Adam Cook wrote and is directing “The Storm.”If you go
› What: The Ringgold Playhouse presents “The Storm.”› When: 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday, March 24-26; Thursday-Friday, March 31-April 1; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 2.› Where: The Ringgold Depot, 155 Depot St., Ringgold, Ga.› Phone: 706-935-3061.› Admission: $10 adults, $8 seniors and students.› Website: www.cityofringgold.com.
Back in 2005, Adam Cook was dealing with a third-shift job and the insomnia that came with it when he began formulating an idea for a story. The idea eventually grew into a play, which The Ringgold Playhouse will present over the next two weekends at the Ringgold Depot. Cook also serves as the TRP’s executive director.
Cook says the 3-year-old group didn’t intend to tackle an original play so soon for fear it hadn’t yet built enough trust with its audience, but the response to previously staged productions such as “The Nerd” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the belief in the play itself changed that.
“We are banking on our audience being trusting enough because we’ve set a pretty high bar with our past shows,” he says. “It’s still scary since it’s an original.”
Cook says he’s bolstered by the fact that when audition notices went out, more than 40 actors requested scripts.
“The Storm” is about an older gentleman who is dealing with the issue of how to care for his ailing wife. Cook likens it to “A Christmas Carol” in that it has a mysterious ghost named Vincent who takes Thomas from present day to moments in the past as he helps him deal with the changes in his life with his wife. Vincent teaches Thomas about life, love and loss amid a brewing emotional storm that eventually comes for us all.
Cook calls it a drama with some lighthearted moments.
“I didn’t want it to be too sad,” he says.
Cook says he got the idea while thinking about his grandmother.
My parents divorced when I was young, and I was raised by my grandmother,” he says. “My last images I have of her is her by herself, and it saddened me. No one was with her. She and my granddad split up. It all started with that image of what do you do at the end of life.”
“Not being a woman made it harder to write,” he says, “so I changed it.”
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.