Today we’d like to introduce you to Morag Shepherd
Hi Morag, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started writing plays in the early 2000’s, shortly after I enrolled in a playwriting class in college. I happened to stumble across a production of my professor’s play in a basement on the college, so I decided to enroll in his class on a whim. He told me I had a voice, he encouraged me, he inspired me, so I read, I wrote, and I became an addict.
I started producing my own plays in 2015, and now I run two scrappy and exciting theatre companies: Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre, and Sackerson. Immigrant’s Daughter Theatre focuses on producing plays in a. bare-bones manner, and SACKERSON is a company that deals with site-specific, immersive, off the beaten track type shows.
In addition to heading up these two companies, I am a part of the Plan-B writers lab, and I direct for Hart Theater Company, and Pygmalion Theatre.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would say that producing my own theatre is never not stressful. But when it lands, there is nothing better than reaching people in a live production, where anything could go wrong at any moment.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to just work for another theatre, where I have easy access to all the resources I need, but creating work from the ground up, for a particular space, is super gratifying. It’s the ultimate local experience, and definitely worth all the stress aches.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I would say that in our community I am known for creating plays in non-traditional theatre spaces. For example, one of my productions was a play that I wrote for a specific route throughout the center of Salt Lake City. The actors wore microphones, and the audience wore headsets, and they followed the actors throughout the city. I wrote the piece specifically for the locations we would use, so they would get on a bus, on the trax, into restaurants, and walk through all the parts of the city that we take for granted. There was also a soundtrack that underscored the action, so it was like walking through a live movie, but the action was in front of you, and it became a love letter to the city.
Another one of my pieces we did in a changing room area of an old Abercrombie and Fitch store. We made each of the changing rooms an installation of sorts. The audience would go into each of the rooms, and glean different aspects of the main character’s life.
I really like to play with the idea of boundaries, where the line is between the stage and performance, audience and actor, and mess with that, both in the work, and in the physical limitation.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Okay, I think the most important lesson I’ve learned along the way, is that it’s not that big of a deal. Sure, people love the work sometimes, but it’s only a play. If things don’t go quite right, I can figure it out the next time. So, yeah, I guess, just keep going, keep trying, and don’t take myself or the work too seriously. It’s not a big deal.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://moragshepherd.com
- Instagram: @mogsiepogsie @immigrantsdaughtertheatre @sackerson_co
- Other: https://linkt.ee/moragshepherd
