The Giver
Adapted by Eric Coble from the Newberry Award-Winning book by Lois Lowry
Note From the Director
Lois Lowry’s The Giver has always been near and dear to my heart, dating back to my fifth-grade English assignment where I first encountered it. The prospect of directing the play adaptation excited me, as I got to dust off my old copy of Lowry’s book that I treasured. I opened it to find it contained my 11-year-old self’s annotated notes, alongside my sisters’ notes from 16 and 18 years ago. I’m finding that The Giver is a shared experience among middle schoolers across America, many remark it was transformative to their youth. It brings me so much joy to bring this experience to the stage for all ages to experience.
The Giver is a story about a society that chose a life of sameness. I wanted to focus on the sense of self that is innate and fights back; these are real people with real desires, the world around them just doesn’t care about it or want to acknowledge it.
While navigating the text, I found myself doing a deep dive into Lois Lowry’s intentions for the story. It interested me to find that this wasn’t a story of political commentary, as I had initially thought. Rather, it is one focused on the humanity behind the desire for a community like the one we see Jonas in. Lowry was inspired to write the story based on her father, who struggled with dementia and forgot his daughter, who passed away. He suffered tragic memory loss, and yet Lowry found herself asking if it was a good thing. He didn’t have the memories of all the pain in his life. Thus, an ethical question was formed: If people had the option to erase their pain, their bad memories, should they?
If you could give up choice for peace, would you? Choice is worth it to us. Love is worth it to us. But we can also sympathize with the need to erase our pain. This story is important to us now because, as we navigate the craziness of our world, we need to remember what anchors us. We need to celebrate our differences, our love, our joy, our mistakes! This is a play that wrestles with human nature. Can we experience true joy, peace, and love if our choice is taken away? Can we if we wipe out all the bad?
Eric Coble writes this story to take place “soon”. How ominous. Yet, isn’t that the truth? It’s easy to think dystopian stories are far away and untouchable from our own world, allowing us to avoid thinking critically about the choices that could bring us closer and closer to that dystopian future. We choose how close “soon” is for ourselves. When we give up our choices, our pain, our empathy, our love, we lose everything that makes us human.
“It’s just that…without the memories it’s all meaningless” - Lois Lowry, The Giver
Sarah Cooper
Director
CAST
Jonas: Battle Loyd
Asher: James Wier
Father: Tarek Zakhnini
Mother/Chief Elder/Larissa: Madison Hickey
Lily: Briley Walker
Fiona/Rosemary: Emma Spillman
The Giver: Katarina Kell
Understudies
Jonas u/s: Riley Wing
Asher: Ranger McElhattan
Father u/s: Kenses Garabito
Mother u/s: Genesis Lindsey
Lily u/s: Emily Chamberlain
Fiona u/s: Lily Wozniak
The Giver u/s: Heidi Thomas
PRODUCTION TEAM
Producer: Kari Smith
Director: Sarah Cooper*
Production Manager: Andy Bleiler
Costume Designer: Ella Haganman*
Lighting Designer: Phoebe Countryman*
Scenic Designer: Hayley-Kate Nelms*
Sound Designer: Jadyn Heinrichs
Technical Director/Props Designer: Hendrick Shelton
Stage Manager: Sara Kovich*
Assistant Stage Managers: Kaden Vinson-Kinney*, Elly Kate Smith*
Hair and Makeup Design: Megan Ammons*
Props Assistants: Ella Crouch*
Stage Crew: Haven Hutchison*, Matthew Scruggs*
Lighting Crew: Sarah Cooper*, Sara Kovich*, Kaden Vinson-Kinney*, Phoebe Countryman*, Bryson Hewell*
Wardrobe: Alyssa Freeze*, Ava Murphy*, Izzy DeCesare*
Light Board Operator: Phoebe Countryman*
Sound Board Operator: Kyle Heinrichs*
House Manager: Kyra Crosby*
Social Media & Photography: Bryona Browner*
Production Photography: Phoebe Countryman*
*Denotes Student
LICENSING
The Giver is produced with special permission from Dramatic Publishing.
SPECIAL THANKS
Lipscomb University Facilities, Events Management and Entertainment Technical Services, Walker Lumber, Nashville Plywood, Sherwin-Williams, Middle Tennessee State University Theater Department
SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT
Lipscomb University Theatre Department has been recently honored with the Outstanding College Theatre Program Award from the Broadway Green Alliance (BGA). This award recognizes the department-wide efforts we employ on every production to make them more sustainable. We have faculty and students who serve as “Green Captains”, who help our department stay aware of ways we can reduce our carbon footprint, our consumption of energy and water,and the amount of waste we produce. These efforts are not only beneficial to the planet God created, but also help save the university money and resources.
This production of The Giver has been created with a mindfulness toward our environmental impacts and carbon footprint. Approximately 95% of the set you see on stage has been created from recycled or repurposed scenery pieces, which have been on stage in many other productions. All of the lumber and other building materials used for the set are sourced from certified sustainably harvested mills. The paints used are water-based, low or zero VOC, and almost all of the set will be recycled after the last performance to be used on future productions. The costumes as well, have been created from a mix that includes borrowed, reused and redesigned garments. Still other pieces are made from fabrics that come from our stocks. All the costume pieces will be saved after the show for future use. The lighting we employ are low wattage fixtures, greatly reducing the energy needed to light the show as compared to conventional lighting fixtures. In rehearsals, every effort is made to avoid single use plastics, plastic water bottles, and other waste generating items. To learn more about BGA please visit their website at: https://www.broadwaygreen.com
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Department of Theatre acknowledges the land we are on in Tennessee is the original homeland of the Cherokee, Yuchi, Shawnee, and Chickasaw tribal nations. We honor these indigenous people, their heritage, culture, and legacy.