HOW LONG CAN YOU STAND ON THE TRAIN TRACKS: A GAME FOR TWO SISTERS
By Morag Shepherd
Sackerson and Flying Bobcat, University of Utah
Babcock Theatre, 2017
​​
Direction by Alexandra Harbold
Photos by Todd Collins
Set and Lighting - Martin C Alcocer
Performed by Shawn Saunders, Merry Magee, Robert Scott Smith, Nicki Nixon
"As I have suggested at The Utah Review, Morag Shepherd is one of the most original playwrights around Utah.
Obviously, highly recommend" ~Les Roka
Director Andra Harbold calls the story about two sisters' complicated, disjunctive relationship "haunted and fiercely playful." Rather then a literal plot, "language, theme and spectacle are at the heart of Shepherd's work," she says.
​
New Utah play — in which sisters play chicken on train tracks — explores power of shifting family relationships (The Salt Lake Tribune)
Because of elements in my own life, How Long Can You Stand on the Train Tracks felt very much like an examination of how the mind processes or refuses to process experiences of trauma, and how we can hold on to shame in such a way as to harm ourselves rather than heal. I felt that Shepherd was able to tell a story that touched me on that level.
Shepherd was able to accurately reflect the life paradox of two people who can live the exact same experience and yet feel very different outcomes.
​
ALL ABOARD FOR HOW LONG CAN YOU STAND ON THE TRAIN TRACKS (Utah Theatre Bloggers)
A game. A train. An echo of death. A game for two sisters. Two sisters: Charlie and Pepper—both in love with Grayson. Their father is a digger, a stranger. Their mother has kaleidoscopes for eyes. A train and a question. It’s coming nearer, nearer; it’s almost here, it’s almost here — it was never here. Was it ever here? An echo of love. Love that tastes like the ocean, and steel, and glass in your eyes. (Dpt. of Theatre, UofU)
