Welcome

I want to welcome everyone to the Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival Blog! This is an exciting opportunity for the Endstation Theatre Company to share with you our process this summer. During our production process from May to July, you can visit this blog for write ups, pictures and video of what we are working on.

During the festival there will be numerous contributors. Members of our casts and production team will be contributing daily. This will allow us to document our process while giving you a little “behind the scenes” perspective on our summer.

A little background on the festival:

The Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival is the brain child of scenic designer Krista Franco, Sweet Briar College Theatre Department Chair, Bill Kershner (aka Dad) and myself. After finishing graduate school Krista and I decided to found the Endstation Theatre Company. We were looking for a home and eventually that landed me back…well, home. I grew up on Sweet Briar’s beautiful campus and it is probably one of my favorite places on this earth. We set up our office here and as we looked at Endstation’s future and the programming of our new company, a summer theatre festival seemed like the most exciting and feasible venture possible.

During the summers this campus is relatively inactive. Sweet Briar’s facilities and landscape could provide Endstation with limitless theatrical exploration. We are always interested in the definition of the “theatrical space” and the relationship that is formed between a live audience and a live performer. This campus can be a playground for our mission as we explore creating “theatrical environments” from the buildings and landscape that Sweet Briar College provides.

This summer is very exciting for us. We are doing two shows, Romeo and Juliet and The Bluest Water: A Hurricane Camille Story. Both will be an exploration of our mission and both will be an exciting experience for our audiences.

ROMEO AND JULIET

Benedict Hall

This is Benedict and will serve as our “set” for the production. This production, directed by Bill Kershner, will be the first of many shows in which we use a site specific location for our playground.

THE BLUEST WATER: A HURRICANE CAMILLE STORY

Babcock Fine Arts Center

This is the Babcock Fine Arts Center. This theatre is set up to have an audience out in the house, watching the production take place on stage. This distance and formality does not interest Endstation. We will be placing the audience on the stage. We want our audience to be close to the show and in a direct relationship with the environment we create. I will be directing this production and will be working directly with Endstation playwright Jason Chimonides on the project.

As rehearsals proceed, the set is being built, the lights are being hung, and the costumes are being made we will be updating this blog with photos and video of our process. The blog will be updated daily starting on May 22nd.

Please visit us often and spread the word to your friends!

Geoffrey Kershner
Endstation Theatre Company
Artistic Director