Uncategorized
The Ellen and WMPAC partner to present comic play ‘Just Add Water’
![Avatar photo](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
![Avatar photo](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/outlaw-partners-46x46.jpg)
Published
7 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw Partners![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Just_add_water_scene_WEB.jpg)
By Sarah Gianelli EBS Associate Editor
BIG SKY – “Just Add Water” is a new comic play written and directed by John Ludin, the Emmy Award-winning executive director of Bozeman’s Ellen Theatre. In partnership with The Ellen, the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center will host two performances of the play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, and a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1.
In “Just Add Water” three grown siblings who don’t agree on anything are faced with a family dilemma—how to best memorialize their dearly departed father. Toss some simmering childhood memories into the pot and the family drama boils over despite the best intentions of loopy Aunt Maggie, a philosophical TV repairman and a vagabond priest.
“Just Add Water” draws from Ludin’s real life experience. The idea for the play came to him as he and his three brothers were sitting around the table discussing what to put in their father’s obituary.
“I remember leaning back in my chair and thinking, ‘I’m watching a play right here and now,’” Ludin said. It wasn’t until he decided to write a play years later that the idea came back to him. Because his training is in comedy, he decided to take that approach. “To treat it any other way would be just too heavy, and probably not that entertaining,” he said.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rhonda-Smith-as-Aunt-Maggie_WEB-200x300.jpg)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Rhonda-Smith-as-Aunt-Maggie_WEB-200x300.jpg)
Actress Rhonda Smith plays “loopy Aunt Maggie” in a new play by John Ludin that takes a comic approach to inter-family dynamics. PHOTO BY VALARIE ANDREWS
While some aspects of “Just Add Water” are pulled directly from his life, Ludin took advantage of poetic license and fabricated, exaggerated or borrowed others, while playing up the plot’s conflict and tension.
“The balancing act is keeping it real,” Ludin said. “To me, [that’s what] keeps it relatable, so it’s not just my family, but many families.”
Ludin said he often hears, “I have a brother (mom, dad, aunt, etc.) just like that,” or “it’s as if you were eavesdropping on my family.”
Although when Ludin started writing the play in 2015 it wasn’t with the intention to revisit or process familial grief, he said those emotions did percolate during the process.
“And not just about my father, with whom my relationship was not always great,” Ludin said. “It also had me revisiting my connection to my mom and brothers.”
Since its completion, “Just Add Water” has had two runs at The Ellen which led to some script edits before taking the production to Billings for a number of successful shows.
“The audience laughed more than ever,” Ludin said. “Interestingly, it was because I had cut many of the jokes, which gets back to that point of it needing to be real.”
This first-time partnership between the two performance venues came about over coffee, while John Zirkle, WMPAC’s artistic director, and Ludin were having a casual discussion about theater and performing arts in Montana.
“When I laid out the WMPAC plan of dedicating itself to the development of new work, John perked up and let me know about [his] play,” Zirkle said. “With a cast of brilliant actors … the show makes perfect sense to bring down to WMPAC. We always want to be good neighbors and support each other’s work when we can.”
As summer winds down, “Just Add Water” is a chance to catch some professional local theater before events taper off until winter. And anyone who has family will likely relate to this comic exploration of parents, sibling rivalries and family reunions—and the cornucopia of emotions they tend to stir up.
Ludin tweaked another five or six lines in the play for the shows in Big Sky. “There’s an old adage that ‘plays are not written—they are re-written,’” he said. “And I can tell you, that is my experience.”
Visit warrenmillerpac.org/events-and-programs/upcoming-events/just-add-water/ for tickets and more information. Please note that parental discretion is advised, as some material might not be suitable for children under 15 years of age.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ebs_logo_white_220px.png)
![](https://www.explorebigsky.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ebs_logo_white_220px.png)
Upcoming Events
july, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 - July 31Calling all artists and nature enthusiasts! Get
more
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28
EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 – July 31
Calling all artists and nature
enthusiasts! Get your paintbrushes ready for an unforgettable experience at
Paint Under the Big Sky, a thrilling plein air event set against the stunning
backdrop of Big Sky, MT, Chet Huntley’s “The Last Best Place”. Don’t
miss this chance to unleash your creativity and be part of a vibrant artistic community.
What is Paint Under the Big Sky? PUBS is a plein air event for all painters of any ability (over the age of 16). Sponsored by the Big Sky Artist’s Studio & Gallery and the Big Sky Artists Collective, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a strong community of artists in the Big Sky area, the paint-out hopes to introduce painters to our extraordinary landscape for an opportunity to create, meet and have fun. Plein air painters record our landscape for generations to come.
Artists are invited to travel to Big
Sky, MT to paint anytime between Jun 1 – 28, and participate in the exhibition
and sale of paintings from June 29 – July 31.
Come join us! We have a great
place to paint and are welcoming and fun!
Don’t miss out!
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 1:00 am - July 31 (Wednesday) 11:55 pm
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and
serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the
Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice to
invigorate your day of adventure ahead. Complimentary. Weather
permitting.
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 7:00 am - August 31 (Saturday) 7:00 am
Location
Montage Big Sky
995 Settlement Trail
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 10 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 19 (Monday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 17 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 26 (Monday) 6:00 pm