Trauma Therapy

I had an interesting conversation with a woman at a wedding a couple weeks back. She asked me how I knew the groom and I said that he had designed the set for one of my productions a couple years ago. She then asked me a little about what I do in the theatre. I told her the basics of what I do and the companies I work for; the standard resume I use for non-theatre folk.

Then she asked me something I was unprepared for.

"What is it you enjoy about the theatre?"

It was not that I was unprepared for the question - I was unprepared for her to ask it in such a direct fashion. And I could tell that she did not want to know why I thought it was fun, but was probing for something deeper.

I explained that I felt theatre's importance came in the shared experience between the audience and artist. That when the two come together willingly and accept the invitation to imagine and to travel together, a much deeper story will be told.

My answer resonated with her.

"I'm a trauma therapist," she said and went on to talk about similar forces that come into play in her profession.

"As a nation, we've lost our sense of narrative." Narrative is important in the healing process. The central nervous system will over-load in response to stress. Much of the traumatic experience will be lost and segmented. By taking the time to piece together the fragments of the experience into something meaningful, we are able to better cope with that which has been assaulting us.

From the individual to the collective, we are all loosing the sense of narrative. Families no longer sit down to dinner together to tell the story of their day. National History is becoming bullet points on the Internet rather than a story. Cultural heritage is being lost as globalization leads to homogenization.

She is not condemning the technology that has allowed for better communication and better information sharing; all of which leads generally to improved standard of living. But failure to take stock in one another, not taking the time to work through our problems, communicating rather that sharing, and using the television as a babysitter are examples of a loss of interaction and a loss of culture.

When people are asked what they want for relaxation or entertainment, most will respond wanting something that involves an experience - or an interaction.

Her job is to put all the pieces together so that someone can look back on a complete experience and see it as a whole. It is healthy and healing at the same time.


Happy Birthday: Paul Gross (b. 1959)

Farewell to Shakespeare Week

Here are a couple of little reflections as we wrap up Shakespeare week.

Interesting fact: It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.

In a world where most of the map has been filled in, Shakespeare's "brave new world" seems a little quaint. No wonder the American settlers carried him across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific Ocean. No wonder it is the great Shakespearean actors who take the captain's chair in many sci-fi series and movies (classical actors and science fiction are like peanut butter and chocolate) as humans continue to go where no one has gone before. Where does Shakespeare fit into our lives?

Take a moment to remember him. Tell us what your favorite play is! Read one you haven't read.

Special thanks to Derek for the fun fact to round out our week.

Shakespeare in American Communities

As Garrison Keillor mentioned, Shakespeare was very prominent in America pre-20th Century. I was often kept along side the Bible and traveled with the pioneers to the western frontiers. Things began to change, however, in the new century. Much of this, I'm sure, came our of the artistic response to World War II (i.e. Modernism and Post-Modernism) where the world view drastically changes after such loss in human life and the ability to destroy the world itself with the atom bomb. The invention and popularity of the motion picture, also changed our perception of theatre, heavily affecting Shakespeare as well. Shakespeare and his works are not pop-culture like they used to be. Yes, Baz Luhrman's "Romeo + Juliet" and Kenneth Branaugh have done a great deal to reach into our high schools, but Shakespeare is largely viewed as classical, elitist, stilted, and (sadly) boring.

The National Endowment for the Arts has undertaken a program, Shakespeare in American Communities, to change this perceptions but not only reaching out into communities that have no Shakespeare, but reaching out into communities with no theatre at all. This massive program with an aggressive education proponent has already out grown its initial lifespan and intentions.

The program is quite stupendous and inspiring as to what we should be doing as theatre artists. If you are working in the theatre at all, I would highly suggest taking a look at their website and reading their promotional material.


Happy Birthday: April 27 - August Wilson (1945-2005)

Play of the Week: King Lear

The "most important" Shakespeare play has changed over the centuries.

