Auburn and the surrounding communities have created their fair share of notable figures and historical events, many of which have served as inspiration for the arts.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
The cast of “Trog and Clay” rehearses their lines at the Morgan Opera House Saturday afternoon.
The cast of “Trog and Clay” rehearses their lines at the Morgan Opera House Saturday afternoon.
Though it might not seem like the stuff great comedy is made of, Auburn's distinction as the home of the first electric chair has inspired one Los Angeles writer's latest opus.
Michael Vukadinovich's play, “Trog and Clay,” will hit the Morgan Opera House stage Nov. 21 and 22, directed by Siouxsie Grady.
Vukadinovich was one of dozens of playwrights who submitted their work for the 2009 Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition in Aurora. “Trog and Clay” earned its staging by co-winning the competition along with William Duncan's “Trust,” which will be produced as part of the opera house's 2010 season.
Vukadinovich, who has also won the 2007 Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Award and the 2005 Sidney Sheldon Playwriting Award, said “Trog and Clay” takes place in a completely fictional world. But he also found inspiration in real history.
When he heard about the opportunity to have his work performed in Aurora, so close to Auburn, he thought his play might have an even greater chance of winning the contest.
“When I saw there was a historical playwriting contest I got really excited because I had written this play that is based on a lot of actual history - court transcripts and famous people,” Vukadinovich said. “But then it has a completely made-up plot. So I was curious how they would react to it. I thought there was a good possibility they would hate it because it's not how things happened.”
Vukadinovich said that he did a great deal of research on his subject matter.
The play follows two out-of-work dogcatchers, the eponymous characters, who unwittingly find themselves caught in the War of Currents that took place between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Westinghouse and Edison battled vehemently in real life promoting their forms of electricity, AC and DC, respectively. When approached about building the first electric chair, the adversaries campaigned for the other's system to be used in its design due to the negative associations the device would carry.
Vukadinovich meticulously studied these real life events and used them, along with the court transcripts of the case of William Kemmler, the first condemned prisoner to be executed in the chair in New York state, and wove them together with the comical characters of Trog and Clay.
He describes the work as mostly comical with some darker edges, but by and large a comedy.
“It's like a behind-the-scenes imagined history of what might have happened,” Vukadinovich said. “Also, what is really interesting is how little people understood electricity at that time, despite believing they discovered everything there is to know about it.”
Through his research, Vukadinovich found an abundance of absurd material that really took place, all of which helped him spin his tale.
“When I was researching the court transcripts and the development of the electric chair, I found so many great absurdities that it all lent itself to this almost farcical world, as opposed to a straightforward realistic world,” Vukadinovich said. “For instance, Edison, who had such a huge hand in the invention of the electric chair, was actually against capital punishment. William Kemmler, the wife-killer, was something of a romantic. And the doctor at the center of the trial testified that Kemmler is an idiot because he has a small head, though Kemmler's head was actually bigger than the judge's.”
The writer said he was well aware of the local history when he submitted his play, and he was hopeful the local connection would help him win.
Ann Mathieson, treasurer of the Morgan Opera House, said the contest garnered more entries this year than ever before in its six-year history. She attributes the increase to the opera house opening the contest up to writers outside the central New York area.
Mathieson said a committee of judges read all the submissions and whittled the entries down. Vukadinovich's play, she said, stood out for its local connection, as well as its mixture of humor and history.
The writer hopes that “Trog and Clay” piques people's curiosity about where fiction ends and the true story begins.
“I hope people walk away wondering what was true and what was imagined,” Vukadinovich said. “And maybe go look it up after.”
If you go
What: “Trog and Clay”
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Where: Morgan Opera House, Route 90, Aurora
Cost: $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students/children
Info: Call 364-5437
Michael Vukadinovich's play, “Trog and Clay,” will hit the Morgan Opera House stage Nov. 21 and 22, directed by Siouxsie Grady.
Vukadinovich was one of dozens of playwrights who submitted their work for the 2009 Gloria Ann Barnell Peter Playwright Competition in Aurora. “Trog and Clay” earned its staging by co-winning the competition along with William Duncan's “Trust,” which will be produced as part of the opera house's 2010 season.
Vukadinovich, who has also won the 2007 Samuel Goldwyn Screenwriting Award and the 2005 Sidney Sheldon Playwriting Award, said “Trog and Clay” takes place in a completely fictional world. But he also found inspiration in real history.
When he heard about the opportunity to have his work performed in Aurora, so close to Auburn, he thought his play might have an even greater chance of winning the contest.
“When I saw there was a historical playwriting contest I got really excited because I had written this play that is based on a lot of actual history - court transcripts and famous people,” Vukadinovich said. “But then it has a completely made-up plot. So I was curious how they would react to it. I thought there was a good possibility they would hate it because it's not how things happened.”
Vukadinovich said that he did a great deal of research on his subject matter.
The play follows two out-of-work dogcatchers, the eponymous characters, who unwittingly find themselves caught in the War of Currents that took place between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Westinghouse and Edison battled vehemently in real life promoting their forms of electricity, AC and DC, respectively. When approached about building the first electric chair, the adversaries campaigned for the other's system to be used in its design due to the negative associations the device would carry.
Vukadinovich meticulously studied these real life events and used them, along with the court transcripts of the case of William Kemmler, the first condemned prisoner to be executed in the chair in New York state, and wove them together with the comical characters of Trog and Clay.
He describes the work as mostly comical with some darker edges, but by and large a comedy.
“It's like a behind-the-scenes imagined history of what might have happened,” Vukadinovich said. “Also, what is really interesting is how little people understood electricity at that time, despite believing they discovered everything there is to know about it.”
Through his research, Vukadinovich found an abundance of absurd material that really took place, all of which helped him spin his tale.
“When I was researching the court transcripts and the development of the electric chair, I found so many great absurdities that it all lent itself to this almost farcical world, as opposed to a straightforward realistic world,” Vukadinovich said. “For instance, Edison, who had such a huge hand in the invention of the electric chair, was actually against capital punishment. William Kemmler, the wife-killer, was something of a romantic. And the doctor at the center of the trial testified that Kemmler is an idiot because he has a small head, though Kemmler's head was actually bigger than the judge's.”
The writer said he was well aware of the local history when he submitted his play, and he was hopeful the local connection would help him win.
Ann Mathieson, treasurer of the Morgan Opera House, said the contest garnered more entries this year than ever before in its six-year history. She attributes the increase to the opera house opening the contest up to writers outside the central New York area.
Mathieson said a committee of judges read all the submissions and whittled the entries down. Vukadinovich's play, she said, stood out for its local connection, as well as its mixture of humor and history.
The writer hopes that “Trog and Clay” piques people's curiosity about where fiction ends and the true story begins.
“I hope people walk away wondering what was true and what was imagined,” Vukadinovich said. “And maybe go look it up after.”
If you go
What: “Trog and Clay”
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Where: Morgan Opera House, Route 90, Aurora
Cost: $10 adults, $8 seniors, $5 students/children
Info: Call 364-5437
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