Lunchbox Theatre Blog

PLACES PLEASE :: CALGARY

By Brianna Turner

Super 8 

Lunchbox Theatre 

February 6-25

After receiving acclaim for their production in High Performance Rodeo’s 10-Minute-Play Festival in 2010, co-writers Mark Hopkins and Charles Netto realized they were on to something. For those unfamiliar with the concept, the 10-Minute-Play Festival gives local theatre companies a line of dialogue and a prop and challenges them to write and then perform a ten-minute long play in only 24 hours. Netto begins the tale of Super 8’s conception by explaining that, “They gave us a clock and the quote, ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ We were really drawn to the image because it was not a digital clock. The idea of two hands passing, for a moment they touch and then they move on. The idea of a clock for us was the importance of a moment in time and a connection.” This imagery led them to exploring the idea of a play set in a Super 8 Motel. Now, Netto and Hopkins have expanded their ten-minute play into a full-length production, debuting this month at Lunchbox Theatre. Hopkins describes the scene: “Super 8 is set at a Super 8 motel in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where the Super 8 franchise originally began. The play begins in the bar of the motel, where these two career loners, a man and a woman, have an encounter that forever changes them… or perhaps not.” While Super 8 does explore the depths of human connection, Netto asserts that it’s also potently infused with comedy.