The Sound and The Light

NEWS | MONDAY, MAY 25 | BY FUSION STAFF WRITER, RUDOLFO CARRILLO

I texted Mary Donnet Johnson to kindly ask for an interview with the playwright who happens to be this year’s winner of the coveted Bradford Gromelski Jury Award. Johnson’s first dramatic work, now officially award-winning in nature and in life, “The Sound of Light,” will be produced during the Twentieth Anniversary of FUSION’s short play festival, THE SEVEN. The festival of 10-minute plays premieres at 708 1st St. NW on Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 PM.

Johnson was timely and enthusiastic in her response, but warned me that several other reporters had mispronounced her middle name. She is half-French and wondered if I had an awareness of that continental culture and language.

After a brief conversation about French theatre and philosophy, we easily segued into a discussion about the intense transformational nature and message at the heart of Johnson’s play.

You see, Johnson’s work is drawn from real life; it’s the true and triumphant story about a relationship between a mother and a son, a writer and her young nonverbal counterpart. The play is a glimpse into human hope and the struggles we all face as we try to be understood by each other.

There’s a bit of a spoiler alert here; the following interview excerpt talks about the inspiration and subsequent narrative action of a very engaging, heart-of-the-matter play, although most of the details of the plot are not disclosed. Please be aware of those facts as you engage in this reading.

Rudolfo Carrillo: Here is the story of a mother and a nonverbal child, and a transformation or transcendence of the everyday that both experience… Could you tell me a little bit about the history of the play and how that wonder in the story works for you, please?

That’s a great question. I started this play in 2012. It was my first play; my dad had just passed away, and for some reason, that door opened for me. I’ve always been an actor, and I’ve been a writer as well, but writing for advertising and annual reports and things like that. I had never thought about transferring my really deep training as an actor to writing, but it just started coming out of me. The first story that I wanted to tell was the story of our son, Pace. At fifteen months, he was developing pretty normally, and all of a sudden, he just went away. He just disappeared. He wouldn’t look up when we called his name. So we took him in, and we got him diagnosed [with autism]. The tears just shot out of my eyes. And I thought, “I have no preparation for this.” But as time went on, I realized I was uniquely qualified. We established an entire communications process that only he and I understood.

How did that situation feel to you and your son?

I just resigned myself to thinking, well, this is going to be life, you know, forever and ever. And then a pivotal thing happened when he was about eight years old.

What happened?

We happened to be in Vermont, where my parents lived. And we were high up on a mountain, and it was after supper, it was dark, and the stars were out. My mom said let’s go look at the stars and bring Pace with us, let him experience this. I grabbed his hand, and he put down his book and came with me. We were out in the dark, walking along this dirt road, looking up at the stars, and they were deep… And all of a sudden, Pace started singing. He sang the same song that we used to sing when I was changing his diaper when he was little.

How did that magical event become the basis for a play?

I was thinking about how I could tell this story on several levels. I sent it to a lot of places. I sent it to New York, I sent it to the Manhattan Theatre Club, to Lynn Meadow, who ran it at that time, an incredible figure in American theatre, one of my all-time icons. She wrote me a personal email back, and she said, “This is so beautiful and so highly theatrical”; it was like an epiphany for people.

Ultimately it took some time and intensive revision for the play to be produced. How was FUSION involved in that?

I carefully massaged it into what you see now. I think FUSION was one of the first places I sent the revision to. The fact that they recognized the work and that they gave it such credence is flabbergasting. I’m so grateful, because that story is so good for right now. You know, it’s about inclusion, it’s about being kind, being right.

Now that everyone knows the story behind the story, tell me more about the essence of the play, the inclusion, the kindness behind the sound and the light?

The play is about looking at people closely and seeing what is there and not what is not there, building on whatever is there, even if that quality is minute by the standards of others. It’s about being open and also being welcoming, being open and present to people who don’t live the same life you may live. I tend to kind of discount the magic of all of that because I lived it, but I’ll always thank my mother for insisting that magic happens all around us. It happened that night with Pace. Those are moments that I tend to write about or want people to know about through writing or performance.

And for you Son? I’m told that Pace is now thriving?

Now he's 31. He still doesn’t reliably speak, but he can talk. Oh my gosh, he can read anything! There were years where he went through the whole encyclopedia, the whole set, every page. He’s a very sensitive soul.

FUSION Theatre Company presents THE SEVEN: The Heart of The Matter
FUSION | 708
708 1st Street NorthwestAlbuquerque, NM, 87102

PERFORMANCES

Thursday, June 4 at 7 PM
Friday, June 5 at 7 PM
Saturday, June 6 at 2 PM & 7 PM
Sunday, June 7 at 2 PM

THE SEVEN WINNERS

The Bradford Gromelski Jury Award Winner
THE SOUND OF LIGHT by Mary Donnet Johnson, Knoxville, TN

THE FORCE OF ATTRACTION
Ron Davies, Ottawa, Canada

THE HAIL MARY
Laurie Thomas, Albuquerque, NM

THE JULY EFFECT
Andrea Trotenberg, Highland Park, IL

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT HANG THAT MISTLETOE TONIGHT
Mike Byham, Southlake, TX

THE DARK CLOUD: A FABLE
James W. Perry, Manteca, CA

ALL ROADS LEAD TO PROSPECT PARK
Dan Perry, Los Angeles, CA

THE 2nd SEVEN

As a part of THE SEVEN short works fest, THE 2nd SEVEN is a staged reading for the next seven highest scoring submitted scripts.

Come experience a staged reading of the plays that finished 8–14 in the Jury selections for the 20th Anniversary of THE SEVEN, one of the nation's premier short works festivals. The degree of quality difference between all fourteen plays is merely shading—all are great plays!

WINNERS OF THE 2nd SEVEN
VISITING MASHA by Donald Ray Schwartz, Baltimore, MD
SOFTSOAP & HARD WATER by Logan Cutler Smith, Cleveland, OH
HOT, FULL-BODIED FINISH. by Paula Williamson, Richmond, CA
LYDGATE IN LOVE by Deborah Savadge, New York, NY
ONE MILLION by Vilém Dubnička, Pilsen, Czech Republic
LAURA WINGFIELD WALKS INTO A BAR by Kristen Field, Kalamazoo, MI
THE TIES THAT BIND by Nancy Temple, Needham, MA

Staged Reading on June 8 at 7 PM.

THE NM SEVEN

As a part of THE SEVEN short works fest, THE NM SEVEN is a staged reading for the highest-scoring scripts submitted by New Mexican playwrights.

Come experience a staged reading of the plays by New Mexican playwrights selected by the Jury for THE SEVEN, one of the nation's premiere short works festivals. Support local playwrights and enjoy hearing these exceptional plays!

WINNERS OF THE NM SEVEN
MEMORIES by Peter Schuyler, Albuquerque, NM
TO BE by Scott Harrison, Santa Fe, NM
SATELLITE by William Reynolds, Albuquerque, NM
CORPUS by Owen Conway, Albuquerque, NM
LEGACY by Karin Diann Williams, Albuquerque, NM
WHAT I MEANT WAS by Ryan Clarke, Albuquerque, NM
THE APPOINTMENT by Talia Pura, Santa Fe, NM

Staged Reading on June 12 at 7 PM.