James Lantz is proud to announce that he will be back at FlynnSpace in September where he will premiere his new play, ‘American Machine’ with many of the same artists that helped create last year’s play, ‘The Bus,’ including actors Seth Jarvis, Colin Cramer and Dennis McSorley.
‘American Machine' tells the tale of a factory that once made parts for classic American cars. It is the story of a make-shift family of six friends who come together each night to work, and are soon faced with rumors that their employer is being sold. As they begin working on a new order – making buckets and mops for Wal-Mart ¬– the prospect of being split up looms before them, and their dedication to the once-proud factory is put to the test.
“It’s a play about a lot of things that are deeply rooted in the American dream,” Lantz says of his new play. “In this country, we have an incredible heritage of building things, of manufacturing, of industry and work – and to be part of that was to be part of something great. But what happens when that goes away? That’s where our story begins.”
Lantz said that pre-production of his new play had been delayed a couple of weeks as a New York City theatre had expressed some interest in staging ‘The Bus’ after its premiere in Burlington last fall. However, after several meetings with the theatre, working up budgets and making some preliminary plans, to date, nothing has been scheduled.
“Someday it’d be great to take one of my plays to New York,” Lantz said, “but right now I’ve got a big job ahead of me here at home – producing ‘American Machine.’ We’re producing it the same way we produced ‘The Bus’ – a sort of grass-roots theatre effort. I love making a play this way because I get to work with lots of great volunteers who come from all over the community. But it takes a phenomenal amount of energy and effort to do it this way. We don’t have a staff, we don’t have a budget – it’s just us.”
It’s a challeging path for the Vermont playwright. Trying to fit the hundreds of hours it takes to produce a play into a life that also includes kids, jobs and other responsibilities can be difficult. Fundraising is another significant challenge; for ‘American Machine’ Lantz estimates that he’ll have to raise more than $15,000 – most of it, from individual supporters and advertisers.
However the biggest challenge facing Lantz may be building a replica of a twenty-ton plastics injection-molding machine that will become the central set piece on the FlynnSpace stage for ‘American Machine.’ When asked how he and his volunteers were going to do this, Lantz smiled and said, “Wish us luck.”
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‘American Machine’ will play at Burlington’s FlynnSpace, September 25 - October 7, 2007.
The opening night performance will benefit The Burlington School Food Project. 100% of all proceeds from this show will go to the project to support healthy fruits and vegetables for students at Burlington schools and to support CSA farm shares for food service employees of Burlington school cafeterias.
American Machine will also be featured at this fall’s Burlington Book Festival in September.
