The Method Gun Begins at Humana Fest March 16 | Playbill

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News The Method Gun Begins at Humana Fest March 16 The Method Gun, a tribute to a fictional avant-garde acting teacher, begins performances March 16 as part of the 34th Annual Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
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The Method Gun star Thomas Graves Photo by Alan Simons

The play, which will officially open March 18 and run through March 28, was created by the Austin-based theatre ensemble Rude Mechs. It's written by one of the Mechs' founders, Kirk Lynn. Shawn Sides directs. Sides appears opposite Lana Lesley, Thomas Graves, Hannah Kenah and Jason Liebrecht.

The Method Gun is described by ATL as "a play about the ecstasy and excesses of performing, the dangers of public intimacy, and the incompatibility of truth on stage and sanity in real life." It centers on the legendary acting teacher, Stella Burden, who has mysteriously moved to South America but leaves behind an acting technique, the Approach, which "fused Western acting methods with risk-based rituals in order to give even the smallest role a touch of sex, death and violence."

The creative team includes set designer Leilah Stewart, lighting designer Brian Scott, sound designer Graham Reynolds, properties designer Doc Manning, production manager and technical director Madge Darlington and dramaturg Adrien-Alice Hansel.

With the company, Lynn has written or adapted Lipstick Traces, Requiem for Tesla and the upcoming I've Never Been So Happy, among others. Additional credits include The Wrestling Patient and Major Bang.

Lynn, Sides, Lesley, Graves and Darlington are among the six co-producing artistic directors of Rude Mechs. (The sixth is Sarah Richardson.) Since its founding in 1995, Rude Mechs has produced 22 original pieces "ranging from Low-Fi, Agit-Prop, Lec-Dems to Multi-Media, Romantic-Era, Closet Dramas. What these works hold in common is an emphasis on corporeality, an intellectual savoir-faire, a preference for the actor above the character and a cheeky sense of humor." Actors Theatre of Louisville is located at 316 West Main Street in Louisville. For tickets call (502) 584-1205 or visit ActorsTheatre.org.

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The additional five full-length plays in the Humana Festival include Sirens by Deborah Zoe Laufer (to March 28), Fissures (lost and found) by Steve Epp, Cory Hinkle, Dominic Orlando, Dominique Serrand, Deborah Stein and Victoria Stewart (to March 28), Ground by Lisa Dillman (to March 28), Phoenix by Scott Organ (to March 27), and The Cherry Sisters Revisited by Dan O'Brien (March 18-April 11).

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Jason Liebrecht, Lana Lesley, Shawn Sides and Hannah Kenah in The Method Gun Photo by Alan Simons
 
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