Theater Arts Network

Celebrating Jean Claude van Itallie

2008-10-24T22:48:00.003-04:00

The Theatre of Jean Claude van Itallie

Join the Segal Center andThe Soul of the American Actorfor a day-long symposium with readings, panels and screenings focusing on the work of New York playwright and director Jean-Claude van Itallie.

Scheduled afternoon screenings include Jean-Claude van Itallie in War, Sex and Dreams and Joseph Chaikin in Struck Dumb... . Invited participants include: Brian Murray, Laila Robins, Judith Malina, Lois Walden, Steve Gorn, Ruth Maleczech, Wayne Maugans, Angelica Torn, Ronald Rand, Rosemary Quinn, Kim Mancuso, Peter Goldfarb, and the cast of The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The Program:

THE THEATER OF JEAN CLAUDE VAN ITALLIE
October 28th, 2008

CUNY Martin E. Segal Theatre – Graduate Center

Program conceived and staged by Ronald Rand

Welcome
Frank Hentschker

Greetings
Introduction to “War” and “The Hunter and The Bird”
Ronald Rand

“WAR”
Older Man…………………………………..Preston Dyar
Younger Man………………….……….Wayne Maugans
Woman………………………………….…Angelica Torn

“THE HUNTER AND THE BIRD”
The Bird……………………….Lil Malinich
The Hunter……………………. Ron Faber

Introduction of “America Hurrah”
Excerpts from “The Interview & Motel”
Bill Coco

“AMERICA HURRAH”
“INTERVIEW”
First Interviewer and Girl at the Party……………….Cynthia Harris
First Applicant……………………..…………..….………Ronald
Rand
Second Applicant……………..…………………………. Joanna
Rotte
Second Interviewer and Gym Instructor…….. Kermit Dunkleberg
Third Applicant…………………………………..……….…..Ron
Faber
Third Interviewer and Telephone Operator…………Rae C. Wright
Fourth Applicant………………….……………………….Judith
Malina
Fourth Interviewer and Politician……..……………...Peter Goldfarb

“MOTEL”
Motel
Keeper…………………………..………..Rosemary Quinn

Introduction to “The Serpent”
Professor William Coco

“THE SERPENT”
First Woman of the Chorus…………..Rosemary Quinn
Second Woman………………………..……Barbara Vann
Third Woman…………….………………….. Tina Shepard
Fourth Woman………………………….…...Judith Malina

A Panel Discussion
“AMERICA HURRAH” & “THE SERPENT”
Moderator: Randy Gener
Particpants
Jean-Claude van Itallie, Judith Malina, Cynthia Harris, Rosemary Quinn,
Marcia Jean
Kurtz, Ron Faber, Tina Shepard, Barbara Vann, Evangeline Morphos,
Bill Coco,
Alex Gildzen

Introduction of “Bag Lady”
Ronald Rand

“BAG LADY”
Ruth Maleczech

Introduction of “Struck Dumb”
Bill Coco

“STRUCK DUMB”
(Video)
with Joseph Chaikin
written by Joseph Chaikin and Jean-Claude van Itallie

Introduction to “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”
Lisa Shubert

“THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD”
Court Dorsey, Kermit Dunkelberg, Susan Thompson
Director: Kim Mancuso

Introduction of “Mila”
Lois Walden

“Revenge”
Lois Walden
Accompanied by David Lewis

A Panel Discussion
The Art of Collaboration
“Tibetan Book of the Dead” & “Mila”
Moderator: Lois Walden

Participants
Jean-Claude van Itallie, Lois Walden, Steven Gorn, Kim Mancuso, Kermit
Dunkelberg, Court
Dorsey, Susan Thompson, Didi Goldenhar, David Willinger

*************************
Dinner break 5:30 - 6:30
*************************

Welcome
Frank Hentschker

Greetings
Ronald Rand
Judith Malina

Introduction to
excerpts from translations of Anton Chekhov’s plays
by Jean-Claude van Itallie
Evangeline Morphos

“THE SEAGULL”
Boris Alexyevich Trigorin………………….…….Jake Robards

Nina Michailovna Zarechnaya……..………………Angelica Torn
Irina Nikolayyevna Arkadina ………………..……...Laila Robins
Konstantine Gavrilovich Treplyev…..………….Grant Kertchick

“UNCLE VANYA”
Yelena Andreyevna………………………………Angelica Torn
Mikhail Lvovich Astrov………… …………….Brian Murray

“THE THREE SISTERS”
Alexander Ignatyevich Verhsinin………………………Brian Murray
Nicolai Lvovich Tuzenbach…………………..…………Ronald Rand

Masha…………………………………………………….….Laila Robins

“THE CHERRY ORCHARD”
Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevskaya………………….Laila Robins
Pyotr Sergeyvich Trifimov……………………….Grant Kertchick
Yermolay Alexyevich Lopakhin………………..……Brian Murray
Anya…………………………………………………….Lauren Bond

Introduction
“War, Sex, and Dreams”
& Dialogue
Alex Glidzen

“WAR, SEX, AND DREAMS”
(Video)
with Jean-Claude van Itallie

Introduction “Light”
Lorraine Grosslight

“LIGHT”
Voltaire………………………………Jean-Claude van Itallie
Emilie………………………….………Rosemary Quinn

A DIALOGUE
Bill Coco and Jean-Claude van Itallie

Join us for a Reception & Book Signing in the Lobby

Music by Steve Gorn

PLEASE VOTE!

2008-10-03T20:06:00.001-04:00

What's the difference between George Bush and Sarah Palin? Watch this video now!

the blog that won't write itself

2008-09-09T00:17:00.004-04:00

It's been a bit of a ride since I closed in August: OsageCounty. Not happy to say good-bye to the best company of actors on the planet! I'm crossing my fingers I'll be back with the play again soon. I think it could very well happen. Seen in the audience the week I was there: Al Pacino, Michael Kahn, Kati Tong, my former college roommate Jeff Polsky. Goodbye August! See you on the campus, as they say.

On Monday, August 25, I attended a screening of a new film produced by my friend Dennis Ostermaier. The film is called House of Satisfaction, written and produced by Jesse Hartman. Hartman is convincing as a down and out junkie with a real genius for the smart rock lyric. But the story of "making right" with his family by stealing junk from a Cleveland mafia didn't hold up nearly as well. The films' best moments shine when they remind us all of the east village that once was. The Village of Mo Pitkin's House of Satisfaction, of indie films just taking off, of brave performances like those of Santo Fazio. It's a very worthwhile movie, and I hope it finds its place on the circuit soon.

Also on Monday night, I ran cross town from Tribeca to catch an evening of new solo work by performance artist David Cale at Joe's Pub. I have loved David for over a decade, ever since I saw him perform in The Redthroats at Second Stage, as well as in Smooch Music. David is developing a new show of mesmerizing monologues based mostly around the themes of, well, love. David weaves a story about a hansome cab driver who becomes a male prostitute for wealthy ladies on the upper east side. He circles in the world of art and finance, giving his "customers" an opportunity to be excited by a young man that is virile and romantic, charming and self-effacing, eloquent without condescension. And there is plenty of sex. I'll not betray any of the comedic effects, but what I will say is that here is a performer at the top of his game. He's open, lovely, raw ---he takes us through the journey on an emotional level. And that level is often funny. Very, very funny. Thank you David for a wonderful night in the theater. We can't wait to catch you again soon!

The next day....Tuesday....I began my MFA Program in Directing at Brooklyn College. That calls for a separate, or many separate blogs. So I leave you only with this simple thought from the great political director Erwin Piscator:

From a Radio Broadcast aired by West Berlin Radio on December 16, 1987:

"The concept of political theatre clings to me like a shirt. Not even today can I comprehend that there could be art without politics. I simply cannot comprehend it...Not because I do not want to comprehend it or because I have a theory about it, but quite simply because I do not see...theat we are allowed to remove politics from art...And politics in art is as permanent and natural as saying 'a-b-c'. There is nothing else. But there never has been anything else."

Tanks for comin'.
Wayne

My Broadway Debut!

2008-07-31T18:46:00.003-04:00

PINCH ME! This can't be happening!!

Tomorrow night the short film I shot last summer, Wake, will be receiving its premiere at the Tribeca Cinema. They're showing the film in both theaters, and apparently it's completely booked. As if that weren't cool enough, today I got a call from my agent that I landed a role in August: Osage County on Broadway! How is this possible??

I've spent twenty-four years in New York, working some, mostly regional theater, the occasional TV gig. And just when I made plans to return to grad school this fall (I'll be attending the MFA Directing Program at Brooklyn College)...bam! I start to get work! What does it all mean?

