"The First Day of Summer" - the Story

I've been talking it up (because it's a show all ages will enjoy), but today's edition of the Herald-Dispatch has a lovely story by my pal Dave Lavender about The First Day of Summer you should read (the show starts Friday at the Huntington Museum of Art and runs this weekend only). You can find it right here... and right here:

The First Day of Summer starts now.

OK, so the official first day of summer isn't for another month, but the new original play, The First Day of Summer, by prolific, award-winning playwright Jon Joy will be presented this weekend by the First Stage Theatre Company in the auditorium at the Huntington Museum of Art.

The show runs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 9.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for children.

This will be the first full-length premiere of the play, which was first written as a 30-minute, one act play in Summer 2004, and premiered to a sold out crowd at Shawnee State University in 2005. Since then, Joy has been workshopping the play, expanding it into an hour long full length with a larger cast.

Joy, who has written nearly 20 plays and has had one printed in The New York Times, performed at Columbus' Fringe Festival, FestivALL Charleston and Marshall University's New Works Festival, said the credit for inspiring this play goes to Marshall University professor John Van Kirk, who teaches a week-long class every May when students hike, write and stay at Twin Falls State Resort Park.

"It really is a neat class of just writing and hiking all day," Joy said. "I came up with the idea then and wrote it a 30-minute version and it has just grown over the years. It's about an hour-long now and is more developed with more characters, and this group has helped a lot. The kids are very honest when it comes to workshopping which has been nice. They have given me some good ideas and that's made me feel better about the play."

The play follows a boy named Ron and girl named Laney, who are now 18, but who met at age 12 while on summer vacation. Though they clashed at first, they grow close and begin a life-long friendship. They spend their days playing games, talking about hopes and dreams and sharing stories of fellow classmates from their two different hometowns. When they are split apart at the end of summer they make a pact. They agree to meet back at their favorite spot in the woods on the first day of summer following high school graduation.

"It is kind of about those people that stick with you throughout your whole life," Joy said. "It's that age when you are starting to meet people and meet friends that you have for a long time, so it's kind of that coming-of-age story at the same time."

Joy, who graduated from Marshall University in 2004 with a master's in English, said they've been utilizing a minimalist set at the museum, relying on the writing and the acting of the 14 students in the play from grades third to 11th to propel the story.

Although Joy has been on the board at First Stage for about a year and a half, this is the first production he has done with the children's theater company since he was in high school and did Alice in Wonderland in 1992.

Joy said they've all been enveloped in this rare chance for a children's theater group to get to mold and then premiere a play.

"It is so different than doing a scripted play because we can play around with it, and this is the first cast to play the roles and so they have a big impact on who these characters are," Joy said. "There have been a few line changes and some dialogue that works better, but mostly they have given me confidence in the story and the characters because the play is so different from anything I have written before. That had me worried going into it, but they gave me confidence and showed me the worth in it. I really like the play a lot more now seeing it on its feet."