In the 1800's, Macbeth was seen as the seminal work being portrayed by William Charles Macready, Edwin Forrest, Samuel Phelps, Charles Kean, Henry Irwing, and the famous Edwin Booth.

With the advent of psychoanalysis in the 20th Century, our fascination shifted from the Scottish Play, to Hamlet. Indeed, the famous scene in Gertrude's closet never included a bed until Sigmund Freud's invention of the Oedipus Complex.

Another medium that strongly influenced our perceptions of this play was the invention of the motion picture. Indeed when John Gielgud was asked to play the title role in the first major film version of the play, he turned it down because he did not trust the medium; he didn't think it would last. The role went instead to Lawrence Olivier.

However, as we head deeper into the 20st Century and turned the corner into the 21st Century, a new play seems to be looming on the horizon. With people living longer than ever before and a drastic generation gap created by continually advancing technology, King Lear has been gaining importance and popularity. The play seems to be asking the questions that we are facing in our world as we try to redefine the place of our elderly parents and leaders who grew up in a world far different than our own.

As we see our most respect Shakespearean actors age (Ian McKellan, Patrick Stewart, Christopher Plummer, Derek Jacboi, Ben Kingsley, etc.), I have a feeling that we will be seeing many "seminal" productions of this play over the next decade or so.

Shakespeare's Muse

There are many debates about the man who was Shakespeare. Did Shakespeare have the education to write his plays? Was Shakespeare gay? Did he really write all his plays? Was he Christopher Marlowe? Did Queen Elizabeth actually write the play?

One biographical fact that is generally not disputed is that he did not love his wife, Anne Hathaway (no not the actress). She was eight years older than him and already pregnant when they were married. Shakespeare's move to London to pursue a career in the theatre, is generally seen as an escape from Stratford and his wife. Finally, the only think he left to Anne in his will was his "second best bed." Sonnet 145 is generally thought to be written about and and does not paint a flattering picture:

Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate'
To me that languish'd for her sake;
But when she saw my woeful state
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
'I hate' she alter'd with an end,
That follow'd it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away;
'I hate' from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying 'not you.'


Germaine Greer, however, refutes most of these arguments in her new book "Shakespeare's Wife." I will admit that I have not read this new publication, but the review goes into some of the questions the book probes. It is an interesting take on a relationship we know very little about and have really only heard one version of. It gives us a couple of new things to think about both in terms of people's relationships and creates some new insights into the plots, relationships and messages of Shakespeare's plays; especially plays written later in his career. The prominence of old men's daughters (King Lear, The Tempest, and Much Ado About Nothing) and missing wives with stories of redemption (Pericles and Winter's Tale)

Shakespeare Day

Today marks the 392nd anniversary of Shakespeare's death.

Below is Shakespeare's bio from Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac:

Today is believed to be the birthday of William Shakespeare, (books by this author) born in Stratford-on-Avon, England (1564). He was a playwright and poet, and is considered to be the most influential and perhaps the greatest writer in the English language...

Only a few scattered facts are known about his life. He was born and raised in the picturesque market town of Stratford-on-Avon, surrounded by woodlands. His father was a glover and a leather merchant; he and his wife had eight children including William, but three of them died in childbirth. William probably left grammar school when he was 13 years old, but continued to study on his own.

He went to London around 1588 to pursue his career in drama and by 1592 he was a well-known actor. He joined an acting troupe in 1594 and wrote many plays for the group while continuing to act. Scholars believe that he usually played the part of the first character that came on stage, but that in Hamlet, he played the ghost.

Some scholars have suggested that Shakespeare couldn't have written the plays attributed to him because he had no formal education. A group of scientists recently plugged all his plays into a computer and tried to compare his work to other writers of his day, such as Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and the Earl of Oxford. The only writer they found who frequently used words and phrases similar to Shakespeare's was Queen Elizabeth I, and she was eventually ruled out as well.

