Local playwright channels Edward Hopper

By Abby Chatfield

Sun contributor

What stimulates creative inspiration? For Playwright Rebecca Reynolds, one answer is Edward Hopper, a leading 20th-century realist painter whose work ignites the curiosity of many. On March 9, the Old Art Building (OAB) in Leland will present three short plays, written and directed by Reynolds, that are based upon three Hopper paintings. A sold-out evening performance motivated the OAB to schedule a matinee the same day. The event, coined as Drinks, Drama & Dessert, will include social time and dessert alongside the plays performed by a selection of talented locals.

Reynolds sourced major inspiration for her work while visiting an Edward Hopper retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She decided to expand upon the stories she saw in three of Hopper’s paintings, all set in New York City. Each of the plays takes place in a different decade and captures everything about its era, down to the lingo and phrases used by its characters. “I chose New York because I’ll always choose New York, unless London is an option,” Reynolds stated. “I’d like to have six under my belt,” she shared about future plans. The paintings she chose for the first three plays include Chop Suey (1929), Room in New York (1932), and Office at Night (1940).

Hopper’s paintings acted as inspiration for other filmmakers as well, such as Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch, who utilized his compositions as visual prompts for storylines and movie sets. “There is a sense of being a voyeur, a peeping tom,” is how Reynolds describes looking into a Hopper painting. What an ironic twist that Hopper staged scenes with actors and props to use as studies for his paintings, and in turn filmmakers utilized his paintings as inspiration for their plots.

The majority of cast members have worked with Reynolds before, and all are strongly connected to the local arts scene, including several who performed in past plays at the OAB. Alex Zenn and Elena Mosher of Chop Suey were both in Reynold’s Breathing Space, while Clover Keyes and Karl Hartley of Office at Night were in She Does Shakespeare alongside Reynolds as part of the OAB’s 2024 Blue Lantern Tea Room program. Lillian Kinker is the Old Art Building’s office administrator and her counterpart in Room in New York, Charlie Wilson, is a Traverse City native and friend of Reynolds who recently moved back from New York City.

Reynolds and costume assistant Jim Carpenter put together a detailed wardrobe for the performers from Samaritan’s Closet, Cherryland Humane Society Thrift, and Women’s Resource Center. A strong production crew rounds out the team, including Susan McConnell as stage manager and Susan Oliver as producer and set designer.

As producer, Oliver said she must “follow all of Becky’s instructions to the letter, and help find all the people for the set.” Also put in charge of set design, Oliver revealed that the sets are not going to look exactly the same as the Hopper paintings they are based upon. “It’s suggestive without being verbatim” and will “evoke rather than represent,” she shared.

Reynolds is interested to find out if audience members’ interpretations of the Hopper paintings match up with or parallel her own takes. “Your story would be different from my story,” she said. She hopes that people will laugh when they see the plays, but if they don’t, “It’s a drama now.”

Tickets are sold out, but click here to join the waitlist.

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