What happens when a local playwright adapts for the stage a local author’s bestselling book? You get “Border Songs,” a a co-production by Saint Martin’s University Theatre Department and Book-It Repertory Theatre.
The lush Northwest Washington border between Canada and the United States and the gulf between “normal” folks and those regarded as peculiar are often as imperceptible as they are illusory. They are the stuff of “Border Songs,” which has its world premier in February at the Olympia State Theater.
Based on Olympia author Jim Lynch’s novel, a 2010 Washington State Book Award winner, “Border Songs” was adapted for the stage by Bryan Willis. David Quicksall directs the production.
At the heart of the story, threading between the borders, is unlikely hero Brandon Vanderkool, a naïve and dyslexic, six-foot-eight misfit pushed into joining the U.S. Border Patrol. While he’d rather bird-watch or tend the cows on the struggling family dairy farm, his skills of observation make him surprisingly adept at spotting and busting drug smugglers. A finely-drawn cast of small-town characters and illicit activities drive a plot that is both amusing and poignant.
Performance Dates:
Feb 25th, Mar 2-5 at 7:30pm
Feb 26th, 27th at 2pm
(March 2nd is pay what you will at the door only)
And on March 3rd, the audience will have an opportunity to participate in a ‘talk back’ with Jim Lynch (book author) and Bryan Willis (playwright) after the show.
Click here to read The Olympian’s article “Crossing borders; Small-town life, political issues: Novelist Jim Lynch’s refreshing story with complex characters adapted for Oly stage”
Text from this article is largely from the performing arts calendar, published in The Olympian.
