{"id":37062,"date":"2018-03-02T17:50:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T23:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=37062"},"modified":"2018-09-18T15:56:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T21:56:55","slug":"the-beginning-of-the-rest-of-the-world-shawn-fishers-the-shuck-at-slac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/the-beginning-of-the-rest-of-the-world-shawn-fishers-the-shuck-at-slac\/","title":{"rendered":"The beginning of the rest of the world: Shawn Fisher\u2019s \u201cThe Shuck\u201d at SLAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/a>
\nIt has been almost five years since playwright Shawn Fisher first ventured into Utah\u2019s theater scene with his play\u00a0Do Not Hit Golf Balls Into Mexico<\/em>\u00a0at the Salt Lake Acting Company. It began as two performances on a minimal set. \u201cI admire [SLAC\u2019s] commitment to developing new work and they have been very supportive of my plays,\u201d he says in an email exchange. \u201cI am grateful for that.\u201d \u00a0Originally from New Jersey, Fisher now runs the MFA Program in Theatre Design at Utah State University, where he is an associate professor. At USU, Fisher founded and directs the Fusion Theatre Project, an ensemble of performers, writers, designers and directors who conceive and produce original plays about contemporary social themes.\u00a0He frequently travels back East for projects in New York and New Jersey and to run the National Playwrights Symposium at Cape May Stage where he also serves as the company\u2019s literary manager. The relationship with SLAC, arguably the state\u2019s premier and longest-running incubator for new plays, has led to two other works by Fisher at the Marmalade Hill theater in the past few years, his most recent being\u00a0Streetlight Woodpecker<\/em>\u00a0in 2016.Now comes\u00a0The Shuck<\/em>\u00a0in a free staged reading Monday, March 5, at SLAC\u2019s New Play Sounding Series, which produces about four readings a year with support from the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation. Most often in contemporary American theater plays are \u201cwritten by, for, and about metropolitan or suburban people,\u201d as the promotional material from SLAC states. \u201cStories about rural working-class Americans \u2013 farmers, fishermen, laborers \u2013 are not as often told. This play is intended to show the beauty and pain that exists in the lives of those who have few choices in life and who are intimately tied to the communities where they work and live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher, who grew up on a farm in rural South Jersey, spent much of his early life working on and around boats and\u00a0Shuck<\/em>, set on an oyster boat in the Atlantic tells the story of hard-working oyster farmers. This is a realistic view of these families tied to the land and sea, but Fisher is also keen on showing the dignity of the work and the people who do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family has a history of sailors: WWII merchant mariners, naval submariners, and farmers who loved to mess about in boats. I liked the water more than the dirt of my family farm. So I learned to sail and became a sailboat captain and instructor for many years in the summers. A lot of that time was spent fixing them, cleaning them, and making them safe for others. I was the farm boy surrounded by fancy \u2018yachties\u2019 as we called them. But I loved the sea, although I always connected more with the workers like myself than I did those who paid me. In\u00a0The Shuck<\/em>, the character of Constance looks out to sea and refers to it as \u2018the beginning of the rest of the world.\u2019 That\u2019s a little bit of my voice sneaking into her character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher has been known to craft his plays, as he says, by \u201cgiving [the audience] just enough information for them to engage and make discoveries about the characters and the story. If we give too much information, then the audience ceases to be a part of the process. They become viewers rather than participants.\u201d In reference to the art of a playwright he says, \u201cLive theatre is special because of how deeply it pulls the audience into the process.\u201d And that, \u201cif you present characters honestly, it humanizes them for an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher, who recently was selected as Creative Artist of the Year by USU\u2019s Caine College of the Arts, recalls how some of his favorite plays such as\u00a0Fences<\/em>\u00a0by August Wilson and\u00a0\u2018night, Mother<\/em>\u00a0by Marsha Norman have influenced him tremendously. They are \u201c[p]lays that deal with people of modest means, living unglamorous lives and trying to survive the strains and stresses of their everyday family-lives.\u201d Adding to the concept of the \u201cunglamorous,\u201d Fisher mentions that he \u201cgrew up on a flower farm and started working there when I was 12. People would say, \u2018Flowers? That sounds so beautiful\u2019 as if it was this color-filled paradise. From our side it was about dirt and fertilizer and tractors. It was just work. I guess I understand the people who \u2018get by\u2019 in life better than those who \u2018have it all.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In\u00a0The Shuck<\/em>, which refers to both the tough shell of an oyster as well as the skilled action of cleaving it to get to its succulent meat, Fisher projects that the play \u201cis about people, including those we love or admire, and what happens when they are suddenly deemed worthless and contemptible; it is about abandonment and what it takes to let certain people and certain life-circumstances go; and it is about oysters.\u201d<\/p>\n

