Following its debut in Richmond, Ind., Earlham College is taking an original adaptation of a local author's steampunk odyssey to the world's largest performance arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
"We thought, what better research than to give our students a chance to travel abroad to go to the world's oldest and largest arts festival to see performances from around the world; to learn about another culture — we get to go out into the countryside and do a bunch of other things — and to craft a story that has something to do with where we're from?" says Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Lynne Perkins Socey.
The theater troupe will travel to Scotland in August, but the play they're performing debuts this week, with performances April 19, 20 and 22.
The Further Misadventures of Martin Hathaway: Shipwrecked off Heramathea’s Cove is an adaptation of the second book in a planned trilogy by Richmond author Kathryn Clare Glen. Perkins Socey adapted the book for the stage, just as she did for the first installment, which the Theatre Arts department took to Edinburgh Fringe in 2019.
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"Audiences and the students loved it so much that we decided this year we wanted to take the sequel," Perkins Socey says.
She describes the show as "a steampunk fantasy pirate adventure."
Austi Jenkins is a second year student and the marketing coordinator for the theater program. She plays the role of Captain Daisy Buchanan McNamara, described by Perkins Socey as "the most kick-ass pirate queen you've ever seen."
"I really like the show because it kind of has this advocacy for unique qualities for one's self. It really kind of uplifts those things as well; it says that everybody can be unique and those unique qualities will bring everybody together for this kind of chosen family," Jenkins explains. "And that with that chosen family, we can love each other without apology or fearing of cynicism... just that unapologetic kind of love and bond is really, really special."
She also really enjoyed being able to participate in creating the show they'll be taking to Scotland.
"To have that kind of say and the collaboration process has been really, really exciting because usually you just get a script (and) you go along with it. But with this, we were all building it together and our voices and input were always heard and valued, which I really appreciated."
Jenkins says she's excited to make the trip this summer, her first time outside the U.S.
"With Fringe, it has a multitude of different styles of performance art that (are) available for us to see, and I'm excited just to see all the different collaborations that have come from across the world that will gather here in this one location to just show all of their love for theater or anything else," says Jenkins. "It's just a big melting pot of love for performance, and just to be surrounded by that, in a community, will be just a really great experience."
The trip is funded through Earlham's Epic Advantage program, which offers $5,000 for every student to participate in an internship, research experience, or other career-discerning experience before graduation.
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"(The students) gained clarity about what they want to do after graduation," says Perkins Socey of the 2019 trip to Fringe.
Students participating in the trip will return to campus from summer break to rehearse and hold an encore performance before traveling to Scotland in August. The Fringe performances will be in the Greenside at Infirmary Street - Forest Theatre.
Besides performing, students are required to attend 15 theatrical productions while at Fringe. Perkins Socey says that may sound like a lot, but when the troupe went in 2019, most students saw 25 to 30 productions.
