon 2/28 @ 6:30pm, Thu 3/3 @ 8pm, & Sat 3/5 @ 3:30pm

FRIGID New York Festival 2011 will run February 23-March 6 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1sr Ave and Ave A). Tickets ($10-$16) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. All shows will run 60 minutes long or less.

FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Goodnight Lovin’ Trail

Karen Tortora-Lee — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:45:24 +0000

Welcome back to another installment of FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A! We’ll be running these throughout February, so be sure to check back to read all about the great shows that will be taking part in the festival. Also – don’t miss the winner-take-all game of Rock Paper Scissors! Today’s Q&A is with John Patrick Bray, Playwright of Goodnight Lovin’ Trail.

Goodnight Lovin’ Trail is a subtle and touching drama that takes place at a truck stop diner in West Texas, where two desperate and lonely strangers find redemption in each other’s eyes while discussing a stolen guitar. The play explores raw human emotions and consequences while these two desperate characters navigate and come to terms with the choices they’ve made on the road of life.

answers John Patrick Bray, Playwright

Antonio Asks: What makes FRIGID such a warm and welcoming experience for your production?
It’s a joy being a part of downtown theatre. This is really home for me.

Diánna Asks: What about this play do you feel most drawn to personally, and because of that, what message do you hope the audience walks away with?
Well, it’s a simple story. Two people trying to figure something out. They each have a past. My hope is that audiences will be able to witness a moment of basic human justice.

Karen Asks: That’s some title. How did you come up with it – and what does it mean?
The title Goodnight Lovin’ Trail comes from the name of an actual cattle trail, The Goodnight-Loving Trail, which gets its name from Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving. Goodnight and Loving were also the subject of a great book, Lonesome Dove, which is also a great mini-series. It was also the subject of a great folk song by the late Utah Philips, which has been covered by a number of folks, including Tom Waits. For me, the trail is a metaphor for trials and tribulations, and losses along life’s rough and tumble, unmarked road.

Stephen Asks: You must have a favorite part of your show. What makes it your favorite?
I would tell you my favorite part of the show, but that would be giving it away ;) I certainly have a favorite, and I’m always happy to see that moment. But again, you’ll have to see the play.

Lina Asks: How much of your show was inspired by true events?
This is a tough question, primarily because I feel all works, even those entirely based in the imaginary world(s), are to some extent autobiographical. I’m inspired by just about everything. I process it, put my polish on it, and return it to the world. I guess the playwright is the great adapter! (“Great” might be pushing it ;)). I wrote the piece after looking at a picture of a really down-and out fella. He looked in need of a cigarette. At the time I was also really into the paintings of Edward Hopper. I took the picture, the paintings, and the music of Sarah Vaughan (a buddy of mine had made me a series of mix-tapes featuring Sassy), and I stirred them all together.

THM Bonus Question: If you could play a virtual game of Rock, Paper, Scissors with another FRIGID Show which show would you take on? And what would you throw?

I’m happy to take anyone on, and I always throw “hat.” Not just any “hat,” but my ol’ Irish cap. My wife calls it a “Paddy Cap.” It’s tweed, has the button on top, made in Donegal, Ireland. It can resist scissors, stuffing it with paper only gives it a shape, and I’ve seen it kick the shit outta rocks. True story.

Thanks Goodnight Lovin’ Trail – for participating in The Happiest Medium’s FRIGID New York Festival 2011 Q&A. And for playing our game! You are officially HAT. Ordinarily I’d say this disqualifies you, but damn . . . that’s some hat. And you took on “anyone” which . . . honestly I take to mean “everyone”. So, you’re the winner of the whole damn shebang. WOW, Goodnight Lovin’ Trail. Uh. May. Zing. This is how it works in the crazy world of the VIRTUAL ROCK PAPER SCISSORS TOURNAMENT!

Meanwhile, for the rest of you – don’t forget to check out Goodnight Lovin’ Trail!

The Happiest Medium » Goodnight Lovin’ Trail

Goodnight Lovin’ Trail – What We’ll Leave Behind When We Go (FRIGID New York 2011)

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FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Goodnight Lovin’ Trail

answers John Patrick Bray, Playwright

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