I want to thank everyone who got in touch to wish me good health and continued recovery. And I’m happy to report I made it through rehearsals for MASQUERADE without sacrificing a healthy diet and lifestyle. I’m thrilled with the audience response that MASQUERADE has received. I think the play proves a perfect finale for our 10th anniversary, a comic celebration introducing a grand European classic to American audiences in what I hope is an irreverent adaptation that Holberg would enjoy.
Comedy like this play can be such an exhausting journey in the rehearsal hall. There is such a demand for precision, a need for repetition, and an absence of thematic issues to really sink your artistic teeth into. But the joy of great comic actors collaborating to perfect the funniest bit keeps the energy up till the great payoff—an audience roaring with laughter.
One of the major reasons I gave up acting for directing is that I love rehearsal far more than performance. The exploration and process is much more fascinating than the product. The last time I acted, I loved every minute of it up till the day after opening. I’d had the thrill of an audience and the opening night toast; I was ready for a vacation. As a director, I have trained myself to let the work go and relish a quick escape the weekend after opening. But with a comedy, I find it harder to let go of the work. I want to share in the joy of the laughter that the actors get to enjoy night after night. And I also worry more—what if that bit doesn’t work or that door doesn’t open or the costume doesn’t do the funny thing we’ve worked endlessly to make sure it will always do?
Before going into rehearsals for MASQUERADE, I took a couple of trips to see theater while also researching for a new piece that Laurelyn Dossett and I hope to begin writing in the near future. My first trip was up through the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive to Washington DC. I stopped in beautiful Staunton, VA to visit the American Shakespeare Center—a recreation of the Shakespearean Blackfriars Theater. I saw A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD ONE by Thomas Middleton during their ACTORS’ RENAISSANCE SEASON—an attempt to explore the theatrical styles and traditions of the English renaissance. I hadn’t been to Staunton in years and was overwhelmed by the architecture of its historic downtown. I also enjoyed staying at the renovated historic Stonewall Jackson Hotel.
While I have great admiration for authentic historical renovations in hotels, I have no interest in historical renovations of classic theater. Peter Brooks THE EMPTY SPACE should be every director’s first book and the chapter on what Brooks calls Deadly Theater should be required reading, particularly for those who would dedicate themselves to attempting to stage plays like they used to be. I once had to do an exercise for David Chambers’ class at Yale where I restaged a scene from THE SEAGULL using the direction of Stanislavsky. It was a fabulous learning experience. But I can’t imagine why anyone would do the whole play that way and ask a paying audience to come see it. I find myself appalled when people tell me how Shakespeare (or Miller, or Williams or whoever) is “supposed” to be done. Unless we are taking every classic and treating it as if it is a new play by a first time playwright, I see nothing to be gained by going to the theater. I am also enough of a modernist (neo-modernist? Post-post-modernist?) to believe completely in the ideal of progress—especially when it comes to the art of theater. We build on a tradition, but we keep our dreams and exploration always reaching forward.
I also saw a couple of pieces at Arena Stage’s Albee festival. What a glorious new building! And what a glorious vision of a truly American theater that Molly Smith is creating in DC. I saw both Steppenwolf’s production of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and the Arena Stage production of AT HOME AT THE ZOO. I love Albee’s work. I had a record album of the complete dialogue of the WHO’S AFRAID movie that I wore out from repeated listening as a child—yes, I could recreate whole scenes from the play by the time I was in the fourth grade. I see just about every Albee production I can find. Rosemary Harris in A DELICATE BALANCE and both Broadway casts of THE GOAT are among my favorite New York theatrical evenings. I have also played Jerry in THE ZOO STORY several times and directed it once. Now that I am old enough, I’d even love to play Peter. I hadn’t seen Albee’s new companion piece and actually felt that I preferred leaving Peter’s home life a mystery. But nothing can alter the sheer, horrific shock of what transpires in Central Park that makes THE ZOO STORY a true classic. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF is such a challenge for actors to make an audience forget the iconic performances of the past. All four actors were valiant in their efforts to make the play their own. I missed the despair underneath that seemed more present in the recent Kathleen Turner revival.
While in DC, I was delighted to have an opportunity to see a production by Synetic Theater, one of the ten recipients along with Triad Stage of the recent National Theatre Company Grants from the American Theatre Wing. Synetic is a physical theater and Artistic Director Paata Tsikurishvili creates absolutely visual poetry unlike any other theater that I know of in the US. I was able to catch opening night of a silent production of KING LEAR. I was stunned, deeply inspired, and reminded why theater that dares to explore rather than to simply re-create has the power to change our lives. The entire production rates among the very best things I have seen in the theater in many years. I hope to make regular journeys up to DC to continue watching the glorious work of Synetic.
While in New York recently for auditions, I was able to see Rajiv Joseph’s bold BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO with Robin Williams. It’s an extremely compelling examination of violence in Iraq that continues to show that Joseph is a writer to watch. I also saw Tony Kushner’s THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE TO CAPATALISM AND SOCIALISM WITH A KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES. Kushner’s new play seems more traditional in form than his other work, but I found the play absolutely compelling. From its exploration of the intersection of the personal and the political to its stunning ensemble cast, I felt it worth every minute of its almost four hours.
The real treat of my trip was a chance to finally see British company Punchdrunk in their NYC debut, SLEEP NO MORE. Punchdrunk is re-imagining theater with totally immersive experiences that blurs the line between audience and performer. Audience members wear a mask and after a brief set of instructions are let loose in a multi-storied environment where Alfred Hitchcock meets MACBETH. One wanders from room to room, floor to floor, occasionally following performers as they move through the story. It is disorienting (hence the name Punchdrunk), exhilarating, and a must see. The show has extended through the summer. I hope to catch it a second time.
I also travelled to Georgia to visit Howard Finster’s Paradise Gardens as I begin exploring the world of visionary outsider audiences in preparation for the next piece that Laurleyn Dossett and I plan to write. On the way to Summerville, GA, I spent a few days in Atlanta touring the exceptional Folk Art collection at the High Museum and catching a couple of shows at the Alliance. I enjoyed seeing AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY again and especially liked Josh Tobiessen’s SPOON LAKE BLUES, a provocative new comedy with an outstanding company of performers led by Luke Robertson and Jimi Kocina. As thought-provoking as it hilarious, Tobiessen’s play is one of my favorite recent comedies in recent memory.
Leaving behind Atlanta for the two hour drive to Paradise Gardens was a journey from new south to old Appalachia. The gardens have been greatly diminished by time and art dealers, but the experience is one of kind, a chance to wander lost through the idiosyncratic genius of Finster.
I’m off to New York this weekend for auditions for DIAL M FOR MURDER and then to London to see Henrik Ibsen’s rarely produced EMPEROR AND GALILEAN—a quick week filled with nine plays and I fear a last chance to enjoy the treasures of British culture before the shortsighted and foolish cuts of the current coalition government cause irreparable damage to the arts and the country as a whole.
Several people have asked me to comment on JB Brady’s strong production of ORPHEUS DESCENDING at UNCG. I think ORPHEUS is one of William’s most compelling plays. It is also perhaps his most brutal in confronting the violence of the south. I was so pleased that JB went back to Williams’ literary edition to restore much of the play deemed too controversial in its time. I enjoyed so much the work of all three of the UNCG MFA directors this year and wish them much success. I will miss our classes and conversations.