Shakespeare used one of the largest vocabularies of any English writer, almost 30,000 words, and he was the first writer to invent or record many of our most common turns of phrase, including "foul play," "as luck would have it," "your own flesh and blood," "too much of a good thing," "good riddance," "in one fell swoop," "cruel to be kind," "play fast and loose," "vanish into thin air," "the game is up," "truth will out" and "in the twinkling of an eye."

Shakespeare has always been popular in America, and many colonists kept copies of his complete works along with their Bibles. Pioneers performed his work out West. Many of the mines and canyons across the West are named after Shakespeare or one of his characters. Three mines in Colorado are called Ophelia, Cordelia, and Desdemona.

Shakespeare continues to be the most produced playwright in the world.

Shakespeare Makes You Smarter

As tomorrow is Shakespeare's birthday, we are going to have "Shakespeare Week" on Ghostlight Chicago.

To kick things off, I would like to include some information on what reading Shakespeare and participating in the arts can do for your life. These remarks are taken from various surveys and studies done across the country and cited by our old friend, Ben Cameron, in another one of his addresses.

Kids that study Shakespeare: (MIT study)
*Have a greater complexity of thinking.
*Have greater verbal acuity.
*Have a greater tolerance of ambiguity.

Kids that have been in a play are 42% less likely to tolerate racist behavior. (UCLA study)

Kids in the Arts: (Stanford study)
*Are four times as likely to participate in math and science fairs.
*Are eight times as likely to run for class office.
*Disciplinary infractions and absentee-ism plunge to zero (you just can't be late for an 8pm curtain)
*Generally score 120 points higher on their SAT's.

Non-Chicago Theatre: Denver

The Lieutenant of Inishmore
Curious Theatre
Denver, Colorado

It is nice to see theatre outside of Chicago. I was very happy with the venue we choose and the company we went to see. Curious Theatre just finalized the deal on their theatre which resides in a converted church. In the preshow announcement they were very happy to share that they would be installing brand new seating as soon as the show closed on Sunday. The ten-year-old theatre was well attended by all age denominations on a Thursday night. The audience was very theatre savvy and laughed heartily at the dark comedy.

The performances were strong all around. The review in the Denver Post was somewhat critical of the accents and the effectiveness of the stage design. I would disagree; the design was very practical and did not detract from the staging at all. At one or two points when the actors yelled their accents became hard to follow, but the intention was never muddied.

In the end, the script itself could not live up to this production. The pacing is slow at times and the dialogue is slapstick at best. I found myself thinking, at times, that the point of the play is almost to put as much blood and gore on stage as possible, and the justification leading up to it is not enough of a story to hang a play on.

I give Curious Theatre kudos for their execution of this script. It is a gutsy choice for their season and I hope did well for them in their box office. Their execution of this script was very impressive and I would be interested to see them produce a show with a more meaningful plot.

Sadly, the best performance of the night, however, had to be from Wee Thomas, the cat. I have never seen a cat more calm and collected than this cat. From the moment he entered, he held the audience mesmerised. He truly stole the show as animals on-stage will always do.


Happy Birthday: Patti LuPone (1949)

Play of the Week: Blood Wedding

Imagine feeling helpless against the fates. Imagine reliving the same awful experience again and again. Imagine reliving the same awful experience and knowing that it only happened because of ignorance, hatred, and fear.

Sounds like something that can be applied to several situations in our world right now.

In Frederico Garcia Lorca's poignant allegory, Blood Wedding, a mother is forced to watch the same cycles of violence. She has buried her husband and her sons - all died young and all died blood. Yet she is willing to let her youngest son go off to be married, despite knowing what will inevitably happen next. It is her strength in the end that allows her to persevere, but maybe angrier and less optimistic.

The story of this small town in rural nowhere poses a question for the whole world: why can't we learn from our mistakes? Why do we continue to do things out of hate that distance us and lead to tragic loss of life?

