Coming off of a rousing success with the musical “Spring Awakening,” Actor’s Express opens the gay-themed “Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them.” The new play, which runs through Nov. 26, is written by A. Rey Pamatmat and is part of a rolling world premiere at the Express.
According to Freddie Ashley, the artistic director of Actor’s Express who also directs the play, “Edith” is something of a comedy drama with a cast of three. With their mother dead and their father having left them, sixteen-year-old Kenny (Ralph Del Rosario) has to take care of his twelve-year-old sister, Edith (Rose Le Tran), on a farm in middle America.
Kenny has also noticed that he had developed feelings for his best friend, Benji (Tucker Weinmann), who is his study buddy.
The three kids form something of an unlikely family bond, until a threat rises up from the outside world and leads Edith – the youngest – to take matters into her own hands and start firing.
Ashley says he likes the show — in which adult actors play the children — because it is about “all different kinds of family,” and because it has a heart as well as optimism and warmth. Ashley also calls “Edith” emotionally complex and observant about the relationship between the three characters.
Teenagers Kenny and Benji have never felt anything like what they are going through.
“They are completely inexperienced,” says Ashley. “This is the first inkling of sexual awakening for them.”
Edith is okay with the situation, though, and even becomes protective of Benji.
According to Ashley, Edith is a “plucky, self-assured character, one with an active imagination,” who teaches her brother how to stand up for himself while he teaches her to develop more patience.
‘Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them’
Oct. 27 – Nov. 26 at Actor’s Express
887 W. Marietta St., Atlanta, GA 30318
www.actorsexpress.com