Multimedia, reading combine on stage at Bloomington Playwrights Project

Bloomington Playwrights Project, a not-for-profit theater company, will present a staged reading of Doug Bedwell’s “Dreaming of Forests” at 8 p.m. today and Wednesday.

The readings,  accompanied by a video projection created by artist Julie Rooney, are part of ArtsWeek 2010.

“I like to hope that anyone could walk in off the street and enjoy this play,” Bedwell said. “There’s a lot of funny stuff in it and a lot of food for thought.”

Chad Rabinovitz, producing artistic director of the BPP, said the production has particular relevance to the world’s modern environmental concerns.

“The play tackles global warming, how we react to it and how we interact with the environment in both indirect and direct ways,” Rabinovitz said.

Bedwell’s play focuses on a character facing a moral dilemma while also tackling the thematic topic of this year’s ArtsWeek, “Arts and the Environment.”

Two opposing groups involved in a heated environmental battle vie for the aid of a talented and ingenious marketing artist.

One side, led by a powerful state senator, tries to tear down part of a national park, but environmental activists fight against him.

During the spat, a talented artist must decide between a poor-paying job with the activists, whose cause he believes in, or a high-paying job with the senator, whose cause leaves a moral lump in his conscience.

A large muslin screen will serve as the production’s backdrop and will display Rooney’s video, which includes both moving pictures and animation. She said she spent close to a year collecting and compiling material for the project.

The finished product showcases Rooney’s considerable artistic talent, Rabinovitz said.
“It really helps bring the story to life,” he said.

Bedwell said his objective for his play is not to take his own ideas and present them as a solution to complex moral and social issues, but to use the play to help audience members formulate their own ideas.

“I want to get audiences thinking about themselves and their relationship to the environment,” he said. “Everybody is going to have different answers, but I think there’s real value in awareness, and art can help people do that.”