Meet the Writers: The Harvest Trilogy, Milton-Freewater and HIT

Highly Impractical Theatre's latest production, The Harvest Trilogy, is composed of three plays:  Fruits of Paradise, Under the Earth and New Era/Nueva Era, all set in a different era within Milton-Freewater's tumultuous history.  As the following interview alludes, this unassuming, small Oregonian town is cram-packed with more historical drama than an HBO special.

So, in the midst of production meeting madness, design presentations and production rehearsals, I was lucky enough to snag a moment with the head writers, Elana McKernan and Ben Colohan, and talk over the goals of the The Harvest Trilogy and Highly Impractical Theatre as its first fully-fledged production gets underway.

Ben Colohan & Elana McKernan

So why Milton-Freewater?

B:  The shorter answer is that I’m from Milton-Freewater but I think M-F is interesting for a couple reasons.  First, it’s name Milton "hyphen" Freewater immediately implies there’s a story there.  At one point these were two cities and then they became one…Freewater started as basically a dissenting faction from Milton so you have the story of one city splitting and then rejoining.

But Also...?

E: [Laughs] They hired us.

B: [Laughs] We got a grant. We were hired by the Umatilla County Cultural Coalition to write stories about the town. 

What is HIT trying to achieve with this production?

E:  We want to push forward, push the boundaries of what traditional theatre or theatre in general is perceived as by taking it outside of the theatrical space.  So, in a very obvious way we’re doing that with this project, which will be performed in an old barn...in a beautiful farmstead house, in an old cabin from the 1850s, outside...  

What's the process like writing three different plays all to do with *one* town's history?

B:  The support of the community in M-F is...it’s very special in that it’s a town that has a strong group of people who love to do theatre [and] who love to keep track of the town’s stories and past and preserve that.

E:  We interviewed like 30-some people from Milton-Freewater...as cheesy as this sounds it’s been like a gift to us…the community has had this amazing out-pouring of support for the project...and not only cooperation but eagerness to participate and it’s really truly been a communal effort…we did go there and interview people, people gave up their time...they went out of their way to send us books, and photocopy things for us, and give us DVDs about the history of the town…they’re definitely a community that really cares about its history and they’ve been really welcoming in sharing that history with us and being open to our interpretation of that history…

Is there any particular story audiences should particularly keep an eye out for?

B:  [Laughs] You gotta see all three! 

Highly Impractical Theatre's The Harvest Trilogy, to be performed in and for the town of Milton-Freewater, is underway!  Click here for a link to the trilogy's website page.  Click here for more information about the grant HIT was awarded through the 2010-2011 Oregon Cultural Trust Participation Grant Program, and you can also click here for more information on HIT's previous visits to Milton-Freewater.