And these questions don't have to only apply to regions of the world that suffer from genocide, war and other immense tragedies. There are thousands of small deaths and wounds that we suffer through every day. All of them preventable. All of them needless, yet we choose to continue down that path. Will it take an intervention from the gods to make us let go of this pattern? Or is there a way to rise above the dirge and start to make a better life?

Brechtian Fabel

Yes, the spelling is correct. A fabel is a tool used in analyzing a play. It is meant to simplify the play to one particular essence and state that arc as succinctly as possible. It should begin with a strong statement and usually concludes in 10-15 sentences.

While still a narrative, it is not the whole narrative of the play. For example, below is the famous fabel that Brech wrote on Hamlet. Notice most of Brecht's narrative deals with political events that take place before the play begins. There is no mention to the relationship between Gertrude and Claudius, the entire Ophelia story-line, or the melancholy-brooding prince.

"It is an age of warriors. Hamlet’s father, king of Denmark, slew the king of Norway in a successful war of spoliation. While the latter’s son Fortinbras is arming for a fresh war, the Danish king is likewise slain: by his own brother. The slain king’s brothers, now themselves kings, avert war by arranging that Norwegian troops shall cross Danish soil to launch a predatory war against Poland. But at this point the young Hamlet is summoned by his warrior father’s ghost to avenge the crime committed against him. After at first being reluctant to answer one bloody deed by another, and even preparing to go into exile, he meets young Fortinbras at the coast as he is marching with his troops to Poland. Overcome by this warrior-like example, he turns back and in a piece of barbaric butchers slaughters his uncle, his mother, and himself, leaving Denmark to the Norwegian."


Happy Birthday: Thorton Wilder

Reoccurring Characters

Imagine all the characters of every play ever written showing up for a mass casting call for "Antony and Cleopatra." There are the fabulous heroines, the bold heroes, and dastardly villains seen and recognized through out the ages. As we near the bottom of the pile of headshots, we find a homely looking little fellow named simply "Messenger."

His resume goes as follows:

Medea - Messenger
Antigone - Messenger
Oedipus Rex - Messenger/Shepard
Macbeth - Messenger
Waiting for Godot - Boy

*Special Skills: Running Fast, Being the bearer of bad tidings, Stage Combat (being beaten)

He of course gets cast as the Messenger who tells Cleopatra that Antony has married Caesar's sister. Imagine his eye roll as he comes across this scene in the script. Imagine how he flinches as Cleopatra begins to fume:


CLEOPATRA
What say you? Hence,
(Strikes him again)
Horrible villain! or I'll spurn thine eyes
Like balls before me; I'll unhair thy head:
(She hales him up and down)
Thou shalt be whipp'd with wire, and stew'd in brine,
Smarting in lingering pickle.

Messenger
Gracious madam,
I that do bring the news made not the match.


She eventually draws a knife on him and he runs. I can just see the poor knave crying, knowing that he has done only what the queen asked of him.

This time, however, he gets a little of his own back. She sends a servant to bring him back to her and she apologizes:


Messenger
Take no offence that I would not offend you:
To punish me for what you make me do.
Seems much unequal: he's married to Octavia.

CLEOPATRA
O, that his fault should make a knave of thee,
That art not what thou'rt sure of! Get thee hence:
The merchandise which thou hast brought from Rome
Are all too dear for me: lie they upon thy hand,
And be undone by 'em!


In the larger sense, the messenger is an insignificant mechanism to advance the plot - but if you read it with this poor character being the eternal messenger of the ages, and knowing what is coming next, there is a small tragedy in and of itself in his story.


Happy Birthday: John Millington Synge and Augusto Boal

What we learn

There was a professor at one of our nation's top theatre programs, who often referenced productions he had directed throughout his lectures - as professors tend to do. He would introduced each one as "my awful production of this..." or "my terrible production of that..."

One day, during an anecdote about a failed production of Frankenstein, one of his students raised her hand and asked "Haven't you ever directed a show you were proud of?"

"Yes," he replied. "But you don't learn anything from them."

And without missing a beat, he went back to his lecture.

