Scott Harrison and Ironweed Productions
As with Pulitzer-Prize winning author William Kennedy and his novel of the same name, Scott Harrison chose the name “ironweed” for its “tenaciousness…it’s difficult to pull out when it takes root” and also for its looks: “While ironweed looks like a weed, it is actually a flower.” Since its founding in Santa Fe in 2004, Ironweed Productions (IP) has dug deep roots in the local theater scene and in the culture of Northern New Mexico, especially among the young.
IP has as its mission to produce and perform American plays that reflect the diversity of the American experience, to employ young and emerging voices of Northern New Mexico, and to embrace a collective and collaborative approach to theater arts. Scott Harrison is quite generous in his praise of local groups such as Theater Grottesco and Red Thread Collective for their support in resources, rehearsal space, and sound and lighting equipment and their efforts in cross-promoting their work. As with many in the Santa Fe theater community, Scott heaps plaudits on Tom Romero and Maria Martinez of El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe for their help and support.
As far as IP’s commitment to area youth, each production has had some direct relationship with area groups. Fool for Love had an assistant director from Santa Fe Preparatory School and held its performances at Warehouse 21; IP established a formal mentorship with charter school Monte del Sol for True West; a staged reading of David Mamet’s American Buffalo at the Tin Star Saloon (Water Street) in October, 2007, raised monies for IAIA in conjunction with IP’s staging of ‘night Mother; and a poetry slam will be held this spring at the Teen Arts Center in Espanola to coincide with this year’s production of Doubt.
Scott Harrison is not a theater neophyte. His first professional job was as Edmund in Long Day’s Journey into Night at the Capitol Repertory Company in my hometown of Albany, New York. He then went on to perform with such honored theater groups as the Arena Theater, the McCarter Center, the Atlantic Theater Company, and the American Repertory Theater. In 2002 in New York City, Scott produced and directed Horton Foote’s The Roads to Home at the 78th Street Theater Lab. When Scott relocated to Santa Fe in 2004, he picked up where he left off in New York.
In the summer of 2004, he found players who could play the parts in Sam Shepherd’s Fool for Love and decided to mount a production. Heeding the wise counsel of a theater mentor who suggested one not think of creating a theater company (“too daunting”) but simply think of doing quality theater, Scott wanted to work with Fool’s director Kent Kirkpatrick again because he provided “a lot of freedom, a safe space to explore the characters, a distinct vision, and perfect feedback.” Then Scott found actors who could play the parts, and tackled Shepherd again in 2005 with a production of True West. Scott Harrison and co-star Eric Kaiser were told that they looked so much alike “they could almost be brothers.” Using this starting point as a “promotional benefit” and “actor challenge,” both actors would “flip flop” the parts of Lee and Austin on consecutive nights.
Along with many other small Santa Fe theater troupes, IP sees a need to get and develop audiences. Scott Harrison sees the challenge of getting and maintaining an audience from a limited potential audience. While IP has received very good reviews of its productions, including Harrison’s directorial debut with the company in a revival of Marsha Norman’s ‘night, Mother, the audience numbers for a sustainable future remain cloudy. Scott has attempted to get into the schools to little avail with the goal of having the plays IP produces taught in English or drama classes. What further complicates IP audience development is the mature subject matter of contemporary American drama that tackles the gargantuan issues of courage, wisdom, and love in all their manifestations. Finally, unlike many of his City Different theater colleagues, Scott believes that Santa Fe “has a ton of spaces” to perform plays, especially in non-traditional forums that he so loves. What is lacking is that “people are not open” to providing such non-traditional spaces as empty storefronts in the malls as theatrical venues.
Scott Harrison is deeply committed to Northern New Mexico. He “wouldn’t trade his experience for anything.” IP “has grown a bit every year” in the quality of its performances and the quality of its cast and crew. He is equally proud of paying a percentage of the box office to the company. Paying monies for one’s work in the theater, no matter how little, aids professionalism and the self-worth of company members whose “time and effort are valued.”
IP’s next production will be John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt that will run at El Museo Cultural from May 1-18, 2008. The process of bringing this play to the stage in Santa Fe has followed the usual IP process. Scott read the play and articles on it when the play opened in 2004. Then, two and a half years ago, he “discovered four people in town who could totally fly in the way the characters needed to.” Scott had an informal reading with these four actors about two years ago and things clicked. This past summer, when the performing rights became available, Scott retained the play for IP. In response to my query: “Why Doubt?,” Scott stated that “it is a great story with suspense, plot twists, and an unconventional love message.” Scott’s position that “with doubt comes strength” is in complete agreement with author Shanley’s belief that in an age of obnoxious public talk (“I vent; therefore, I am”) which reveals that we know nothing, “doubt requires more courage than conviction.” Scott plans to open the play to the audience, beginning with the opening sermon that “touches on the doubts all people possess.”
Scott Harrison and Ironweed Productions “love to tell good American stories.” IP’s spring production of Doubt promises to be another successful and thought-provoking foray into American culture and belief.