History of Just a Matter of Time
Production
May, 2000—Meg and the Toasted O’s Adventure, a play (later to be retitled Just a Matter of Time) read for “Kentucky Voices,” a celebration of work by Kentucky playwrights, at Horse Cave Theatre (now Kentucky Repertory) in Horse Cave, Kentucky. Directed by Robert Cole. Warren Hammack, artistic director, played The Rabbit.
April 23, 2006—reading of musical (book and lyrics) at Townsend Avenue Coffee House and Wine Bar, Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
September 30 & October 1, 2006—Workshop premiere of Scenes 3, 4, & 5 at Theatre-Studio, Inc., TSI/PlayTime series, 123 E. 24th Street, NYC. Directed and choreographed by Susan Streater. Music by Jack Kohl. See Workshop Scenes:
January 18-31, 2007--Equity Showcase Production, Sage Theatre, 711 Seventh Ave., Times Square, NYC. Directed and choreographed by Susan Streater.
August 9-11, 2007-Boothbay Playhouse, Boothbay, Maine. Directed and chroeographed by Susan Streater.
Spring 2009- Bunbury Theatre, Louisville, Kentucky
The Writing of the Play
I wanted to write a nonsense fantasy, something American with indigenous characters and American obsessions. No kings and queens. I made several attempts, but found no compelling ideas. Then, when I was thumbing through a magazine, I noticed an article about the effects of gravity on time. I read it, read it again,and somehow got hooked. I began watching lectures on cosmology, reading one science book after another—and as I read, strange bits of dialogue began to occur:
Once I was out with a hummingbird. We ran so fast we made an hour last for seventy-five days.
and:
I can do anything with time, once I’ve got it. I can take time that’s flown
and make it march. Or time that drags and make it soar.
I began to imagine the speakers—a pig who’d stolen time, a mole in a pin-striped suit, a sheep who’d lost her mind, a rat obsessed with ideas. All were a bit frantic and out of breath. Then there was Time himself, a huge clock figure dressed in yellow longjohns. I kept seeing someone socking the daylights out of him, and thinking, What if Time were beaten, what would happen next?
That’s how it all got started. A musical on time. But why should Meg, my protagonist, be on a search? I wasn’t sure. Like many American children she was probably being tested to death. Probably spent all her time memorizing facts for short answer tests. Probably had forgotten how to ask questions. It’s an American problem, kids not being free to dream and imagine. And time—one of the most used words in the English language—is an American obsession.
Sandra Dutton