Well, first of all, a little explanation. I'm only going into the show for one week. Yes, one week only on Broadway. I'll be playing the role of Steve Heidebrecht, which means that actor Brian Kerwin must be going on vacation for a week. Which is awesome! I'll be joining a cast that includes the legendary Estelle Parsons! What a way to make a debut!

There must be something to the act of resignation. Not that I ever planned on leaving acting. However, just knowing that come September I will be taking my career into my own hands, no longer at the whims of fickle fortune and the casting powers-that-be, released me somehow. I wasn't desperate. I no longer needed the role. It would simply be fun! That's all. Consequently I went into the audition relaxed, confident, present. My only objective was to have fun and I didn't care at all whether I got the job. This is an important lesson, but one which cannot be replicated mechanically. I couldn't have achieved it simply by pretending not to care, or tricking myself into having something better to do. It had to be actualized. And so it was.

I'll be opening in the show on August 19 and closing on August 24. Get your tickets now!

A Catered Affair

2008-07-27T10:54:00.003-04:00

Today is the final show of A Catered Affair, the new musical by John Bucchino (with a book by Harvey Fierstein). I caught a matinee yesterday, getting in right under the wire, thanks to a cheap ticket on TDF. (If you don't know TDF, check it out. It's the only affordable way to see what's happening in New York without breaking your bank account.) It was important for me to see this show because my friend Richie Jackson was one of the producers. What would I say if I ran into him? "Oh, sorry, I missed your Broadway show!?"

But maybe it would've been better if I hadn't seen it. I still won't know what to say to Richie, although, the end-product is hardly the fault of a hard-working producer. I could understand what he saw in it, especially given the strength of the source material: a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky and a Warner Brothers motion picture written by Gore Vidal. Add to that combination the presence of Harvey Fierstein as both writer and star, and it seems like a sure-thing. So where did this production go awry?

Creating a work of theater is like cooking. Straight plays are easier, like cooking supper for a group of friends. The better the recipe the better the meal. You may miss some ingredients, over or under-cook, substitute rice for potatoes, but in the end it will still taste pretty good if you stick to the main idea. Throw in some nice Chablis and all is forgiven.

Musicals are quite a different animal. They are like serving a ten-course dinner to a group of strangers. Like preparing, well...a catered affair. So many things can go wrong: bad choice of entree, too few hors-d'oeuvre, wrong choice of linen, not enough glass-ware. It takes extraordinary planning and command to pull off an event of that magnitude. And so it is in the theater. There more ingredients are in the mix, the more margin there is for disaster.

Nothing about A Catered Affair was a disaster. Zachary Borovay's projection design won the day, proving that filmic elements can be successfully used in the theater in a way that isn't so obvious. Brilliantly incorporated into David Gallo's set design, the projections embraced the production, giving us time, place, mood, and character. Ann Hould-Ward's costume design was functional, if not phenomenal, and Brian Macdevitt's lighting design worked seamlessly within the intricacies of the projections. If the sound design failed at any level it was owing to the decision to mic everything to the point of excess. The Walter Kerr isn't a large theater, but it is an old, acoustically-challenged one. A great performer like Faith Prince, however, doesn't need a mic in a space this size. It made her sound tinny and removed. At the design level, though, the show was a success.

Where it missed its mark, I think, is in both the score and the direction. The music, like the production was simply flat. There never seemed to be any emotional justification for the characters breaking into song. So many of the songs were exposition, and the style of the writing was non-lyrical. There wasn't a "hummable" tune in the entire show. (Even the spoken/sung quality of Caroline or Change had a least a couple of melodic lines to follow.) If there's never any "event" that raises the stakes up so a character has to sing rather than speak, then either the entire show should be spoken (a play) or sung (an opera). Otherwise, the audience doesn't know what world we're in.

I think the biggest mistake of all, however, was the choice of John Doyle as director. Sure, he's done some great work with musicals in the past, but working with new composers isn't in his repertoire. He likes a lean production, and gives a modern look to all his shows by paring them down to the essential. There's never a single extra prop, chair, set piece, or even a single movement by an actor that would be deemed in any way unnecessary to telling the story. It's a concert-style of acting, and the simplicity and honesty it conveys works beautifully for the shows of Stephen Sondheim. But Paddy Chayefsky is a different animal. His work grew out of the Group Theatre in the 1950's and his writing is all about character. Mr. Doyle certainly understands this, but he didn't give his performers enough of a sense of place and time, enough dramatic conflict. There seemed to be nothing at stake for these characters, their struggles seemed small and unimportant. There wasn't enough love imbued in the playing.

Maybe it was the end of the run and the actors were simply deflated. The closing of a show is a very sad time for a company, and the energy can just seep right out of the playing. But I must confess, I found myself checking my watch, looking at the lights, thinking about the projections, wondering when something, anything would actually happen. It never did.

A Catered Affair played 116 performances since its opening on Broadway in April of this year. It had a remarkable cast, a brilliant design team, and the strength of a very good story. But somehow it just didn't work. It was like sitting at a wedding reception poking your fork into a bland piece of chicken, and wishing you'd eaten before you arrived.

My Tribeca Film Premiere!

2008-07-18T20:18:00.002-04:00

Friday, August 1st, 8PM Tribeca Cinema 54 Varick Street @ Canal
Dress to Impress!

Requiem, MASS

2008-07-13T00:56:00.002-04:00

OKAY, this is admittedly a shameless promotion for a dear friend of mine who has written his...wait for it....sixth novel. The name of the book is Requiem, MASS. and for those you who have not yet heard of it, remember, you heard it here first! John Dufresne is an extraordinary writer, having written such classic novels at Louisiana Power & Light, Love Warps The Mind A Little. and Johnny Too Bad. John has also published a book of short stories (The Way That Water Enters Stone) as well as an inspriring textbook on the art of writing: The Lie That Tells The Truth. Such prolificness! And he's also a wonderful human being to boot. We collaborated for several years on a play called Trailerville which received its New York premier in the spring of 2000. John is my friend, mentor, and sometime drinking buddy. Buy mostly he's my favorite contemporary novelist, bar none. So do yourself a huge favor a go find this new novel immediately. This is a writer at the top of his game, and the book is sure to be unlike the kind of story you might expect.

Signs of the Times

2008-07-10T00:57:00.003-04:00

I've been remiss on my blogging. Apologies. I launched right into directing a show as part of the Algonquin Theater's One-Act Festival. The play is 5 O'Clock by Richard Brockman, and it will be seen this Friday (7/11), and possibly again on Sunday (7/13) if chosen as a finalist. I've also been working daytimes and burning the proverbial candle at all three ends. But I'm also exhilarated. FYI - I haven't finished blogging about the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. I have several pages of notes on our final guest - Anna Shapiro. But I haven't yet had the time to post them. So do return to see them. Meanwhile...here are some sightings from the streets.

(From my friend Paul Bartlett)... a sign posted in front of an East Village Restaurant:

"I really want the fish but the waiter keeps pushing his sausage."

And today on First Avenue, a dirty young white boy begging for change held up a sign that read:

"My parents were captured by swamp donkeys. Please help."

Only in New York, folks. Only in New York.

See you at the theater.
Wayne

This is a great site!

2008-06-20T18:58:00.001-04:00

MEYERHOLD MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Lincoln Center Directors Lab #17

2008-06-20T17:21:00.005-04:00

Friday 6/6 Bartlett Sher was our guest-du-jour. What a treat! He's spent alot of time at Lincoln Center this year, directing the impossible-to-get-a-ticket-for revival of South Pacific. He won a Tony Award for best director this year for the show. But he didn't know that yet when he sat down to talk to us at the lab. Sher is himself an alumni of the LCT Directors Lab, having passed through it the very first year. So it was somewhat of a homecoming for him. He was jet-lagged but not fatigued, his mind racing with thoughts on directing. He said many, many things. I tried to keep up with notes, but sometimes it was just more interesting to watch him formulate his ideas rather than keeping my face in a notebook. Here are some things he said.

"I always tell directors when I speak to them these four keys to success: do alot of work, see alot of work, stay out of debt, and get out of New York."

