Doris to Darlene
a cautionary valentine
by Jordan Harrison, MFA '03
Directed by Chris Tyler '10
December 3-6
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00pm
Sunday at 2:00pm
Leeds Theatre
A beautifully brainy valentine to the transformative potential of music, Jordan Harrison MFA 03's Doris to Darlene is a soulfully crafted trio of love stories that follows the transpositions of one timeless song across the ages. In the candy-colored 1960s, biracial schoolgirl Doris is molded into pop star Darlene by a whiz-kid record producer who culls a top-ten hit out of Richard Wagner's "Liebestod." Rewind to the candy-colored 1860s, where Wagner is writing the melody that will become Darlene's hit song. Fast-forward to the not-so-candy-colored present, where a teenager obsesses over Darlene's music -- and his music teacher. Three dissonant decades collide into an unlikely harmony in this time-jumping pop fairy tale about the dreams and disasters behind one transcendent song.
”Doris to Darlene, a cautionary valentine is a quirky and enjoyable love letter to music and its seductive power to make us lose ourselves…Harrison's language is by turns so punchy, poetic and observant.” NY Daily News
“Mr. Harrison’s play has an affectionate, music-loving heart.” New York Times
“Doris to Darlene has much going for it: Harrison’s intelligence, originality and passion.” Time Out New York
“Harrison’s teasing, rapturous chamber opera of a play spins and crackles like a beloved old 78 under a bamboo needle...Doris to Darlene is that rare thing: a rarefied theatrical experiment that has the glow of pure entertainment and the warmth of a folktale.” Newsday
Jordan Harrison grew up in Seattle and currently lives in Brooklyn. He is a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2009-2010 Hodder Fellow at Princeton University. Jordan’s plays include Doris to Darlene (Playwrights Horizons), Act a Lady (Portland Center Stage, 2006 Humana Festival), Finn in the Underworld (Berkeley Rep), Amazons and Their Men (Off Broadway at Clubbed Thumb), Kid-Simple (2004 Humana Festival, American Theater Company, SPF), The Museum Play (Washington Ensemble Theatre), and Futura. He has received commissions from Arden Theatre, Ars Nova, Berkeley Rep/Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cypress Films, the Guthrie Theater/Children’s Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, and South Coast Rep. Jordan is the recipient of the 2008 Kesselring Fellowship, the Frederick Loewe Award, a Theater Masters’ Innovative Playwright Award, the Heideman Award, Jerome and McKnight Fellowships from The Playwrights’ Center, and a NEA/TCG Playwright-in-Residence Grant with The Empty Space Theatre. A graduate of the Brown University MFA Creative Writing program, he is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.
Doris to Darlene is Brown University's 2009/10 Senior Showcase show, directed by Chris Tyler '10. For all the details on Doris to Darlene, visit the director's blog at doris2darlene.blogspot.com.
