You could describe local writer Merry Ellefson’s new play “A Lifetime to Master” as being a work about homelessness, but it would be more accurate to say it’s a play about people. Based on more than 60 interviews Ellefson conducted with community members over the past three years, the play offers an opportunity to move beyond the statistics and stereotypes about homelessness in Juneau by focusing on the experiences of individuals, each of whom has their own story.
Produced by Generator Theater Company, the play opens Friday, Jan. 16, at McPhetres Hall and runs through Jan. 25. A preview performance will be held Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 7:30 p.m.
Ellefson said when she began working on the play, she didn’t know very much about Juneau’s homeless population and had no idea what she was getting into.
“I never imagined where it would take me, and who I would meet and what I would learn,” she said. “People shared really intimate parts of their lives and really transformed the way I look at my community in ways that were both powerful and startling.”
[For more of this story, written by Amy Fletcher, go to http://juneauempire.com/art/2015-01-08]
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