Garret Milton has always been the sort of student who creates opportunities. 

After he finished his doctoral coursework, playwright and scholar, Milton, who plans to complete his dissertation this year, “Levels Beyond the Frame: A Dramaturgy of Metatheatrical Violence,” moved to Virginia. Having met him years ago through a mutual acquaintance from James Madison University (JMU) and again in DC, where he earned his MFA and produced several of his plays, I was thrilled he chose TTU as the place where he would earn his PhD. And while I usually encourage students to write their dissertations in Lubbock, Garret had found a job at James Madison, where he now teaches theatre appreciation to students at JMU. 

Like so many of our doctoral candidates, Milton is one busy man. On top of working to finish his dissertation, teaching, and maintaining family obligations, once he was settled in Virginia, he began looking for opportunities to produce theatre. His latest venture in Harrisonburg is Eunoia Theatre, “an ensemble of like-minded professional theatre artists from a wide range of disciplines,” who privilege “risk-taking, experimentation, and dynamic story-telling events in unexpected ways, in both conventional and unconventional spaces.” 

If you know Garret, this is no surprise. He’s always pushing boundaries, stretching theatrical endeavors as far as they will go. In a recent conversation, he explains that “Eunoia Theatre will respond to—and challenge—the artistic needs of the community, while providing a playful, supportive, and collaborative environment for theatre artists.” After teaching rhetoric and composition for a year before transitioning to the theatre program at JMU, he kept his eye out for like-minded artists. Not only did he direct a reading for JMU’s play development program under the auspices of playwright Ingrid DeSanctis, but he met fellow artists who believe in using their skills and experiences to partner with community organizations, producing new works, reimagining classics, staging workshops, and committing to full productions when possible.

Garret describes the origins of this new theatre company:

Eunoia Theatre came about to fill a need for theatre artists in the Shenandoah Valley; a need born out of scarcity. Simply put, Harrisonburg and its surrounding areas—like many other rural areas around the country—don’t offer a ton of options in terms of theatrical programming. Other than James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University, the infrastructure to create or consume theatre just doesn’t exist here, so we’re changing that; we’re building it. 

He and his fellow artists looked for work that would elevate and interest them as a collective. More importantly, he and the other members of Eunoia are most interested in “telling new stories, producing fresh work, and devising unique happenings that audiences can’t get elsewhere.” Inspired by advice that Milton received from playwright Aaron Posner when he was earning his MFA, “find your people and then start working,” the creative directors of the company have a simple creed: “We’re all here, so why don’t we build something." And they are doing just that in bars, basements, restaurants, arboretums, libraries, and coffee houses.

They discovered there is a sincere desire for theatre in Harrisonburg, as supported by business owners in the area:

Our first big project went up this past summer, a night of original 10-minute plays, written, directed, designed, and performed by our 20-member ensemble. The Golden Pony, an amazing cultural incubator of music and art here in Harrisonburg, hosted the evening. We sold out three different times. We kept releasing more tickets, and then standing room only tickets, until we had to cap the evening due to fire code concerns. Artistically, the evening was a joy to witness; we realized in that moment that this was what we had set out to achieve, and that it was working. After the performance, audiences lingered, connected with each other and ensemble members, delighted to discuss what they had just witnessed; something special was born that night.

The company brings together 20 disparate artists in various stages of their artistic and professional journeys, next producing the one-person show What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck just in time for the election. From there, they will take a deep dive into immersive theatre, encouraging their audiences to help choose the structure and narrative of the event, followed by producing two new plays by local authors exploring themes and characters unique to the Shenandoah Valley. 

Their goal is to “sharpen the saw” by challenging themselves and audiences. 

Milton is excited to have a creative venture to accompany his scholarly endeavors: 

Overall, it feels good to be creating, facilitating, and absorbing theatre that feels full of life and purpose. We’re constantly surprising and inspiring one another, and that’s all I could really ask for as a theatre artist and audience member.

Always been a doer and a thinker, Milton is thrilled to be working alongside such excellent artists, to have found a community that fulfills his creative interests. Eunoia is just another indication that this soon-to-be-graduate of TTU will continue to blaze new performative avenues, and we wish him the best.