Now, there are exceptions to every rule, but there is something to this. Even productions that we are proud of should offer one or two things that we would have like to have done better. Reflect on your work so that you can find the things you learned along the way and the other things you can still aspire to. Always take the time to grow so that the next one will be that much closer to perfect.

Did you know...

Every year, the theatre generates income for their home cities. Couple going out for a night of theatre often begin at a restaurant and may, perhaps, end at the bar. Tourists travel from out-of-town to take in large shows in cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. These people have to stay in hotels at the very least and will probably drop a buck or two at a few other places along the way.

The theatre in New York City is responsibly for generating $1.75 million worth of business annually towards for supporting industry?

It's not the raw materials that create the sets and costumes.
It's not hotels.
It's not restaurants or bars.
It's not even taxis.

The answer is baby-sitting fees.

Read more about this in another Ben Cameron address.


Happy Birthday (yesterday): Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) and John Gielgud (1904-2000)

Play of the Week: Dark Lady of the Sonnets

Written as a benefit performance to raise funds for a National Theatre, George Bernard Shaw makes his feelings remarkable clear on what he thinks of the present administration and culture and how theatre needs a larger presence.

As Shaw so often does, the prologue may be better than the play. In this case it is also longer. He discusses the importance of theatre, his views on Shakespeare and coins the term "Bardolater." Indeed, Shaw did not hold a high opinion of the Bard, nor does he portray Shakespeare as the sharpest tack in the box in this play.

Does this play have merit in a performance context? Probably not - while fun to stage, it may be more indulgent as plays about theatre tend to be. However, the overall argument for a national theatre (in any country) is important. Shaw uses his genius for wit and satire to frame the question so that he is not preaching from his pulpit. It's a quick read and I think you will enjoy it.


Happy Birthday: Bill Irwin

Elements of Theatre

Aristotle points to six elements of tragedy in his momentous work The Poetics. These six pillars have become the basis of all theatre through the ages:

1) Plot
2) Character
3) Thought
4) Diction (speech)
5) Melody
6) Spectacle

Can these apply to things other than theatre? A professional football game certainly has character, spectacle, melody (the National Anthem, music played between game), thought (yes, I know this sounds shocking, but there is strategy behind the play calling at least), and diction (the quarterback calling plays, officials calling penalties). While it is not scripted, does a series of events strung together not constitute a plot?

What about a political debate? It has diction, spectacle, thought, and character for sure. Perhaps a little weaker on melody, perhaps, and the same question applies about what actually constitutes a plot.

Something to think about at least.

Do these elements still apply today? How do they apply to non-theatrical events? If you remove a single element (especially plot), does the piece suddenly loose its theatricality?

If you were to come up with 5-7 essential elements of theatre, what would they be?

Yale welcomes Paula Vogel

Paula Vogel has been appointed the Chair of the Playwriting Department at Yale School of Drama. Vogel will be vacating her position at Brown where she served since 1984 (and taught such playwrights as Sarah Rulh - more on her next week). Vogel has be a transformative voice in American Theatre for many years. Her new appointment will add credit to a theatre program that already has many, many credentials.

The Drowsy Chaperone

The Drowsy Chaperone

Chicago, welcomes the National Tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. Written by the same team that gave us Slings and Arrows, this is a musical within a play about a lonely man. One night, in his apartment, he takes us (the audience) through the original cast recording of his favorite music.

Much like Slings and Arrows is a loving embrace of all things theatre and Shakespeare, The Drowsy Chaperone is a loving embrace of the Musical Theatre genre. Able to get away with things through parody, this show illuminates all that is good (and bad) about Musical Comedy in a manner that will tickle and delight you.

I saw this show on Thursday. On a personal note, I had the pleasure to watch a friend whom I had attended arts camp and university with in one of the leading roles. It's fun to be able to see someone you know having made it.

Highly recommended and a must see.

In Memorandum: Charleton Heston

American film legend, political activist, and Northwestern University alumnus Charleton Heston died today.

