by David Harrower

August 16-17, 2013
St. Clair Community College Fine Arts Theatre
Port Huron, Michigan

A fascinating and unnerving ninety-minute cat-and-mouse tale of revenge and sexual intrigue, with genuine theatricality and undeniable shock value.

Associated Press

Blackbird is a one-act drama that debuted at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2005, and later moved to London in 2006 and New York in 2007, with Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill playing the main characters. A Chicago production in 2009 featured William Petersen and Mattie Hawkinson.

The gifted David Harrower’s intense Blackbird promises to be the most powerful drama of the season… masterly, mesmerizing… extraordinary… a miracle.

The New York Times

The play focuses on two people who had an affair fifteen years earlier. Ray is confronted with his past when Una arrives unannounced at his office. Guilt, rage, and raw emotions run high as they recollect their past. Without moralizing, the play doesn’t shy away from the brutal truth of their abandoned relationship. Ray has made a new life for himself; Una is looking for answers, not vengeance. Nevertheless, the consequences are shattering.

Four stars! This haunting, powerful, incendiary work is the sort of daring theater far too absent from our stages these days.

New York Post

All of the actors and crew were current or former members of The SC4 Players at St. Clair County Community College, where Kephart taught acting, improvisation, and oral interpretation.

Cast

Una: MALLORIE KRUL

Ray: TOM KEPHART

Crew

Directors: TOM KEPHART and MALLORIE KRUL

Assistant Director: DANIEL LEONARD WILLIAMS

Stage Manager: ERILEE LOWE

Assistant Stage Manager: JUSTIN RUTHERFORD

Lighting and Sound Operator: KIRSTEN RAMS

Set Construction and Painting: ANDY KEPHART

This is an extraordinary, no-holds-barred drama that both chills and thrills… raw, wounded intensity. Magnificently tense and atmospheric.

The Daily Telegraph (London)