Horse TRADE and EXIT Theatre Present
The Last Year in the Life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Open and Uncensored Indie Theater Fest

Tom Ridgely, Rodney Gardiner and Arian Moayed

I walk up a flight of stairs lined with stickers promoting an improv comedy club in midtown Manhattan. Today, ?The Pit? is not just for comedians, it?s the rehearsal space for Arian, Hanna, Rodney, Tom and Kevin. I?m introduced to each, no titles or distinctions are given, so I try my best to figure out who is who. I am web-informed that Tom Ridgely is the director of this piece and Arian Moayed is company artistic director, but nothing from their interaction indicates who is directing whom. Within minutes the ensemble is offering each other imaginary marijuana joints and talking about acid trips. With the words, ?Let?s do that scene again,? I realize that they have seamlessly moved from real life to the rehearsal of their newest operetta, The Last Year in the Life of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. For the next four hours, I witness the unusual collaborative process that is a Waterwell Productions rehearsal.

After reworking several scenes the cast decides to take a cigarette break on the back balcony. Here they open up a folding chair for me and try to explain their process of making theater. The operetta is an original creation. Teamwork is key for the members of Waterwell, who create their plays through an extensive workshop that focuses on physical exploration of ideas. The process seems to explain the Waterwell name and logo (a monochrome graphic of an overflowing water pail being drawn from a well)—it?s almost as if they are filling a bucket with the ideas that originate from the ensemble?s collective depths. And this group of artists do seem to have successfully found a communal rhythm. The actors are prone, in fact, to finish each other?s sentences. Together they explain how the research and writing process begins. One person starts writing and then passes the script to someone else for additions and edits, and so on. Actor Arian Moayed—tall, dark and perpetually cutting up—admits that this process produces ?a thousand drafts, it seems like.? For this particular play, the company decided to do a piece about Vietnam, which later led them to discover King?s fight against the government during the war.

Tom Ridgely, Rodney Gardiner and Kevin Townley

After the cigarette break, we return to the stage and they continue their journey through historical facts, abstract dream sequences and a musical selection of jazz, blues and R&B. The band that will be on stage with the actors isn?t at this rehearsal so the actors are singing a capella. Hanna Cheek, playing the role of King?s wife Coretta, stands center of the dark stage singing jazz vocals as cool as Ella or Billie. Her interpretation of the character is utterly convincing, but the realization that most of the characters are played as non-race or age specific is striking. The main exception is the role of Martin Luther King, Jr., which is played by actor Rodney Gardiner, the sole African-American in this ensemble.

?Colorblind casting is nothing new,? says the mustachioed-and-love-patched actor and director Tom Ridgely. ?You don?t have to be black or white to play a friend or advisor. It?s just like how we?ve got a 27-year-old playing a 73-year-old.?

?Race is clearly a part of us,? Cheek continues, ?but we?re not trying to make a statement like ?it doesn?t matter that we?re not black.??

Actor Kevin Townley explains, as he rolls up his pant legs and tugs on his bright yellow socks, that the company works ?with the means that we have.?

Townley points out that five actors, a live band, one costume per actor and four wooden chairs are their total resources to represent immense protest marches with thousands of people. As a result, the group focuses on the ideas and emotions of the story that are most relevant to current times, often moving toward more abstract and stylized scenes. Ridgely points out that the abstraction is sometimes a ?stronger way to tell the story. It makes it easier to understand … this isn?t a historical document. It?s a story.?

?So how much of this play is actual fact?? I ask the group.

After a pause, Ridgely crosses his arms and says, ?If I had to guess, I?d say right now, about 20–25 percent of the material is from historical documents, interviews and speeches. But almost all of it has been rearranged.?

?For the rest, we?re imagining it,? Moayed adds.

During the final stretch of rehearsal, the actors run lines from various scenes—including some diabolical conversations between Lyndon B. Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover—and learn a new song from Waterwell?s composer, Lauren Cregor. From the unusual look and tuneful sound of this rehearsal this operetta draws great promise from deep places.