Ms. Tracy Terry took her play and a cast of nine to Scotland last summer.
Graphic by Stella Dubin/The Choate News
If you have eaten a meal in the Dining Hall in the last few weeks, you might have seen small brochures advertising the upcoming 2020 Choate Fringe Festival, an annual event hosted by the School inspired by the history of such festivals in Scotland and Britain. This past summer, Choate’s theater faculty member Ms. Tracy Terry, known as TrayJay to her students, wrote and produced a play that was showcased at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the world’s largest arts festival, with more than 300 venues and 55,000 performances of more than 3,500 shows. It runs throughout August each fall. Lastt year was the 50th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festival and, according to Ms. Terry, featured the largest festival yet.
Ms. Terry’s play, Forty Shades of Green Tour, initially titled The Drive, is a comedic piece based on her trip to Ireland in 2009 with the Clan na Gael Players, the Gaelic-American Club (GAC) theater group.
“In 2014, I finally was inspired to write it with the prompting of a dear friend, who happened to be teaching a creative writing class and graciously invited me to attend,” Ms. Terry said. “I entered The Drive in the Clan na Gael playwriting contest and won.”
Two years later in 2016, Ms. Terry renamed The Drive to Forty Shades of Green Tour. According to Ms. Terry, the play premiered in Ireland to outstanding reviews and also received accolades from the GAC. Then, in 2019, it was shown at the Hudson Guild Theater in Manhattan. It was directed by Emmy award-winning director Gene Cernilli and featured an entirely New York-based cast.
According to Ms. Terry, since Forty Shades of Green Tour had great reception both abroad in Ireland and domestically in Ridgefield, Conn., and Manhattan, her plans to enter it in a fringe festival were continually delayed. It wasn’t until the summer of 2019 that Ms. Terry brought her play and a cast and crew of nine to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “Going to Scotland was one of the best things I’ve ever done. It taught me that if I put my mind to something I can do it,” Ms. Terry said. “It was an incredible amount of work, but each step was rewarding and fulfilling.”.
Ms. Terry’s experience preparing for the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland included challenges. “I also had to learn the art of fundraising which was really daunting. I was never really good at asking for what I want, but I gave it a try and my first fundraiser yielded over 200 people raising over 5,000,” she said.
“My favorite memory of the fringe was all of it!” she continued. “But I have to say being able to do your craft in one of the most beautiful cities in the world is awesome. Walking to the theater every day and performing and seeing the reaction of the audience was truly and deeply rewarding.”
Every year, Choate hosts a student-written and produced Fringe Festival. For Ms. Terry, the Fringe Festival is a great event that allows students to experience creating and showcasing their own theatrical works. “Writing, creating, directing and performing an original piece of work is rewarding for all involved, and Choate allowing the students this experience is a gift,” Ms. Terry said. “There are many schools that go there and perform and take original works, and I was able to see a few of those and they were outstanding.”
With the experience of attending one Fringe Festival under her belt, Ms. Terry plans to attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival again in the near future.