National Public Radio:
"It's likely no other actor has been more identified with larger-than-life heroic and historical characters than Charlton Heston. The legendary actor, who died Saturday, was also a conservative political activist who spoke in favor of gun rights at the helm of the National Rifle Association.

Heston starred in a range of roles, from William Wyler's 1959 historic epic Ben-Hur to the science-fiction classic Planet of the Apes. Heston announced he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease in 2002."

Heston was 84.

Play of the Week: Waiting for Godot

It's a safe choise for my first "play of the week," but still important nevertheless. It's a play that has endured despite the playwrite's estate's efforts to limit its interpretation. Companies continue to stage this play even though there is no room to collaborate with the script - they have to tell the same story.

Yet it has survived.

This is a play that we, as theatre artists, should come back to. It is a joyful expression of the human condition. That no matter how low we feel, the human spirit perserviers. I know that is a little bit of a "puppy dog and rainbows" view on the text, but if you can't find the joy in it, why is this play worth doing?

Read it again and find the hope in the ending. Add a little bit of Vaudiville clowning and the play suddenly become all the more delightful.

Slings and Arrows

This isn't the most provocative posting, but if you are into the whole idea of theatre serving a greater good and/or higher purpose, you need to see this show.

It's about a Canadian theatre festival and all the struggles and hijinks's that go on there. Budget crises, caster bickering, divas, and the Artistic Director is mad. Oh, he's also being haunted by the ghost of the dead Artistic Director. Anyone who is familiar with theatre will immediately recognize all the characters. Each season the festival takes on a different Shakespearean tragedy and their lives end up paralleling the plot of the play.

It is absolutely delightful and still manages to pack a very compelling punch. Witty and poignant, it never misses a beat. To top that, about every legendary Canadian actor is in it.

My only complaint is there are only three season (and only six episodes a season). Slings and Arrows

Watch a video clip from the show's opening.


Happy Birthday: Marlon Brando (1924-2004) & David Hyde Pierce (b. 1959)

Syllabus

A few weeks ago, my friend posed the following question to me:

I am teaching a class on English and American drama this fall and have to turn in my reading list soon. The class can include any playwright (excluding Shakespeare) and will be organized around the theme of "Violence and Victims." I still need several plays to fill out my list and would love your suggestions. Anything the touches on violence or victims, as widely understood as possible, can be included.

It's an interesting concept. What is violence and how is it defined? Who becomes the victim? Basic questions, yes, but it's interesting to discuss them in the context of action rather than theory or history.

What plays would you suggest to him?

Here is my list:
1 - Oleanna by David Mamet
2 - Dutchman by LeRoi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka)
3 - How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel
4 - The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
5 - Mulatto by Langston Hughes
6 - Natural Affection by William Inge

Other suggestions:
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, All My Sons by Arthur Miller, Elephant Man, Edward Albee: The Zoo Story or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, The Seafarer by Conor McPhearson, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare, August Wilson: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom or Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Peter Schaeffer: The Dresser, or Equus, Sara Kane, Bent by Martin Sherman, The Pitchfork Disney , Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, Musicals: Carousel, Oliver, or Sweeney Todd, Stop Kiss: Diana Son, Caryl Churchill

Life in the Theatre

I met a man on Sunday with an inspiring story. He attended university on a football scholarship. However, he gave up the scholarship his freshman year to pursue a degree in theatre. Upon graduation, he again made a life choice by choosing to raise a family rather than pursue a career in theatre.

Fast forward twenty years to the economic slow-down after September 11th. He lost his business and was faced with a tough question: do I rebuild my old life or do I rebuild the life I want to live.

Our hero is now in the not-for-profit sector, still doing very well, but is taking the time to pursue theatre as well. There is always room for a life/work balance. Whether it is theatre, family, or whatever is important to you. If a passion runs deep enough - there is always room. He has such a great need to be doing this - I feel that he is truly admirable.


Happy Birthday: Edmond Rostand