photo by Rich Soublet
Today Patrick Kelly the director of 'San Diego, I Love You' tells us a bit about the piece and the process.
As we hurtle through the beginnings of 2013, work here at CCdd is never ending. Luckily I have the pleasure of directing our amazing first piece of the year “San Diego, I Love You”. The number one question that I get regarding the piece is "what is this walking tour adventure play thingy?" so I thought I'd take some time explaining how the piece works and why it is so close to my heart.
I am a strong believer that art can and should happen anywhere. I've loved the idea of site-specific work since first studying the "happenings" and "environmental theater" movement of the 1960's. It has been my dream to bring a little bit of experimentation to San Diego for a while and I am glad to have such an amazing group of out of the box thinkers to help me do it.
“San Diego, I Love You” was written by company members Katherine Harroff and Soroya Rowley and is based on love stories from different members of the local theater community. The writers were able to construct a wonderfully funny piece broken up into 5 short scenes set in specific hillcrest locations that follows the friendship of Chris and Alex who accidently fall out of the friend zone and into the complicated miasma of love. In each scene our main characters are played by different talented actors who show that a simple love story can transcend the bounds of basic gender relationships while maintaining a fantastic linear through line. As a small tour of 10 people you and your fellow audience members will start at Jakes on 6th wine bar and be lead through the streets of Hillcrest becoming the proverbial fly on the wall in this journey of love. For the convenience and ease of our patrons we have chosen locations all within a 4 block radius, but I'd still suggest you dress comfortably and wear good walking shoes you can stand in.
As for the process, it's going incredibly well! We have a group of 11 amazingly talented performers who bring the emotions of this tumultuous love affair to vivid life and 5 incredible business owners who have generously opened their doors for us to come and play. I look forward to seeing all of you there so buy you tickets now before they run out!
-Patrick Kelly