STARDOG
A beloved pet
A deadly crash
A way back home
STARDOG is a new play that utilizes immersive storytelling in hopes of answering the question “how do we use storytelling/narrative/myth to process pain?” Divorcees Nick and Vivian, and their adult child Maxy, each host a get-
together with friends in their own homes, represented by separate corners of a shared theatrical space. The audience is separated into three groups, each group acting as dinner guests visiting briefly with one member of this disjointed family unit, before moving on to the next. Each audience group gains a unique perspective on a traumatic event shared by this broken family, and the ways each character is processing their own experience. In moments of heightened storytelling, the disparate family members interact with one another across the stage, bending time and space to briefly become scene partners before resolving into their own living rooms once more.
Written by Jess Wright Buha & Amanda de la Guardia
in collaboration with Calvin Adams, Bradley Halverson, and Shea Lee
Genre: drama
Length: one act, 75 minutes
Cast: 3 actors
Set: three tables in a large room
To read a perusal script, contact Jess here.
VIVIAN: —and I see Nick is staring at me--right at me. He's completely focused on me, at this spot right there on my collarbone.
Because I told him to.
I remember he looked very calm in that moment--very calm and very focused.
But we're still going seventy miles an hour down a highway, and I look through the windshield, and I remember saying very loudly, "I think we're gonna hit that wall"
And he's like, "what--"
And he turns--
(The memory overwhelms Viv.)
VIVIAN: And then
NICK: I remember
VIVIAN: Suddenly there's
MAXY: Then there was a
EVERYONE: bump
MAXY: When the car hit
NICK: When it scraped
VIVIAN: BANG
NICK AND VIVIAN: hit the concrete barrier
VIVIAN: and ricocheted off.
NICK: Then the jump.
VIVIAN: We flipped three times.
NICK: We crossed three lanes in a millisecond.
VIVIAN: That's what the police report says--three flips.
MAXY: I don't remember it.
Audience Reactions
This is an extraordinary piece of theatre on several levels. The characters are heartfelt and deeply human, the storytelling device is intricate and ingenious."
- B.D., audience member
"Such a beautiful story and the immersive aspect is seamless and wonderful!!"
- A.K., audience member
PRODUCTIONS
Premiered June 2023, Labryinth Arts, Chicago, IL as a part of Rhinofest 2023
production photos by Amanda de la Guardia