Buckle your seatbelts for a fast-paced dramatic road trip.
The award-winning play, 50 Miles Away, will get hearts racing when it makes its Chattanooga debut this August at Barking Legs Theater.
Produced by the newly formed nonprofit organization, Next Exit Productions, 50 Miles Away is part romantic comedy, part soul-searching drama. The story taps into our sense of wanderlust and veers in unpredictable directions as the characters question their true destination.
Directed by Stevie Ray Dallimore and written by Jason Tinney and Holly Morse-Ellington, 50 Miles Away invites audiences to be passengers alongside the journey of strangers whose lives intersect as they cruise the open road.
Fueled by quirky chemistry and estrangement from their pasts, Jack (played by Tinney) and Leeann (Morse-Ellington) continue to bump into each other at rest stops along Highway 95 as they search for something more. When they meet an eccentric mother of four, Hillarie (Nicole Coleman), each discovers parts of themselves they’d hoped to outrun on the road.
“The writing is sincere, funny and has no gimmicks or orchestrated dramaturgy littering up the landscape,” says critically acclaimed playwright Alonzo LaMont. “And after you’ve inhaled your share of flirtatious southern honky-tonk, the whiff of sensuality wrassles both characters down to the bone and steals the day.”
5o Miles Away won the Frostburg Center for Literary Arts International One-Act Festival in 2015 and received its world premiere at Palace Theatre. In 2016, the play received a second production by Potomac Playmakers (Hagerstown, MD).
Actress Whitney Bowie, who played Hillarie in 2016, is excited about the upcoming production. “50 Miles Away is the perfect, messy love story,” she says. “Being a part of this play was and still is one of my favorite memories. The music always seemed to put my mind at ease when listening. We need more stories like this.”
So, what’s new in 2023? Tinney and Morse-Ellington have written two additional scenes and recorded the play’s soundtrack, including never-heard tracks, with Loud&Clear Studios.
“When we began discussions of staging the play in Chattanooga, I was intrigued by the opportunity to approach the script with some distance from the time and place when it was originally written. We were able to let the story breathe and really illustrate the landscape these characters are wandering through,” says Tinney. “And of course, there has been this wonderful opportunity to work with Stevie Ray, not only as playwrights but as actors, and explore his vision of that landscape. Plus, we’ve picked up this amazing, talented crew of artists – many of them students – who have contributed creatively in ways we never imagined.”
The revamped 50 Miles Away celebrates the new work of local writers, musicians, and filmmakers by packing theater, film, and live music into one epic production. The original soundtrack will be performed and restyled by Nancy Seiters, Charles Gaston, and Jonathan Susman. Plus, the show kicks off with a short film directed by Dallimore that features actors Arche Twitty, Carolyn Mueller, and Marek Krawczyk.
“I’m all about creative challenges and giving new voices a shot and I love working with cool artistic people,” says Dallimore. “So when Holly and Jason asked me to direct their play, I jumped at it. I saw a way for us to do something really unique – we added film and live music to an already compelling road-trip-fantasy-romance. Plus, we have the opportunity to work with and mentor a brilliant group of young artists who are given a ton of autonomy and have added their own brand of amazing creative expression to the piece. It’s one of the most gratifying, collaborative processes I’ve ever been involved in.”
Next Exit Productions was created to enhance community connections through original work by local performing artists. They are committed to cultural and generational inclusivity to empower today’s audiences and beyond with greater awareness and connectivity across a multitude of voices and perspectives.
“50 Miles Away is the perfect production to showcase what Next Exit is all about,” says Morse-Ellington. “Everything is original and collaborative, from the script to the music, from the set design to the film featurette. Everyone, from students to adults, is hands-on and fully immersed in the entire creative process.”
The collaborative spirit of Next Exit Productions has launched a tight-knit community around the assembly of the play, with cast and crew members from students to adults contributing their creative ideas to its development.
“A lot of the conceptual inspiration for the set and lighting design came from the beautiful descriptive language throughout the script, and Next Exit Productions has been such a supportive environment that I’ve really been able to let my imagination run wild!” says student Ella Harris, set and lighting designer. “I’ve especially enjoyed collaborating with the team and writers to pull pieces of the characters’ lives together into sculptural representations of their vehicles. It’s been a wonderful exercise in innovation and improvisation, unlike any experience I’ve had in theater before.”
50 Miles Away opens at Barking Legs Theater this August. The play asks a question that’s sure to resonate with audiences – how far are you willing to go to take a chance on love? Tickets can be purchased at the door and in advance on their website,www.50milesaway.org.
Performances are:
- August 10: Invited Dress Rehearsal (no live music) @ 7:30 PM
- August 11 & 12: Opening Weekend @ 7:30 PM
- August 13: Sunday Matinee @ 2:00 PM
- August 18 & 19: Closing Weekend @ 7:30 PM