From a fascination with one of the most dangerous performance professionals in the world and the tradition in which it”s steeped, Megan Fevurly, University of Idaho MFA playwriting candidate and distance learning student, first began crafting the Theatre Department”s upcoming production, “Tightrope.”
The Colorado native said she developed the play, which centers around a young professional tightrope walker, or a funambulist, as an assignment for her graduate program in Spring of 2015.
“She is attempting to do this really dangerous walk that her father actually attempted and even died attempting,” Fevurly said. “Or so she thinks, because she”s starting to have these health issues that are making it really hard to keep her focus when she”s on the tightrope.”
Alex Brizee | Rawr
David Lenz rehearses his role as the main character”s grandfather in the play “Tightrope.”
Although the play was created as an assignment Fevurly completed a year ago, she said the inspiration for the play came years prior, after she heard the story of a professional funambulist whose family had a history of the craft.
“I heard this story of a real-life tightrope walker and this big walk he was attempting that was super dangerous,” she said. “But his family goes back generations upon generations of tightrope walking and acrobatics and the danger didn”t mean anything to him.”
Fevurly said after hearing the story, she wanted to explore both the danger and the deeply rooted traditions that come with a performance profession like tightrope walking.
“I wanted to examine someone who deals with an extreme sport like that,” Fevurly said. “But it”s not just because they”re extreme, it”s because it”s a legacy.”
Of the many challenges that come from producing a play, Fevurly said one of the trickiest parts so far has been experimenting with how to perform tight-roping walking live on a stage.
“Given it”s a university production and fairly low budget, the ways the director and cast and set crew want to convey the tightrope walking is ingenious, I think,” Fevurly said. “There will be a lot of suspension of disbelief and some really cool lighting tricks and set pieces.”
Shea King, a UI MFA directing candidate and “Tightrope” director, said while the lighting and logistics of making a tightrope performance come to life on stage posed a challenge, the real difficulty came with infusing emotion into such a dangerous performance.
From professional performances to teaching young children how to tightrope on a learning line, there are varying degrees of tightroping through the play, and King said the goal of the cast was to emotionally distinguish these situations from one another.
“It was important to me that when we told this story, we had different worlds built into the show,” King said. “So when they were playing on the kiddie line, it was totally different emotionally than when the main character was performing professionally.”
King said one of the elements of the production he appreciates most is the depth and complexity of the characters, as well as the many layers of storytelling occurring at once within the play.
“There are so many things about this play I am so in love with,” King said. “I feel particularly so close to the characters in both their positive and negative attributes and that”s so exciting.”
“Tightrope” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 3-6 and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 6-7 at the Forge Theater. Tickets are free for UI students and $10 general admission.
Corrin Bond can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Corrbond