IODINE by Michelle Joyner
Residency: 7.9 - 7.12, 2024
Staged Reading: 7.13.24 + 7.14.24
IODINE is a psychological puzzle exploring the life of an unconventional college senior. Tracey Sue Pennington is living a highly functional if impoverished existence after running away from her abusive home, and is forced to face her painful past when she falls in love with a much older man. A traumatic childhood involving exorcisms, alien abduction and a fragmented reality slowly comes into focus as this young woman's heart begins to open.
Director Notes:
"Prior to moving back to the Berkshires after many decades away, I was a screenwriter in Hollywood and wrote ten studio screenplays, of which many were book adaptations. Haven Kimmel's IODINE was a novel that I always longed to adapt. Now that I am back working in the theatre, I jumped at the chance to finally tackle this complex and fascinating story for the stage. IODINE is a challenging psychological puzzle, and a highly theatrical one. I'm hoping that my vision of puppets, shadow art, double casting and an intense sound scape will enhance the world of alien abductions, exorcisms, misplaced sexual desire and the mythic core of the book.
At its heart, IODINE is a detective story. A brilliant young woman must excavate her traumatic childhood, and she invites the audience as her guide. As her fragmented reality slowly comes into focus, audience and character learn that memories are difficult to trust, and they ultimately obscure as much as they reveal."