The room gasped when he said this. For one thing, most of us in the room are up to our eyeballs in debt, so that was a little disappointing. But "get out of New York"!? This prompted a big discussion about the virtues and pitfalls of plodding along with a career in the most expensive city in the country. Sher said "I guarantee you that if you are in some small city somewhere making the most fantastic, phenomenal theater, New York is going to find you." Hmm. He may be right. His own path certainly proves that point. He took up a job as an assistant director with Garland Wright at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. From there, Bart directed shows all over the country, and even worked as an assistant to Sir Peter Hall for two shows so he could learn more about directing Shakespeare. Sher has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and has studied the masters, both living and dead. He talked at great length about the influence of Giorgio Strehler. He extensively studied the work of Tadeus Kantor, and was obsessed with V.E. Meyerhold, going so far as to stage one of his shows exactly by using his notes. For Sher, he wanted to know the entire history of theater up to his time, so he could really understand the tradition that he was carrying forth.

The next provocative statement Sher made was "First we throw out all the British!" There were a handful of Brits in the room, and their objections were vocal but genial. But he makes a good point, and that is that we must find our own voices as artists - as American artists. We have to believe more in ourselves and invest more in our identity as a country.

About directing Sher said, "Directing is an interpreting art form, not a creative art form." We are there to serve the play. The writer is really the creator. (This stands in exact opposition to a statement made by Anna Shapiro the following evening at the lab.) The real task is to "create as many possibilities as possible to contact the work."

"Directing involves design, analysis, space and movement, communication, leadership, rhythm."

"[a play] is an arc of action over time."

"Read John Barton for Shakespeare."

"PRACTICE!"

Sher talked about the usefulness of floorplans. "I'm doing an expressionist painting even when I'm directing an Edward Albee play." He appealed to us to learn about the masters: Craig, Appia, Meyerhold.

"Work on more than one thing at a time. You must be layered in your approach."

"I look at my theater as a front for a subversive organization."

"Everything is site specific!" (Semiotics)

That's pretty much all I wrote down. Like I said, this is a charismatic, captivating man. One of the big lessons I will take away from the lab is the passion that all great directors bring, not only in the rehearsal room, but in their life - all the time. Thank you Bart!

Lincoln Center Directors Lab #16

2008-06-16T23:22:00.005-04:00

Wednesday 6/4

The wonderful thing about posthumous blogging is that I can say things like "today I attended the Tony Award winning play Passing Strange" ...a week before the Tonys. Passing Strange did win a Tony for Best Book of a Musical, which is actually a little sad given the frivolity of the plot: boy gets high, boy goes to Europe, boy gets high, boy meets girl, boy gets high, boy meets another girl, boy stays in Europe while his Mom dies, getting high and meeting girls. Boy feels guilty and writes Tony Award winning musical. I did enjoy the show, however. The music was engaging, and the staging, while still in a glorified "rehearsal mode" (with chairs acting as the main vehicle for scene changes and the band playing live onstage) was none-the-less delivered confidently by a very talented cast. Why is this show on Broadway, instead of running downtown at, say, a Darryl Roth theater? I have no idea. It feels out-scaled in the Belasco theater. But it should continue to draw good crowds, especially since winning a Tony.

The real highlight of my day at the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, however, was the presence of legendary director Jack O'Brien at our morning session. O'Brien -- who won the Tony Award for Best Director last season for The Coast of Utopia -- is absolutely captivating. He is energetic, enthusiastic, inspiring. Something that all of the guest directors at the Lab have shared in common. It is their presence, their enthusiasm, their ability to bring you immediately into their confidence that is the hallmark of their leadership. O'Brien has been working in the theater for a long time, so I was particularly eager to hear everything he had to say about directing. Here is a summation of my notes from our question and answer session with O'Brien.

"Let me begin with a pre-amble," O'Brien said, before fielding questions from Anne Cattaneo. "I started out with a company called the APA Rep, coming out of the University of Michigan. I was very lucky to work with such talents as Helen Hays, John Houseman, and Ellis Rabb. There seems to be some mystique these days about directors. [you must support each other in your efforts]...Reach out for each other! Root for, admire each other! Don't hold on to the past. Move on!"

Almost as soon as the "lecture" began, O'Brien was on his feet. He realized that some of the directors sitting in the back of the room might not be able to see him if he remained seated. He didn't sit down again for the remainder of the hour and a half. His movement was youthful, energetic, invigorating. He was on fire. It was as if he wanted to ignite everyone in the room with his enthusiasm and energy, and he seemed to have plenty of energy to spare.

O'Brien went on to talk about the role of the director: "To inspire and unify the company. You don't steer the ship. You embrace it - generously. I speak generously of what I do, I try to excite people about what we do. I embrace my own excitement. Then tease, provoke the actors to discover it for themselve. Then they own it!"

Some more O'Brien quotes:

"Speak in musical terms - phrases of music, sounds of instruments...staccatto, legato."

"Technique is for the nights you don't feel it."

"You get far on enthusiasm and support...bringing the actors into the same world."

"Find yourself as naked as possible in the experience."

"Emotions don't change. Clothes change."

At this point, O'Brien went into a lecture on the physiology of the human eye, the anatomy of the optic nerve. He spoke about the language of film, and about how we all share information. His objective is to engage the audience in such a way that "your ocular nerve is so charged you want to watch not to listen."

"....[theater] is not a passive environment. I invite the audience to play with me!"

He then began to talk about that moment in rehearsal when the actor just needs to get moving. It's terrifying. But it's better to get on your feet and just do something. "Let's try it! Let's try something," I tell them. "Get it moving. Don't be God. Don't make them God. The process of discovery is the best possible path."

Jack then told us a story about the way Tyrone Guthrie rehearsed the play Mary Stuart starring Eva La Gallienne. Irene Worth was playing Queen Elizabeth, and in the play each monarch had their own contingency of actors. So he rehearsed both groups separately for several weeks. They'd never even met each other. Then, when he brought the two groups together near the end of rehearsals, there was a genuine sense of competition, of unfamiliarity. The responses were completely natural. Guthrie apparently was about 6'4", and one day he just walked out of rehearsal. He said "nothing is going on here" and left. When he came back things were greatly improved. He put the honus on the actors, and not on himself.

Hint to actors: Come to rehearsal off-book. Memorize!

Hinto to directors: Let the poison out! (Listen to everyone's complaints equally.)

If an actor is giving you difficulty there are only two possible reasons:

He is terrified.
You're not listening to him.

Directing is all about relationships: build enthusiasm, respect, and trust.

When asked 'what inspires you personally?', O'Brien's answer was "Dance. I'm inspired by watching dance."

Directing a show in the round is useful. It teaches you all about axis.

Patterns are fascinating.

Director/Choreographer relationships can be tricky. Musicals become adversarial very quickly. Bond with the choreographer. Live with them. Hold them in your arms at rehearsal.

Any advice on Shakespeare? "Yes. Cut it!"

"Put the sex onstage!"

"Scene transitions are most important. We're lagging behind filmmakers. This is part of your elegant care."

"Verse plays speak to the sub-conscious. Sub-conscious is the poetry of sleep."

Problems with American actors? "We value sincerity in acting. We must focus much more on voice training. Make a ribbon of your speech. A scarlett ribbon in a blue sky!"

"Try to allow the actor to have a relationship with the playwright. The director is just there to make sure that nobody gets hurt."

Thank you Jack!

Lincoln Center Director's Lab: The Final Week, Day 15

2008-06-13T09:55:00.004-04:00

It's been five days since the Lincoln Center Directors Lab came to a close. I stopped blogging somewhere near the end of the second week. Week three was just too intense, and I didn't want to miss anything. Each day I think back on the Lab and remember something new - a face, a joke, a hint, a pearl of wisdom, a bit of craft. On the first day of the Lab Anne Cattanneo said "This is like director's boot camp." She was right. I'm now going to look back over my notes from the last week and try to condense them here. Maybe they will be helpful to you. They definitely will be helpful to me as I look back in years to come. To be sure there are things I missed. There may be some notes I jotted that now seem out of context. If I mis-quote or mis-represent any of the speakers at the Lab, my apologies in advance. And gratitude to all!

Tuesday 6/3

In the morning there were rehearsals happening of two new plays: Brokenbrow by Ernst Toller (adapted by Lab Member Alex Harvey) and The Sleeping World by Crystal Skillman. (The Sleeping World was of particular interest to me as it is a play based upon my late friend, playwright John Belluso.)

The guest speaker Tuesday afternoon was playwright Sarah Ruhl. Sarah is one of the most sought-after young American playwrights. Her work includes The Clean House which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2004 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005. Her play Eurydice ran at New York's Second Stage, as well as across the country, and Passion Play opened at Washington's Arena Stage in 2005. She is a 2006 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. Sarah is completely unpretentious in person: calm, open, thoughtful. She spoke many times of the importance of her teachers, in particular playwright Paula Vogel, whom she studied with at Brown.

