Jeffrey Mousseau (director) and Barbara Wiechmann (playwright) are creating a new original performance for children ages 5 and up exploring the creative and destructive nature of the imagination.  The project will draw upon the literature, art, and folklore that has emerged from the Hudson River Valley region, and is inspired by how the area’s landscape and environment provoke both creativity and fear.

The starting point for the work is Barb and Jeff’s shared interest in the unique environment of the Hudson Valley, and its influence on the imagination.  The region’s landscape and the way light and darkness alter the mood evokes both awe and fear.  Life and death, it seems, are at constant, palpable play in the Hudson Valley.  As evidenced by the history of art, literature, and tales that have emerged from the region, the Hudson Valley is indeed a place that prompts creativity.  Perhaps owing to Washington Irving, the stories of Native Americans, or the superstitions of early Dutch settlers—all influenced greatly by the region’s particular environment—the Hudson Valley remains steeped in mystery.  At this early juncture, what excites the artists thematically is the power of imagination and the special grip that the Hudson Valley has on our thoughts.  Through the project, they will explore the central questions:  When does make-believe and the ability to create go from an act of beauty to something fearful and unsettling?  Where is the breaking point for becoming taken over and devoured by one’s imagination? 

 

Praise for Mousseau's previous directorial work: 

“I Am My Own Wife has been directed by Jeffrey Mousseau with considerable attention to detail and an emphasis on clarity of thought and action.  It is a very intelligent piece of work.”  –The Independent

“Under the nuanced direction of Jeffrey Mousseau...the physical and vocal detail with which the ensemble members convey their characters’ solitude makes this production a richly textured living collage.”  –The Boston Globe (review of American Notes)

“Under Jeffrey Mousseau's confident direction...the actors lay out the passions and the regrets that alternate in their psyches.”  --The Boston Herald (review of Fool for Love)

 
Praise for Wiechmann's previous work:

"The Secret of Steep Ravines exploits the theatre's unique capacity to engage reality and fantasy at the same time, to make pretty stage picturess by morphing everyday objects or gestures into abstractions, and to let language slide into movement and back again." -- Alisa Solomon, The Village Voice
 
On The Holy Mother of Hadley New York:
"Riveting.....a serious and moving study of the presistent human need to believe in a power greater than us." -- The Westsider
 

We are seeking to make a piece that speaks of and to the power of a young person’s imagination and their capacity to tell stories, make believe and live in both real and fantasized worlds.

From Jeff:  I find myself drawn to situations that explore characters living in a state of violation, outside the bounds and comfort zones of their own psyches. While plot is important to me, as I believe story provides the moving-forward action that keeps an audience engaged, my real passion is for the overriding vibe or connection to emanate between performers and audience.

From Barb:  As a writer I have long been interested in making pieces for theatre that draw on myth and belief, that explore both the creative and destructive powers of imagination and that address our human compulsion to tell and retell stories.  In my work words and pictures become sort of building blocks.  A play might be told wholly in silence through images, or more often than not plumb the depths of language.  The nature of language-- its power and possibilities -- is a favorite theme.  How is language attached to imagination?  When does it take on a life of its own?

Jeff Mousseau and Barbara Wiechmann, collaborating for the first time to make a new piece from scratch, share a fascination with the Hudson River Valley.

Barbara Wiechmann is a New York based writer and performer who grew up in a town without mailboxes.  Her work has been produced and workshopped at P.S 122, The Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, BACA Downtown, HERE, the Ohio Theatre, the Samuel Beckett Theatre and at the Edinburgh, New York, Philadelphia, and Seattle fringe festivals.  Her play Feeding the Moonfish is included in an anthology of short plays published by Viking Penguin.  A usual suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, she is also a New Georges affiliated artist, and was a long-standing member of the Arden Party Theatre company.  She is the recipient of a NYSCA grant and a Jane Chambers Award finalist.  She attended Hamilton College.

Jeffrey Mousseau is a theatre director, producer and program curator, living in New York City and Hudson, NY.  Recent directorial work includes the regional premiere of  I Am My Own Wife for Stageworks/Hudson and, as guest artist, The Birthday Party at University at Albany.  Previously, he served as program director of Tribeca Performing Arts Center where he curated and presented performances for young audiences.  He is the founding artistic director of The Coyote Theatre in Boston, recipient of the Elliot Norton Award, numerous Independent Reviewers of New England awards and frequent grants from Massachusetts and Boston Cultural Councils, among others. Of his many directing credits with Coyote during his 12-year tenure, highlights include Bash, American Notes, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Miss Julie, Fool For Love, The Mad Dog Blues and Blue Window.  BA; American Studies, University of Notre Dame; MFA, Theatre, Brooklyn College.