#<\/p>\n

(Excerpt from Scene 7 of THE SHUCK. It\u2019s 1974 on The Baby Gail, an old run-down oyster boat sitting at a rickety dock. GAIL, who is 20 years old and pregnant, is talking with her estranged mother, the captain of the boat. Until yesterday, they had not seen each other for seven years.)<\/em><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

I haven\u2019t felt anything\u2026 here\u00a0(hand on belly)\u00a0<\/em>in five days.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

(pause)\u00a0<\/em>Sometimes those little sonsabitches don\u2019t move much. Just along for the ride. You know?<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

Last week it felt like I had a damn longshoreman haulin\u2019 in cargo inside of me.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>And then nothing.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

Sometimes they just don\u2019t move much.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>You like flounder?<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

Are you listening to me? I got nervous. I never had a kid before.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

The kid\u2019s alright.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

I got scared.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

He\u2019s alright.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>Stay for breakfast. I\u2019m gonna fry some flounder. You like flounder? A lot of people think that because that fish is so ugly, that it don\u2019t taste good.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

What\u2019re we talking about fish for? It\u2019s been five days, Ma!<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

But they\u2019re wrong. Flounder is good fish. Even though it looks like trash fish from the outside.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

I never had a kid before, Ma! He stopped moving around, and I was like-<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

Did you say \u201che\u201d?<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

Yeah. I think it\u2019s a boy.\u00a0(pause, surprised by CONSTANCE\u2019s interest)\u00a0<\/em>I\u2019m going to name him Jack. After President Kennedy. He\u2019s the first president I remember, when I was little. And I always thought he was so\u2026 dignified. I want my son to be dignified.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

Jack is a good name. Strong name.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

But I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s supposed to feel like, Ma. Five days ago I woke up, next to some guy I didn\u2019t really know\u2026 in a room I could barely remember.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>But when I opened my eyes, something felt different. And for a moment I thought, this is not the place for someone as dignified as my little boy.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>So I put my hands down here like this\u2026\u00a0(she does)\u00a0<\/em>to let Jack know, I was sorry. But\u2026 I felt empty.\u00a0(pause)\u00a0<\/em>Do you remember when I was a little girl\u2026 I was a chubby little thing? I always had that belly that stuck out from under whatever I was wearing. That little yellow shirt with the bumble bee on it and the ruffles around the bottom. I loved it so much I wore it after I had grown too big for it. And my fat little belly would stick out.\u00a0(beat)\u00a0<\/em>When I was lying there in that bed, with my hands on my belly\u2026 It just felt like that. Like the empty belly of a little girl.\u00a0(pause)\u00a0<\/em>So I got out of bed, and I just\u2026 I needed somebody who could\u2026 tell me what it felt like. And so I just started to walk, and I kept going until I made it here, to the Baby Gail.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

(pause)\u00a0<\/em>You\u2019re alright. Your boy\u2019s alright.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

GAIL<\/h4>\n

But what does it feel like, Ma\u2026 to carry a child?<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

CONSTANCE<\/h4>\n

(pause)\u00a0<\/em>It hurts.\u00a0(pause)\u00a0<\/em>Stay for breakfast.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Shuck,\u201d by Shawn Fisher, at\u00a0Salt Lake Acting Company\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0New Play Sounding Series, March 5, 7 pm. free and open to the public.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been almost five years since playwright Shawn Fisher first ventured into Utah\u2019s theater scene with his play\u00a0Do Not Hit Golf Balls Into Mexico\u00a0at the Salt Lake Acting Company. It began as two performances on a minimal set. \u201cI admire [SLAC\u2019s] commitment to developing new work and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1598,"featured_media":37063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[860,3206],"class_list":["post-37062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-literary-arts","category-theatre","tag-salt-lake-acting-company","tag-shawn-fisher"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shawnfisher.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 23:31:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37062"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37685,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37062\/revisions\/37685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}