A Ticket to Great Art
When you look out the window of a train, you wonder if the world is passing by, or if you are passing by the world. In New York City, the world is passing by. In Corbin, Kentucky, you are passing by the world. There is a landscape in that part of the southeast that is not glorious like the man-made sky scrapers of New York or the God-made Rockies of the West, but is undeniably beautiful. It is a subtle, yet profound statement of God’s artwork in both design and story telling that is perhaps as underrated as it is understated.
Subtle but profound is a good description of the landscape near Corbin, and also for our current mainstage production, The Last Train to Nibroc. It is already up and running, and already impacting audiences who had no idea what to expect. What do you expect, from a cast of two and minimal set? The answer is different for every person. But what you leave with is across the board. A warmth that comes from things that are true and everlasting, that clings to the deepest places even when the thought that you were entertained wears off.
A love story? I guess so. A subtle but profound portrait of things God has put in us? Probably. A delightful and emotional train ride? For sure. Most people that try to wield such a list of things into one come out with a bland tasting mix of too many strong flavors at once, but Arlene Hutton has somehow managed to fill a rare steam engine with a well fed coal fire. It helps, of course, that Mark Jennings and Rachel Norman deliver a wonderfully sharp performance.
Lucky for you, tickets are still available. The show runs the rest of this weekend and next weekend, at Erin Presbyterian on Lockett Road. There’s always too many things going on, but few of them are taking you to places that mean something in the end. Come and be delighted, on a train ride through laughter and understanding, and try to get a window seat. You will be magnificently obsessed.
Talk to me.
Ethan Norman
Artistic Associate, The WordPlayers
Ethanwordplayers@comcast.net