Common Threads: Interwoven Portraits of a Pandemic | Looking for Lilith Theatre Company

Common Threads:
interwoven portraits of a pandemic

Looking for Lilith Theatre Company’s (LFL) November 2021 mainstage, Common Threads: interwoven portraits of a pandemic, is an interactive hybrid theatre-film production that explores our community’s experiences since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on story circles convened by LFL ensemble members, Common Threads interweaves various short films with live scenes and other forms of artistic expression. Audiences were invited to creatively respond to the production in a welcoming and safe space.

Shannon Woolley Allison, Project Director & Co-Artistic Director, says “Our hope with this project is that those watching these stories will feel as seen and as heard as those that told them. In the many ways that the pandemic has kept us apart, it also brought to the surface common threads of loss and loneliness, and the need for community.” This need for community, that both lovingly supports us AND fearlessly challenges us, has been made beautifully clear. This production takes a look at those often painful realities we have been living through since March 2020. Yet it also explores how in the midst of such difficult times, there have also been lightness and humor, and some have even had opportunities for growth, transformation, renewal, community-building and the discovery of what matters most.

LFL hosted post-performance story circles on select nights, in which audience members responded to the same prompts that were used to create Common Threads.

Story circles are at the core of this project since for the past 20 years LFL has used real-life stories as the foundation of our mission. LFL has learned story circle methodology from Alternate ROOTS artists from the Gulf Coast and Eastern Kentucky who have worked with artistic elders such as John O’Neal of JuneBug Productions. Revisiting story circles as a springboard for this collaborative creation, we have been inspired to give ourselves the freedom of a safe place to explore and create this new interactive hybrid production. Just as our process and stories over the last 20 months have evolved, so shall the way theatre is seen, heard and experienced in 2021.

This production encompasses 6 stories:

MCDONALD'S FELLOWSHIP
A story of grief, isolation, community, and healing. Join the ladies for a cup of coffee, and maybe a sausage biscuit, as we share in McDonalds Fellowship.

FILLING IN THE HOLES
An audio play with music that explores the themes of isolation and togetherness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ICE CREAM VIGIL
A film following a mother and daughter across three decades as they learn the importance of rituals, and the pain of losing them.

COULD'VE
We all grieve in our own way - Right? In Could've, we explore all the losses the pandemic laid bare--including discovering the impact grief has when it involves someone who hasn't passed and finding the common thread of that grief.

CLEANING CLOSETS AND FINDING MYSELF
When you don’t have to dress for others’ expectations, you can explore who you truly are. In Cleaning Closets and Finding Myself, Spencer discovers that she hasn’t been feeling like herself, and perhaps her usual, traditionally feminine, work clothes were never her at all.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: PANDEMIC STYLE
What happens when 4 friends reconnect over Zoom, during a pandemic, after many years apart? In High School Reunion: Pandemic Style, we get to hear how they’re all doing, handling these strange times… but will we see how they’re REALLY doing?

MCDONALD'S FELLOWSHIP
Film Creators:
Izzy Keel*, Morgan Younge*
Film Cast:
Stacey Hopson, Ava Lang, Jill Marie Schierbaum*, Karole Spangler*
In-person Director:
Tiera Bowman*
In-person Cast:
Stacey Hopson, Jill Marie Schierbaum*, Karole Spangler*, Morgan Younge*

FILLING IN THE HOLES
Audio Play Creators:
Jennifer Thalman Kepler*, Hilarie Spangler^
Audio Cast:
Shannon Woolley Allison*, Sara G.B. Canary*^, Jennifer Thalman Kepler*, Hilarie Spangler^
In-person Director:
Clare Hagan*
In-person Cast:
Adama Abramson*, Emily Grimany, Izzy Keel*

ICE CREAM VIGIL
Film Creators:
Clare Hagan*, Vidalia Unwin
Film Cast:
Shannon Woolley Allison*, Ellie Archer*, Athena Canon, Sean Childress, Laura Ellis*, Lindsay Jones, Karole Spangler*, Morgan Younge*
In-person Director:
Shannon Woolley Allison*
In-person Cast:
Common Threads Ensemble
Progressive Art Installation:
Jill Marie Schierbaum*

COULD'VE
Film Creators:
Shannon Woolley Allison*, Jill Marie Schierbaum*
Film Cast:
Mary Baunjoko, Michael Guelda, Laura Ellis*, Morgan Younge*
In-person Director:
Emily Grimany
In-person Cast:
Adama Abramson*, Clare Hagan*
Audio Producer:
Laura Ellis

CLEANING CLOSETS AND FINDING MYSELF
Film Creators:
Sara G.B. Canary*^, Meg Caudill*, with Ellie Archer*
Film Cast:
Sara G.B. Canary*^, Izzy Keel*
In-person Director:
Jennifer Thalman Kepler*
In-person Cast:
Shannon Woolley Allison*, Izzy Keel*

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: PANDEMIC STYLE
Film Creators:
Tiera Bowman*, Trina Fischer*, with Emily Stewart* & Holly Stone*
Film Cast:
Tiera Bowman*, Sara G.B. Canary*^, Emily Stewart*, Trina Fischer*
In-person Director:
Holly Stone*
In-person Cast:
Tiera Bowman*, Jennifer Thalman Kepler*, Meg Caudill*, Morgan Younge*