Sarah's "assignment" was to speak to the Lab about Expressionism in playwrighting, but she said she preferred the term "Magical Realism". This was also the phrase that John Belluso used for his work. John and Sarah had also known one another, so there certainly is a shared connection in their work. Sarah traced expressionism in writing through the work of Georg Buchner. Buchner's work reflected the inner working of a character's mind, as opposed to the omniscience of the playwright in earlier work. She said that Dadaism was too self-conscious as a style, and that her own work emerges more out of a need to tell a particular story, rather than create any specific "style". "As a writer," says Ruhl, "don't know what your style is, and don't fall in love with it." One assignment she was given by Paula Vogel was to "write a play that is impossible to stage." This simple exercise opened her up to the possibilities of theater. The imagination is vast, and too often playwrights are inhibited by their colleagues and critics. "The word 'clarity' should be banished when discussing new work."

When asked about what she might look for in a director, Ruhl was concise: "Balance. A strong leader bringing something muscular into the room. Don't let the playwright dominate."

How does she start a play? "I have an image, a voice, a scrap - no idea where it will go."

On play development: "I like to hear my plays in a living room. I hate readings."

Who are the writers she admires? "Caryl Churchill, Maria Irene Fornes, Elizabeth Egroff. And of course, Paula Vogel."

When writing a play about a difficult topic, Sarah again quoted the advice of her mentor Vogel: "If I said I was going to write a play about my brother dying of AIDS, I would never get off the couch. It's too depressing. But I can write a play about my brother taking a trip, meeting a kindergarten teacher along the way, having a great adventure..."

Thank you Sarah Ruhl for an inspiring afternoon and conversation.

Tuesday Evening - International Directors Conversation
One of the really great things about the LCT Directors Lab is the diversity of the participants from all corners of the globe. It's easy to become myopic in our views of theater as practiced only in America. So for this evening, Anne hosted a conversation with the lab's international directors. Here are some highlights:

Germany - Lutz Kessler and Andreas Robertz

Germany is home to over 150 publicly supported theaters, 250 private theaters, and 100 touring companies which all together bring more than 100,000 performances per year to the country.
The German National Theater in Weimar (where Goethe began the German tradition of writing for the theater) has a rep company that performs 25 plays in a season.
Some of the most important German directors today are Peter Stein of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Claus Peymann of the Tower Theater in Frankfurt, and Peter Zadek, the impresario of theater in Hamburg.

Germany is very much a "director's" theater. Famous directors lead the way, and unlike America (which we might consider a "playwright's theater") fulfilling the vision of the uber-director is more the model of creating theater. Lutz stated, however that theater in Germany is in crisis - "the notion of 'what theater is'." State funded theater creates artistic pressures. Lately, many of the theaters have been exploring what might be called "reality theater" or "documentary theater" - creating plays with non-actors. He cited, for example, Rimini Protokoll, when they created a work about funerals, exploring the story from five different angles using real people. Dance/Artist Alenka Loesch - who is based both in San Francisco and Berlin - was also cited for bringing together 30 non-actors to act as the chorus for a production of Woyzcek. In this instance, personal statements of the participants were blended into the play so they had a stake in the outcome of the production. Also popular in Germany are more familiar companies such as The Wooster Group, The Big Art Group, Theater of the World, Robert Wilson, and John Jesurun. All in all, the impression I got is that theater is quite alive and well in Deutschland, but the definitions between theater/film/art/dance/performance are becoming so blurred that theater as an art form is becoming meaningless.

Israel - Yoni Oppenheim
Lab member Yoni Oppenheim was born in the U.S., trained at NYU, but has spent a great deal of time in Israel. Any conversation about theater in Israel of course begins with the Habima, the national theater of Israel, and one of the first Hebrew-language theaters. Israel as a nation has the highest per-capita audience attendance in the world. Theater plays a central role in the culture, helping to create the national story. So much so, that there is even a theater division within the Israeli army. Some of the artists that Yoni cited were Hanoch Levin, a prominent Israeli writer and director who passed away in 1999; Nissim Aloni; and the Gesher Theater. Yoni also spoke of the emergence of Ethiopian theater, Arab-Israeli theater, and the Dybbuk Festival which is held each year at the Habima.

Italy - Erika Tasini and Nicola Zucchi
Italy is a country with a population of about 60 million people. Theater is not as strong as it might be because, as is the case in U.S., there is virtually no funding for the arts. The funding that was put into place as part of Italy's budget many years ago - overseen by the FUS - was never adjusted for inflation. As a result, each year the resources devoted to theater are shrinking at a rate equal to cost-of-living increases.

There are really three traditions of theater that have sprung forth from Italy:

Opera
Commedia del'arte
Matadore (a theater company based around a star)

There are twenty regions in Italy, and each region has an established theater. There are also about 30 well-established experimental theaters, and many successful youth theaters as well. But there is no public or private funding for small theaters who are just starting out.

Some of the great directors that define theater in Italy include: George Strehler and Luchino Visconti - fathers of the modernist movement; Paulol Rossi (not the famous soccer player with the same name); and Dario Fo. Like Germany, Italy is steeped in the idea of "director as dictator". Nicola described the state of theater in Italy as an "emergency". There seems to be a need for new ideas and processes, especially at the larger theater venues.

Erika Tasini teaches theater at Cal Arts and Nicola Zucchi has established a theater in Italy as well as a summer festival MASSERIA LO JAZZO.

The Phillipines - Sean Renfro
Sean Renfro spent much of his youth living in the Phillipines, especially in Manila. The Phillipines is a "country" comprised of about 7,000 islands with disparate languages and cultures. His experience there as an actor was that "basically there is no theater". It is a third-world country, and like most impoverished nations, people don't have the luxury of making theater. There are a few small theaters in Manila. Mostly they perform musical theater. He recalls that plays about Catholicism were around, and plays about colonialism (such as "Our Country's Good") were also popular.

Finland - Jaakko Nousiainen
Finland is a nation of only 5 million people, yet there are 60 state theaters in the country! Since gaining their independence from Russia in 1917, Finland has developed a great cultural heritage. One thinks of the great composer Jean Sibelius. The Fins are quite proud of Alexis Kivi, a playwright, poet, and novelist whose major work was Seven Brothers. Theater in Finland became quite radical during the 1960's and 70's. One company that came up in the 1980's, called Thurkka, single-handedly changed the Finnish Theater. They were a company that employed a lot of techniques of physical theater, striving to shock their audience. In 1987 a group of student performers who called themselves Theater of God, actually defecated onstage, and threw feces at members of the audience. This was the end of so-called "experimental" theater in Finland. In the 1990's Finland has turned its attention toward the craft of playwriting, play development, and a more disciplined approach to making theater. Some of the most interesting groups working today are Kom Theater, Group Theater, and Q Theater. Many women now are working as playwrights and directors in Finland. Each summer Finland draws crowds from around the world for its famous Tampere Theater Festival.

Zimbabwe - Styx Mhalanga
Zimbabwe gained independence from the UK in 1980, and has been fraught with conflict as a nation ever since. There is no commercial theater in Zimbabwe whatsoever. Whatever theater existed during the British occupation was for whites only. But there is a strong tradition of gathering together for singing in dancing in the various townships. After independence, other countries began investing in Zimbabwe's cultural expression - especially the Scandinavian countries. Styx has been working to establish a the Amakhosi Cultural Center dedicated to music, theater, and film. Many new writers are coming forward in spite of the oppressive statewide censorship. There is some investment in theater for young people. Much of the work for writers comes by the way of AIDS initiatives, writing soap operas to educate the masses, and of course it's all quite safe and censored. There is alot of work to be done in Zimbabwe. YOU CAN HELP! According to Styx, one of the things they most need are books. Any and all books on performing, filmaking, playwrighting, acting, plays, novels - anything - would be greatly appreciated. You can send your extra copies to this address: Amakhosi Theatre, Box 7030, P.O. Mzilikazi, Zimbabwe.

China - Mo Zhou
Mo Zhou grew up on both mainland China as well as Hong Kong. She speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin. She received her training in traditional Peking Opera, but was adamant to articulate that "Peking Opera" is not one style or genre. It is specific to each of its many regions. Major performance troupes are based in Beijing and Tianjin in the north, and Shanghai in the south. Western theatrical traditions arrived in China in the early 1900's. Much of the "western" theater performed in China is led by young people for young audiences, and often has more political content. Western plays tend to appear mostly in the mainstream in Hong Kong. The state-funded theaters in Beijing and Shang-Hai are more traditional, offer more physical theater with less emphasis on language. Audiences are considered small if attendance is less than 1,000 people. With a lack of good playwrights and directors, funding for these theaters may be in jeopardy. Mo mentioned some theaters in Taiwan that are incorporating traditional Chinese theater (old plays) with a new context. Among the theaters mentioned: Cloudgate Theater, and Contemporary Legend Theater (Wu Hsing-Kuo, director).

