DRAMATIC ADVENTURE THEATRE

	About the Play Commissioning Program
	DAT'S WRITE is Dramatic Adventure Theatre's exciting new play commissioning program. Dramatic Adventure has a successful history in the development of new work, creating innovative plays that continue to expand the ideas of "Travel Theatre" and a Theatre of Hope. DAT'S WRITE is designed to embrace a diverse group of playwrights, connecting them with communities abroad by embedding each as a teaching artist and collaborator within one of our many unique projects. Each play developed is the result of talent literally meeting inspiration head on. Each play begins it's creation out on the field, is given workshop opportunities, and is presented as a reading. Many of these plays will go on to full productions.

	PRAYER OF THE CONDOR: a new play by Jason Williamson
		Dramatic Adventure Theatre commissioned resident playwright, Jason Williamson, to develop a play inspired by his travels through Ecuador, paying special attention to post-colonial issues of alienation, cultural isolation, and poverty. This resulted in PRAYER OF THE CONDOR, a play Williamson refers to as "an indie love story meets Andean myth!" DRAMATURGICAL NOTE In the early 1970's, Julio Toaquiza, an indigenous Ecuadorian painter from the small Andean village of Tigua, began transferring primarily oral folktales to stretched sheepskin. These popular "Tigua Paintings" are marked by their typically small size, bright colors, vivid details, tendency to personify nature and in general, by their vibrant depictions of communal rural life featuring landscapes, festivals, and traditions. Inspired by many Tigua paintings depicting various versions of a love story between a condor and a girl, Williamson’s PRAYER OF THE CONDOR strings together the stills in a poetic and colorful “Tigua painting for the stage.” His contemporary retelling specifically focuses on the complex character of the condor—a lonely, fairly insecure messenger who carries prayers and dwells within the vast space that separates humans from their gods. It is important to note that the Condor, a rare vulture with a wingspan that can reach up to three meters, is considered the most sacred animal within the Kichwan community. Hence, the human characters’ simultaneous repulsion and attraction to a bird that “eats dead things” while also providing life and transformation via rebirth. ~ Christen Madrazo, Dramaturg PLAY HISTORY 2009 - Jason Williamson travels to Ecuador, Play is commissioned 2010 - Jason Williamson returns to Ecuador to further the play's development, Prayer of the Condor is written and receives it's initial reading at the Kennedy Center (Directed by resident stage director, Kathleen Amshoff.) 2011 - Prayer of the Condor receives an exclusive staged reading as part of Dramatic Adventure Theatre's 5 Year Anniversary Celebration! (Directed by resident stage director, Kathleen Amshoff. For full cast list, click HERE.) 2012 - Prayer of the Condor goes on an international tour (more details to come)

Are you a playwright?
Interested in learning more about DAT'S WRITE?
Email info@dramaticadventure.com