"The classics are not vegetables we must dutifully consume. They are Death by Chocolate—dense, dangerous, excessive, and meant to be devoured.”
Tom Fulton, Director, Producer, Actor, Instructor
I was minding my own business when, out of the blue, an actress named Lara called and announced, “I want you to direct me in Hedda Gabler.”
I was amused at first—but amusement quickly turned to admiration for her audacity and sheer moxie and most appealingly, her absolute seriousness about producing this great play.
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
TOM FULTON
Hedda has always felt like a play that could defeat me, yet I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame. So much of its life happens beneath the words: desire disguised as indifference, fear passing for cruelty, a desperate hunger for freedom expressed through control.
The play seems to explode from within. A Homecoming Celebration in a drawing room becomes an entire universe of longing, jealousy, beauty, and terror; a small gesture can carry the force of a catastrophe. T
As I came to know Lara and her work, I discovered that her boldness was matched by real passion, instinct, skill, and talent. And boldness, I surmised, is something Hedda Gabler demands in abundance.
So, it was an invitation II couldn’t resist—and the beginning of this top notch, professional artists coming together to take on Ibsen’s thrilling, unruly play. The theatre remains endlessly mysterious. And Hedda Gabler rises before an actor a bit like Devils Tower: sheer, daunting, magnificent, and filled with unseen dangers.
So Why climb it—especially for no guarantee of pay? We are all doing this for the love of the art. Because it is there. Because we still can.