Mexico - Maria Morett
I came to learn on the last day of the lab that Maria and I have traveled similar paths. Maria began as a singer in Mexico. I began as a singer at the New England Conservatory of Music. Maria has also worked at LaMaMa ETC, and counts Ellen Stewart among her great theatrical parents. These days, Maria travels all over the world directing theater and opera. She writes and collaborates on new projects as well. She recently opened an opera in Tijuana. I look forward to following her work.

Directors Lab #10 - #11

2008-06-02T20:55:00.003-04:00

Friday 5/30 - "How To Talk To A Lighting Designer"

This evening we had a panel discussion led by the lighting design team of Lincoln Center Theatre's production of The Coast of Utopia: Natasha Katz, Brian MacDevitt, and Kenneth Posner. It was a terrific discussions, and maybe one of the most useful panels of the whole lab. It's not always clear how and when to integrate the lighting designer's work in the process. Many good points were made. Here are some from my notes:

Talk to a lighting designer like you would talk to an actor. In other words, speak to them in emotional terms. Say things like "I think this seen should be intimate" not "I think this scene should be darker." Don't rob them of their creative contribution. Trust them to do their work.
Research is useful for a first meeting. The director should bring whatever he has to the table- images, thoughts, ideas. Also, always ask the designer to bring their research. And take the time to consider it.
Lighting designers like it when the director says "this is what the play is about, this is how I see it."
Think of light as another character. Speak about it with image and emotion. Lights will help to tell your story in very unexpected ways.
Never use the words "warm" and "cool". Ever. Banish them from your vocabulary.
Lighting designers can function as storyteller. Imagine them as telling the story of the play without words. This is the job they can do.
After the very first run-thru of the play, the director will naturally want to know what his designers think of the work. But remember, the designer is just trying to take it all in. She is seeing the show for the first time. Give them a chance to just absorb it.
Sometimes lighting design can make or break a show. Think of "Grand Hotel". Not much plot to go on there. But the design made it all very interesting.
Without a strong director the lighting designer can become defensive, rather than offensive. Give them the respect they deserve and let them do their work as an equal!
Lighting designer Jules Fisher used to say two things: Never put a drink on my tech table, and never ask me "is that it yet?"
Don't "hunker down" during tech. Remain fluid. Stay active between he stage and the house. Use down time to work with the actors.
Nobody knows what its going to look like until you walk into the theater.
No idea is too small that a director shouldn't tell the designers.

I was pleased to have with me at the discussion my friend, colleague, and favorite lighting designer in the whole wide world - Paul Bartlett. Paul contributed alot to the discussion. Thank you Paul for being there!

Friday 5/30 - Andre Bishop

Friday morning we were treated to a special visit and talk with the Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theatre - Andre Bishop. Andre is one of the most intelligent and articulate personas in the American theater, and has succeeded in making Lincoln Center a great national theater where many before him have failed. He was candid and honest in his talk, and fielded questions on a variety of topics. He said that "producing is the intelligent exercise of your own taste." It isn't something you learn how to do over night. He talked about the toll the pressure of his job sometimes has on his life. But I was left with a feeling of inspiration, that somebody cared about theater so much, and was striving to achieve the very highest of artistic standards. Andre's choice in plays is never based upon clever structure. He reads a play for its performability. He likes writers who are idiosyncratic, who have a unique voice and strong convictions. He said LCT cannot take a risk with beginning or unproven directors. But beginning next year they are launching a new initiative called LCT III, which will bring to the stage newer, more experimental work.

Friday evening I attended a presentation on director Robert LePage. The talk was given by fellow lab member Joanie Schultz. I went in knowing almost nothing of LePage's work. I left feeling inspired, wanting to see more, hoping for an opportunity to check out his work when he directs the Ring Cycle at the Met in 2009.

"Dreams become reality and then you have to live with them." Robert LePage

Saturday 5/31 - Macbeth Presentations

This morning we saw the presentations from the directors who had been rehearsing Act III of Macbeth all week. They were instructed to move their rehearsals to different locations, including a loading ramp, a hallway, a bathroom, and a the smoke ring of the theater. The idea was to allow the location to inform the text, and see how it manifests itself in the playing. It's a good idea. I see how it could be a benefit to work with a play in this way. Unfortunately, for me, most of the work was self-involved, and unintelligible to the audience. American directors still don't get that Shakespeare's work is about the words. If we can't understand what the actors are saying, then we're never going to hear the play. Perhaps I judge my fellow directors too harshly. But I was completely underwhelmed at the level of the work.

Now on to the final week!

ciao - w.

Directors Lab #6 - #8

2008-05-28T16:37:00.002-04:00

I've fallen behind in my LTC Director's lab blogging effort. Part of me thinks that I owe it to myself to keep writing about this experience. Another part of me, however, feels like I'm betraying the lab process. Not that there's any big secret, or we're sworn to silence, or anything like that. It's just hard to view something when you're in the midst of it, and so much is happening that I will be doing a dis-service to my time here by trying to encapsulate it. I will, however, for the sake of obstinacy, persevere. Here are some highlights:

Saturday 5/24

We saw a presentation of excerpts from Oedipus directed by Styx Mhlanga. Styx, as I mentioned in a previous blog, came here all the way from Zimbabwe, where he has been harangued by the police and local government for his work. He was delayed getting into the country and his process was even shorter as a result. But it was astonishing to see what he created in such a short amount of time. He began to weave the story together using elements of African Dance in the chorus. I didn't see enough of his rehearsals with the principal actors to learn about that process. It is a powerful thing, however, to see thirty-odd people on stage moving together to tell a story. We rarely have such an opportunity here in the states. I would love to watch how a work like this would develop.

Saturday night, we were given an assignment called "Who Are We". Basically, we were each given thirty seconds to tell the rest of the group about ourselves and our work. Something about the time limit made everyone really cut to the chase. It was a good way to find out about my colleagues. We then played two really fun, easy games: cross the line (group divides in half, then "cross the line if____(you're from New York, for example): then a variation on musical chairs called "I love my neighbor who_____".

We then broke for Memorial Day.

Tuesday, 5/27

I didn't attend the sessions during the day, opting instead to catch some time at my day job and get a little scratch. Tuesday evening, however, I gave a presentation on Joseph Chaikin to about ten members of the lab. I was surprised to learn how many young directors didn't really know anything about Joe. They'd heard of The Living Theatre (and oddly, not the Open Theatre), and had some vague idea of the sixties, but not much else. I spent alot of time talking about Joe's biography and place in American theater history, but I was grateful for a chance to keep his memory alive.

After my talk, I attended another presentation by Lab member Andrew Simon on director Arthur Nauzyciel. I'd never hear of Arthur Nauzyciel. Andrew worked with him at Emory University. He directed the students in a site-specific production of Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès. It's difficult to get a true sense of any director's process without experiencing it first-hand. But Andrew did a great job of giving us some insight into the techniques of the French director. For one thing, he addressed the way in which American actors are completely overtaken by Stanislavski method. He believes that characters emerge when you remove any psychology, so the focus is strictly on the language - sentence by sentence - finding the rhythm and reading the text as a score.

Wednesday 5/28

I watch a bit of a rehearsal for Macbeth. There are four directors working on Act III at various locations throughout the building. The idea is to let the place, for example a bathroom, inform the work. I was sitting on a concrete ramp in a hallway that was very uncomfortable and it was hard to hear the actors. I only lasted an hour and then I went out for coffee. But the work seemed to be progressing well.

From 11am - 1pm there was a discussion with the resident stage managers here at Lincoln Center about the role of the stage manager in the rehearsal and production process.

In the afternoon, we attended a performance of The New Century, playing at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater. A new play by Paul Rudnick, directed by Nicholas Martin, it's really four monologues loosely connected by the themes of homosexuality and death. Not terribly deep stuff, but there were some very funny moments, a little - very brief - full-frontal male nudity, and great character turns by Linda Lavin, Peter Barlett, and Jayne Houdyshell.

