Heart of Darkness by David Burke

Author:David Burke [David Burke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781901447989
Publisher: Cherry Red Books
Published: 2011-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Bruised Orange is a not-for-profit theatre company formed in 2004 by a small group of Northern Illinois University graduates. In 2008, it staged a month-long run of The Nebraska Project (an original script by Clint Sheffer, storied by an ensemble cast and directed by John Morrison) at Chicago’s Side Project Theatre.

Another Bruised Orange director, Mark Spence, who worked on The Nebraska Project, explains the premise of the drama.

“It is 1984. Two naïve and angry teens take the opportunity of a flood to take a small New Jersey town hostage. In a misled gesture to prove their competency, Mike and Barry, armed with their father’s guns, guard the only exit out of town with the other exit, an old bridge, washed out by a flood. With the power out, Whitney is out looking for her drunk father, only to find a recently shot homeless man, Roy. Allie, a stranger on the run after a money grab from Atlantic City, finds herself in a small town. She is taken in by a secretive local woman, Mary.

Whitney and Roy see the lights on at Mary’s house and seek help with Roy’s gunshot wound. Barry and Mike, realising they accidentally shot someone, have a falling-out and Mike leaves Barry to guard the road. Mary, Whitney, Allie and Roy find shelter in Mary’s bomb shelter. While discussing a way to get out of the town to find help for Roy, a local Vietnam vet, Jeffries, hiding in the bomb shelter, reveals himself to help with the plan, offering both his war experience and his gun. He is caught by Barry. In a scuffle for Barry’s rifle, Jeffries accidentally shoots Barry, but not before getting shot himself.

“Meanwhile, back at the shelter, Mary finds herself with another visitor, Mike. Seeing Mike’s reaction to the now almost dead Roy, she believes Mike is the one who shot Roy. In an effort to get to the truth, Mary confesses her real identity – Caril Ann Fugate, accomplice to Charlie Starkweather. Whitney finds Jeffries and Barry. Jeffries is barely holding on, and Whitney chooses to stay with him, hoping help will come around now that the storm is over and the morning comes.”

The Nebraska Project, abandoning convention, was initiated and executed as a collaboration. Spence, a native of Nebraska, didn’t hear the album for the first time until he moved away to college.

“When I grew up, Springsteen was really identified with his Born In The USA stereotypical image – one of a bombastic, jingoistic rock star. Obviously nothing could be further from the truth, but that was always my perception of Springsteen. It wasn’t until college that a friend of mine introduced me to Darkness On The Edge Of Town and Nebraska that my eyes were really opened, and from then on I re-examined the whole catalogue. I immediately became obsessed.

“Springsteen’s third-person character really goes to another level on that album. He has always written characters, but they had been surrounded by varying degrees of romanticism. With Nebraska, the romanticism was gone.

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