‘Strange Birds’ Comes to the Stage at UC Santa Barbara
Psychological Thriller Brings Twists and Turns and Strong, Resourceful Women to the Forefront with New Play
Playwright EM Lewis has had many of her original dramatic works produced here in Santa Barbara. During an early reading of her play Magellanica at S.B. PlayFest in 2016, Lewis connected with Risa Brainin, who directs a preview production of a new play in development each year through her Launch Pad program at UCSB. In 2023, Brainin chose Lewis’s play Strange Birds for a Launch Pad reading series — now, Strange Birds gets a full staging at the Performing Arts Theater on campus.
The story, says Lewis, is about five “strong, smart, resourceful women” in the Wallowa Mountains in Washington State. “Strange Birds begins when a forest ranger and her trainee discover that a young woman and her boyfriend are missing — under very suspicious circumstances,” she explains. With a storm on the horizon and a predator on the loose, time is of the essence in this psychological thriller. “Her investigation takes her to the remote cabin of an old friend — the older sister of the missing woman.”
The setting of the play, an isolated cabin in a deluge of winter, is designed for the stage by Ann Sheffield. “The sister who lives in the cabin is a painter working on a new piece when the play begins,” says Brainin. “Sheffield has taken the metaphor of the painting and exploded it onto the stage, so you feel you’re in the midst of [the] world at all times.” This artistically rendered space will also be grounded in the literal space with furniture, a basic cabin structure, and running water, says Brainin. “The audience will definitely feel like they are transported to the mountains.”
Strange Birds, says Brainin, is 70 minutes (no intermission) of scrutiny, twists, and turns, with two people missing, and someone knows something.
See this brand-new play running February 20 to March 1 at UCSB’s Performing Arts Theater. For more information and tickets, see bit.ly/3WP41KT.
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