Before we left for the day, the stage manager handed each of us a piece of paper, on which was written this:

Question For Friday Discussions:

Take a globe of the world, and a long pin. Pierce the globe in any direction you choose and see where it emerges. Try to avoid the ocean. This is the country where you will be traveling to work.

Choose a play to bring with you that reflects the core beliefs of your country. This play should inform the country you are travelling to about what we believe in. Your adaptation or interpretation of this play might show a contemporary attitude towards these core beliefs.

What is the play you would bring? What is your "take" on it?

So, there you have it. For anyone wondering what's goin on at the Lincoln Center Directors Lab this year.

w.

Directors Lab #4 & #5

2008-05-23T23:54:00.003-04:00

Thursday 5/22

OK, I confess. I played hooky in the morning. I decided I needed to make some money, so I skipped the a.m. sessions which were a rehearsal of Oedipus directed by Syyx Mhlanga from Zimbabwe, followed by a discussion with LCT Executive Director Bernard Gersten. I'm sure both were very interesting, but I wasn't there.

I did, however, arrive in time for the afternoon rehearsal of Goldstar, OH. It was fascinating to watch director Andy Paris continue his process, working with the elements to bring his actors into the text. The process he employs is the same used to develop The Laramie Project. His subject matter - the Iraq war - couldn't be more immediate. There were moments of great enlightenment. Any time limitations are created, the art begins to emerge. I look foward to seeing where this leads.

In the evening I participated in the chorus rehearsal for Oedipus. It involved African dancing, and some re-enactments of old Living Theatre shtick. It was a nice stretch but theatrically unenlightening.

Friday 5/23

This afternoon there was a presentation of Goldstar, OH. Of course, it's unfair to even call it a presentation after only 4 days of work. But the material is gripping. There were some incredibly moving moments. They used the device of the interview, so we watch an actor playing the role of interviewer asking questions of the family who has lost a son or brother or husband. In between there were some non-verbal pieces that explored relationships in space and worked with light. It was a great effort, and I applaud the entire team.

I decided to skip the evening rehearsal of Oedipus. I don't really need to do anymore African dancing. I'll wait to see my colleagues in their presentation tomorrow.

That's all for now folks.
w.

Directors Lab #2 & #3

2008-05-21T22:46:00.002-04:00

It's been a whirlwind. I can't write as much as I'd like. Here are some of the notes I jotted down.

Tuesday 6/20
Religious Play Discussions We broke up into small groups to discuss the idea of religion and theater. Here are some bullet points condensed from my group:

What constitutes a "religious" play?
Community
Ritual
City/Country divide
Asking questions vs. Giving Answers
Class distinctions
The Power of the Theatrical vs. the Power of the Spiritual
Context
Hope & Light
Private vs. Public

"Preaching to the choir is fine as long as it inspires the choir to keep singing." - Peter Rothstein

Some of the plays under discussion were:

"The Happy Journey" by Thornton Wilder
"House of Blue Leaves" by John Guare
"The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told" by Paul Rudnick
"White Chalky Substance" by Tennessee Williams
"St. Joan" by G. Bernard Shaw
"Androcles and The Lion" by G. Bernard Shaw
"Galileo" by Bertolt Brecht.
"Jesus Christ Superstar" by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice
"Gilgamesh"

Wednesday 5/21
I started the day by attending Ming Cho Lee's Clambake - a gathering of the finest new designers from across the country at Fordham University. I met designers from Yale, NYU, Northwestern, USC, Cal Arts, and Carnegie Mellon. It was great to see the work that is coming out of these schools. More on Ming Cho Lee later in this blog.

In the afternoon I attended a rehearsal for Goldstar, OH directed by Andy Paris. (Andy and I attended NYU at the same time, and he is a member of Moises Kaufmann's Tectonic Theatre Project, starring in the original productions of The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project.) Goldstar is a new work that he is creating based upon interviews with families that have lost a son in the war in Iraq. On the wall at rehearsal was a big sheet of paper with "The Elements" - a technique that was being created at NYU by Wendell Beavers. Here are "The Elements" of Theater, as listed in the rehearsal room:

Prop
Choices
Lights
Sound
Color
Costume
Gesture
Space
Scenery
Music
(Text)
Audience Relationship
Emotion
Intent
Time
Breath
Rhythm
Duration
Movement
Unison
Character
Subversion
Tension

Andy then had the actors do an exercise called "I begin. I end." The objective was to explore the poetry of a prop - "find the poetry of an object, a way it's not normally used" - then do a round of moments in the space using the prop. It was a fascinating exercise and many theatrically exciting moments came out of the work. Andy talked about "subverting expectation" by creating the unexpected. I can't wait to see how this work progresses.

I then watched an hour of rehearsal of a new play called Hookyjook directed by Chrystal A. Dickinson. Chrystal was doing table work with the actors, and had created a very cheerful and productive environment. It was fun to watch.

The best part of the day was a discussion with legendary designer Ming Cho Lee. Ming was the principal designer for Joseph Papp, creating the sets for nearly every production in Central Park during the 1970's and 80's. He teaches scenic design at Yale University. He had many wonderful things to say. Here are a few:

On technology:

"Nobody goes to the library anymore! You can go online and "google" and get just what you want. But what if you don't know what you want?"

"Image doesn't make the set, or the play. A picture isn't enough. You're dealing with actual space. As opposed to the movies, or TV that is two dimensional, theater is actual space. You creat infinite space within these finite limitations."

"People are manipulating finished images, but they don't go through the process of discovery. They are too lazy to go to the library, where you can open up many sources at once!"

"Everyone wants everything. It's gotten so complex. Instead of actors driving the show, technology is driving the actors."

On directing:

"I will not allow piece-meal decision-making. Don't delay decision-making as a director."

"Don't ask for diagonals in a classic play. Shakespeare calls for symmetry. Don't pin the play down with specificity."

"At the first showing (of a design to the director) the designer is scared out of their wits!"

20 May 2008

2008-05-20T20:19:00.006-04:00

note to an ex-husband
by Janet Ward

on the walk across town
the morning sun blasts at corners
where buildings abruptly cease
and gargoyles look out for me
crossing lexington between bumpers.
and then, when the light fades
at six o'clock on the walk back
Mister Softee waits
at sixth avenue
with a tall sweet cone
that tastes like cream
and lasts all the way
to eighth avenue,
where a girl can use her napkin,
wipe her mouth, and
toss it perfectly away
into the purple-line bin.
that's the moment i'd like to see,
when it all comes clear,
that little turn i made
and where we went:
what was lost,
and what wasn't.

Lincoln Center Directors Lab Day 1

2008-05-19T22:52:00.002-04:00

It was a day.

Registration for the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab 2008 began at 2:00 PM. We got packets and badges. Then they took a group photo on the steps in the lobby of the Mitzi Newhouse Theater. I wish I had the photo to post here. I actually brought my camera, but didn't take a single photo all day. Sorry folks. Anyway, it's not an attractive crowd. It's just directors.

After the photo we were led down into the depths of LCT to the large rehearsal room. I had flashbacks. This is where, as a student - way back in 1988 - I had acting classes with William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman, and Stephen Schachter. The room was pretty much the same, but cleaner.

There were opening remarks by LCT Executive Director Bernard Gersten. Bernie was also my teacher. I remember our class on producing meeting twice a week in the lobby to discuss how to bring in an audience for Speed The Plow. Gregory Mosher was the Artistic Director back then, and Maddona - yes, that Madonna - was spotted in the halls on her way to rehearsal. Bernie looks great now. Much thinner than I remember. And he's produced another hit - the revival of South Pacific directed by Bartlett Sher. (Mr. Sher will be coming to talk to us all next week.)

Next, we had our orientation from the creator of the Director's Lab: Anne Cattaneo. Anne is a petite woman with a dazzling smile and very hip eye-glass frames. She talked for about forty-five minutes. I took meticulous notes as she spoke. Her articulation of what the lab is and is not could serve as a primer on the process of creating theater. It was the singular highlight of the day, and at the risk of plagiarism (and of not doing justice to her speech) here are the Ten Points she articulated:

The Lincoln Center Directors Lab is not a teaching situation. It's not about mentoring. Nobody is considered more "important" than anybody else. We all have experiences that are valid and worthy of consideration.
You will experience some of what you encounter as utter non-sense, and other things as incredibly enlightened. Look for the things that you least expected.
The Directors Lab takes place in a theater - a real, live, working, operating, theater. Some things are practical - not theoretical. (At this point Anne describe "kicking Alan Alda out" of th e room we were in to begin the start of the day.)
The Directors Lab is intentionally large - 45 or 50 people. Its main asset is as a place to meet other people. Will directors even like one another?? It remains to be seen.
The most important stuff will happen in a bar.
Guests come into the Lab by serendipity (i.e. - whatever is going on and whomever happens to be in town at that time.)
Distrust the notion of choice. "It's not true that a given director's career is created by institutions." Nobody at a big institution will pick you out. You will make your own career.
Social aspect. Actress Lois Smith said "What I do in a reading bears no relationship to what I do in a rehearsal." The process is completely different as an encounter on a deeper and more personal level is what creates the work. Hence....Director Richard Ayre: "Invite the leading actor and designer to your house, read the play, and stop and ask 'what does this mean to us' at every scene, turn, punctuation, question." Group together around the play.
Question: Who is in charge when you're really making art? Ride the horse in the direction you are going!
We have a bias toward the actor.

