For a recent SU graduate, the culmination of months of hard work is about to pay off, making dreams a reality.

“American Games,” a play by 2013 graduate Kevin Slack, will premiere in New York City on Sept. 3 thanks to an impressive cadre of Syracuse University alumni.

Slack, who previously wrote the “Generation Y” column for The Daily Orange, said his play tells the story of baseball phenomenon Henry Wool as he decides to leave the sport amidst fame and success.

The play first premiered in 2011 in Syracuse, but the version showing in New York City is vastly different. Slack cut 70 pages and added another 120, all in just a week — one full scene and portions of two other scenes are all that remain of the original version.

“I’m never doing that again,” said Slack, reflecting on the marathon of writing and editing.

The play’s upcoming premiere is the result of work by Five Point Productions, a production company that came together earlier this year when its members were seniors at SU.

Five Point Productions approached Slack in May about submitting his play to The Araca Project. The Project works in partnership with the University of Michigan, Florida State University, Northwestern University and SU to give graduates of those schools resources to produce Off-Broadway shows in New York City.

The production company proposed the play to the Araca Project in May, cast the show in June and began rehearsals in August. Continuing to keep things in the Syracuse alumni family, the play was directed by 2012 graduate Phil Blechman, and four cast members are also Syracuse-educated.

Slack graduated from SU with a degree in television, radio and film and a minor in theater. He wrote his first play in high school, but he credits an honors playwriting course with formalizing his passion for the art.

He spoke about his past work with a sense of sarcastic embarrassment, describing rereading a one-act play he wrote a few years ago as “like a teen girl reading her old Xanga.”

“As a writer, you have to have all those clubs in your bag,” Slack said about his varied writing experience.

Slack said he especially likes playwriting because, unlike other forms of writing, it allows him to be more involved in the creative process — he was present for the entire “American Games” casting and rehearsal process. But he said he didn’t go to every rehearsal because he didn’t want to continuously hear his own writing.

According to a May 2013 article in The Daily Orange, Five Point Productions member Andy Striph described “American Games” as being “about whether or not a young person can handle the responsibility life is throwing at him.”

Appropriately, Slack and his team are in that exact situation. As recent graduates, the group members are teaching themselves how to survive and succeed in a tough industry.

“We’ve had plenty of screw-ups in the past two months,” Slack said, but he added that mistakes are often his best teacher.

Fortunately, the structure of The Araca Project allows its participants plenty of independence to learn and make mistakes. The program covers the entire cost of the theater space, provides each show with $3,500 in starter funds and gives box office support for each performance. For “American Games,” Five Point Productions was responsible for raising the funds for the rest of the show’s expenses.

The Araca Project also runs a weeklong intensive workshop nicknamed Boot Camp that gives its participants a crash course in getting a show up and running. The program seeks to “embolden these artists to recognize the power of the entrepreneurial spirit,” according to The Araca Project website.

The entrepreneurial spirit Slack and Five Point Productions display is apparent in their first Off-Broadway production, and Slack said “American Games” is just the beginning. The company hopes to continue to present new work by young artists.

Said Slack: “We’re using this company to get our work out there. We’re figuring out how to get this show up and position ourselves to succeed in the future.”

Published on September 3, 2013 at 12:58 am

Contact Ian: insimonc@syr.edu