Anne likened the Directors Lab to a boot camp. "We want to wear you down."

Finally, at 5:00 pm, we received an official welcome from Lincoln Center's Artistic Director - Andre Bishop. Andre has a deep and authoritative voice. He could make tons of money doing voiceovers. He told us all to "take advantage" of Lincoln Center and the opportunity we have before us. "Remain open" was his message.

After a break from dinner, we had a talk from Steve Cosson, Jim Lewis, and Michael Friedman from the ground-breaking theater company The Civilians. Their new play This Beautiful City is based upon interviews with residents of Colorado Springs, CO, and focuses on the Evangelical Christian movement there. They were all whisked away at 8:00 PM sharp to receive their OBIE Award which coincidentally was also happening tonight.

Lastly today we had a visit from director Ruben Polendo of Theater Mitu. It was a fascinating talk. Mr. Polendo studied with Peter Brook and has created a philosophy of "complete theater". He is an engaging and charismatic presence, but I was conflicted about his philosophy. It was basically a re-hash of Peter Brooks' writings, but I will reserve judgment until I actually see his work. Theater Mitu is in residence at New York Theatre Workshop and will be presenting their new work The Apostle Project June 4 - 15.

Mr. Polendo said one very important thing that deeply resonated with me: No fear, no deception. This is the measure for your work. I thought that was wonderful, so thank you Ruben for that.

I can't promise this detailed a blog every day for the next few weeks but I'll do my best. Stick with me. I think it will get better.

Wayne

The Lab

2008-05-09T23:51:00.002-04:00

"Everything we do changes us a little, even when we purport to be indifferent to what we've done. And what we witness, we also do." - Joseph Chaikin The Presence of the Actor

In a little more than a week I will begin my participation in the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. The Lab is an initiative that has been in existence for, oh, I don't know...a dozen years or so. It's three weeks of intensive work focused on whatever plays/ideas/desires are in the zeitgeist of the Lincoln Center Powers That Be (i.e. Anne Cattaneo). I am perhaps a bit long in the tooth to be doing the lab at this juncture, but I probably won't be the very oldest. Maybe the second oldest. I don't know why age is such a concern. Suffice it to say for now that I am both excited and skeptical about the whole endeavor. But I guess it will be an experience.

My intention is to blog a little each day from the Lab, and leave my notes behind for whatever their worth. This isn't at all original. In fact, just this evening I discovered a very nice blog from a 2004 participant. Isaac Butler wrote a very charming and intelligent blog from LCT. He has a clear and honest voice. I appreciated his candor.

I guess I'm now entering a new phase in my career. I'm shifting from acting to directing. I've loved acting, it's been a great journey, and I am by no means giving it up. But it's become more and more difficult for me to do the work. I find the grind of going on auditions to be draining my enthusiasm for the theater. Actors are at their worst and most vulnerable when they're in an audition. Most good directors know this, and try to give some modicum of respect back to the actor. But until you are given the permission to fail, to not feel the pressure of a call-back, not needing to impress everyone in the room, not caring whether you get it right, there really is no making any kind of art. It's all an approximation. Can you be the character the director imagines? Will your resume be fancy enough to warrant your hiring? Is your agent important enough to call back? Will your presence in my show enlarge my power? It's all exceedingly seductive. And awful. And yes, Virginia, unfair. And I've been doing it for twenty years, and it leaves me feeling, frankly, bored. So I believe it's time to let the notion of a "fancy" acting career float away -- like a trail of leaves in an Andy Goldsworthy film. Going, going...
I'm under no illusions whatsoever that directing will by any more financially secure than acting. In fact, I'm certain it will be much less so. For every show there are several or even many actors, but only one director. And in New York, it's very often only one or two directors who get to direct the bulk of the shows.
I'm interested in exploring questions that are important to me. And I'm excited to discover a new path.
Here's what the lab has told us so far: re-read MacBeth, and find a play about religion. That's it. That's all I know so far. Oh, and they've asked me to give a presentation on Joseph Chaikin. I'll let you know how that all comes off.

On Wednesday evening, I went by the home of Judith Malina who was sitting shiva for her husband, partner, and co-director of the Living Theatre - Hanon Reznikov. Judith as lying down on a mattress in the middle of the floor. Friends encircled her in chairs, dropping down to give a hug, have a chat, offer a word of comfort. Needless to say, she is quite bereft. I reunited with some old friends I've not seen in many years including Ilian Troya and Judith's daughter Isha. I've drifted away from the Living in the past decade, and Judith took the opportunity to scold me for my absence. She's quite right. I've always felt a part of the company, but haven't held up my end of the bargain. "I don't care if you sit in the box office, or clean the toilet, or work backstage, or are acting in the shows. I'm not asking you to do anything at all. But be here. Be part of it. Come and support the work." It was a scolding I was happy to receive. It meant she noticed and cared if I was there. God bless her in the time of grieving. And for anyone out there that's looking for a theatrical home, come to the Living Theatre. I think it's time to make some noise.

Hanon's obituary appeared in the New York Times yesterday.

In Memorium

2008-05-04T16:19:00.005-04:00

This week the downtown theater scene mourns the loss of two great artists: Janet Ward and Hanon Reznikov. Both were personal friends and colleagues of mine. Both were committed to the practice of theater as an agent of change. They were both writers, poets, activists, and performers. Both touched many other lives and gave inspiration to everyone around them. Both will be missed.

Janet Ward lost her brief battle with cancer on Wednesday, April 30th. I first met Janet when she entered the Joseph Chaikin Workshop. We became fast friends. Like Joe, Janet was obsessed with Samuel Beckett. She did many Beckett roles in the workshop, but I most remember her performance of Miss Fitt in the extraordinary production of All That Fall at the Cherry Lane Theater. Janet was also a member of New York's Tyna Collective where she played in Vaclav Havel's Largo Desolado directed by Eva Burgess at the Ohio Theater. I wrote an earlier entry about Janet's fight against cancer, but you can follow the whole story on the blog that has been maintained by her family. I will miss Janet very much.

Hanon Reznikov has for the past 24 years been the co-director of the Living Theatre. (He is pictured here with his wife and partner Judith Malina.) Hanon was in many ways the driving force behind the Living, though no doubt the legacy he has created will continue. Hanon is the author of many plays produced by the Living Theatre, most notably Utopia, Capital Changes, and Resistance.

Hanon was my teacher when I took a class with the Living Theatre at NYU in 1986. He opened my imagination to the possibilities of theater. He taught me that all theater is political, and unless you have a political agenda, it's all an exercise in vanity.
I spent more than a few New Years Eves at their home on West End Avenue. I worked as an intern in their office, and had a nice reunion with Hanon and Judith when they attended the opening of The Glass Menagerie (in which I played the role of Tom) at Yale Rep directed by Joseph Chaikin.

Hanon was an advocate for the pacifist-anarchist revolution, and a true philosopher and thinker. There is a wonderful interview with Hanon and Judith that you can look at here on YouTube.

What If

2008-03-18T23:42:00.002-04:00

What if...
There was no theater?
Nobody came?
There were no new playwrights?
There were no new plays?
The theater became archaic?
It became obsolete?

What if...
Theater was always affordable?
It only cost one dollar but you had to stand?
Plays were the only form of entertainment?
We considered large ideas?

What if...
Life really has no meaning?
Everything we do is in vain?
When we die there is really nothing?
English became the only language?

What if...
Dogs could speak?
Our fingers could smell?
We had no eyebrows?
Old was desirable?

The Week That Was

2008-03-14T22:08:00.002-04:00

Last week I was sick with the flu. It knocked me out of commission for five days. Bleck. It was pretty awful. But it's been going around and living in New York City means sharing everyone else's germs. But this week I was back on my feet, and what a week it was!

On Monday, I had my interview for the Graduate Directing program at Brooklyn College. I met with Professor Thomas Bullard, and we spoke for nearly 40 minutes. Tom is a warm man, with a gentle demeanor and a keen intellect. I could've spoken with him for hours, but I know he had other things to attend to. The theater department at Brooklyn has been growing rapidly in these past few years. There is a plan now for a brand new performing arts center, replacing the outdated Gershwin Theater that is now home to the college's productions. Even those facilities, however, are respectable. The approach to teaching directing at Brooklyn is very much based in Stanislavsky. It is a writer's theater, and unlike other "director's theater" programs, here the goal is to fulfill the vision of the playwright, and erase any traces of the directing rather than calling attention to them. I love this approach. It's where I feel most at home, and its in line with my own views on theater. We'll see if I get into the program, but irregardless, it was a day well-spent.

Wednesday evening was the final session of the Winter Workshop, the class I have been conducting along with Eva Burgess. I learned a great deal throughout the class. Eva taught me so much about how to by-pass our judgmental think-brain and how to access the place of impulse. Her exercises are fun, physical, and charged. I was focusing on voice work, specifically the kind of work that has been laid down by the great Cicely Berry. We all found a newly-awakened sense of language moving through several of Berry's exercises and techniques. Each class was also an opportunity for participants to do some scene work. Students worked on Shakespeare, Beckett, Albee, Shaw, Stoppard, Chekhov, and Tony Kushner. Congratulations to all of our workshop members: Jason Blaine, Elizabeth Bell, Rebecca Yaggi, Carl Mayer, Robin Sorenson, Melanie Armer, Samantha Desz, Erick Kever Ryle, Jon Okabayashi, Laura Gaona, and Guen Donohue.

I ended my week with an audition at Lincoln Center Theater for the National Tour of Frost/Nixon. I was delighted to have a chance to read for casting director Daniel Swee. The role I went in for is Jack Brennan, Nixon's chief of staff and the major antagonist of the play. It's a great part, and Kevin Bacon will be playing the role in the upcoming feature film. So, fingers crossed.

I also worked several caiter-waiter jobs this week. That's the un-glamorous part of my life. It leave me exhausted. But times are tough, and we all gotta pay the piper. All I can say is "thank God its Friday"!

W.

Thinking of Janet Ward

2008-03-06T08:04:00.007-05:00

"That's how it is on this bitch of an earth." Samuel Beckett

Two weeks ago I was given the news that my dear friend and colleague Janet Ward has been diagnosed with lung cancer. I was told the cancer was quite advanced (stage 4) and metastasized. The news left me stunned. How could this be possible? She's fine. I saw her not too long ago. We were planning to have a martini!

Janet is one of the most extraordinary human beings I've known. I met her when she came into the Joseph Chaikin Workshop back in '99. She has the radiant features of a woman half her age - and a body better than most women of any age - a bristling intelligence, an unquenchable curiosity for life, and the soul of an angel. Joe knew that about Janet too. Higher beings sense one another right away.

To me, Janet is an actor and a poet, a trusted colleague. But she is also a mother, a grandmother, a working professional, and a life force for so many friends and acquaintances across the country. Whenever I think of Janet I think of Samuel Beckett. Working with Joe Chaikin, she couldn't get enough of the Irish playwright. She worked on Rockabye, Endgame, and Footfalls. She was stellar in her role of Miss Fit in the Caliuga Arts production of All That Fall at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Most recently, Janet has been working on Winnie from Happy Days with director Miriam Eusebio, which is slated to go up in the 2009 season.

I really bonded with Janet, however, in the summer of 2004. The Republican National Convention was being held here in New York. A mutual friend of ours had written a play - somewhat of a protest piece - and was putting it up at the American Place Theatre's new space on 8th Avenue & 36th Street. Practically across the street from the convention. Our "friend" (who shall remain nameless) asked me to direct the show, and we invited Janet to come on board as our producer. Janet worked her ass off like always. She throws herself head-first into everything she does. And together we had done a pretty good job of pulling off a show with absolutely no backing or resources. We were betrayed by our "friend" however, when on the opening performance (with the New York Times in the house) he decided to throw away all of the direction and guidance and go onstage holding a script. It was a disaster. Things got even worse when his crazy wife came into the mix, shooting accusatory glares at both Janet and me. I guess we had been scapegoated for her husband's lack of professionalism. Anyway, we left the theater feeling like we had been mugged by a member of our own family. A few scotches later though, we knew we would be ok, and probably the stronger for our experience.

I'm so angry that such a lovely and talented person should be struck by a cruel disease. She has so much more to offer us - her words, her words, her gorgeous inspiring words! In 2003 Janet's poem Change was the winner in the adult category of the Poetry Society of America's Poetry In Motion 10th Anniversary Contest. It was put up in subway cars across thee city. You cannot imagine how proud I was, sitting on the F train, looking up at Janet's words, thinking "she's my friend". Thousands of people drew inspiration from this one poem everyday: (click on it to read it) So, may the love and inspiration that you gave to so many find its way back to you now, Janet. May it give you the strength you need as you heal and recover. With love and admiration....
w.

Viola Spolin on Emotion

2008-02-10T01:02:00.000-05:00

I've been re-reading Viola Spolin's seminal book Improvisation for the Theater. The entire book is amazing, but I found this to be particularly illuminating. I hope you do too.

From the beginning student to the performing artist, great argument ensues as to how to get emotion or feeling for a particular scene. The problem of clarifying what is meant by emotion is far from simple, but if emotion is to be handled as a direct acting problem in the training, a position must be formulated. One thing is certain. We must not use personal and/or subjective (what we use in daily living) emotion for the stage. It is a private matter (like feeling and believing) and not for public viewing. At best "real" emotion put on stage can be classified as psycho-drama no matter how skillfully it is written or played, and it does not constitute a theatrical communication.

And later she writes:

When psycho-drama is confused with a play or scene, is in fact considered to be the scene, it leads the actor to exploit himself (his emotions) instead of experiencing total organic motion. What can psycho-drama do but abstract the tears that should come out of our personal grief alone, thus making artistic detachment impossible? Emotion newly generated on stage, however, remains detached because it is usableonly within the structure of agreed reality.

Viola Spolin, Improvisation for the Theatre, Chapter XI, p. 237 - 238. 1963 Northwestern University Press

Remembering Bill Hart

2008-02-02T10:46:00.001-05:00

I learned only recently that my friend and colleague Bill Hart had passed away on Sunday, January 20th. I was deeply saddened by the news. I hadn't seen Bill for a number of years, and wasn't aware that he was ill. He apparently had pancreatic cancer.

Bill was well-known by everyone who worked in the downtown theater scene in New York. For many years he served as literary manager at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. He also directed a famous production of a play starring Robert DeNiro - the only time Mr. DeNiro appeared on Broadway. Bill also had been a long-time friend and colleague of Sam Shepard, directing several of Mr. Shepard's early plays with Theatre Genesis at St. Mark's Church on the Bowery.

I came to know Bill through Joseph Chaikin, when I was invited to join the ensemble of a new collaborative play about disabilities. Bill served as the company's dramaturg, but in many respects was a co-director with Mr. Chaikin. We worked together on the disabilities project over the course of ten years, sometimes with breaks of several months or even a year in between rehearsal periods. Many other artists came to work with the company as writers and contributors. Among them: David Willinger, Charles Mee, Jr., Bell Chevigny, Elizabeth Swados, and John Belluso. The work was presented in its final form as bodySONGS at the Public Theatre in 2001.

Bill had a great sense of humor, although his ideas were sometimes a little dark for Joe Chaikin's tastes. I loved that about Bill. He was always willing to push the work to the edge - exploring the kinky, the perverse, the deviant. This was a nice counter-balance to the kind of humor and levity sought by Joe. It was really Bill who ultimately shaped the piece we performed. He kept track of all of the work that had been created over the ten years, and culled them into a dramatic structure. His intellect was razor sharp.

I enjoyed spending time with Bill. We had drinks and meals together on many occasions. I remember one evening when we dined with Joe Chaikin at the home of Anders Cato. Bill was completely uncensored in his humor. I also remember being at the Acme Cafe on Great Jones Street after a reading of The Late Henry Moss by Sam Shepard. Bill sat across from Sam and the two men talked for hours. Sam needed to hear what Bill had to say about the play. That's how much respect Sam Shepard had for Bill.

Here is the link to Bill's obituary in the New York Times. Like his life, it is much too brief. He will be missed by so many of us.