Potential Plays
Andrew Farrier
Thanks to all of you who wrote in your opinions about the
incorporation idea. The response has been invariably supportive with
notes of caution, of which we will need plenty. So we're moving ahead
with that.
That said, today we present a list of potential scripts for the summer
season. The plan at the moment is for us to do just one play this
summer and really give it the time and attention it deserves. So
including the suggestions we've received from all of you, we have
twelve candidates. Thoughts about any of these plays are welcome and
encouraged. We would like to choose one by Wednesday night; this
gives us all rather little time, and there are some I may not be able
to track down and read by then, but it is important that we get
everything in motion as soon as possible. Concerns to address include
cast size (multicasting is a likely possibility for several of
these). Each play has a short description; I am better equipped to
describe some than others, so feel free to elaborate or correct me.
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"The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
A retelling of several of the events in the life of writer and
pacifist Henry David Thoreau, centering around his brief incarceration
for tax evasion.
"Macbeth" by Shakespeare
Shakespeare's revenge tragedy and one of his darker plays. Includes
several powerful characters and has more parts for women than most of
his plays (four).
"The Odd Couple" by Neil Simon
If you're wondering, the play came before the sitcom. The tale of two
recent divorcees who move in together and the trials of their
differences of character.
"Caesar and Cleopatra" by George Bernard Shaw
A historical epic on Caesar's invasion of Egypt, presented with humor
and a great deal of modern political significance.
"Arms and the Man" by George Bernard Shaw
Takes place during a war in Bulgaria where the young wife of a soldier
is forced to take in and protect a deserter from the other side.
"You Can't Take It With You" by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
A comedy written in the 1930s showing a few days in the lives of a
family of eccentrics and the people who come into their home,
including the fiance of the youngest member of the family, Alice, and
the troubles that come of mixing with normal people.
"Dracula" by Bram Stoker (there are several stage adaptations)
The famous horror story, which I have actually never read. I'll be
doing my best to get a copy tomorrow.
"The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton, adapted for stage by Christopher
Sergel
The clash between two groups of teenagers, rich and poor, and the
crimes thier outsider status leads them to.
"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen
A classic play about the liberation of women. Nora, a Norwegian
housewife, has been secretly borrowing money behind her husband's back
in order to make their life better. The play is about the lengths she
goes to in order to keep it secret and the choices she has to make
when he finds out.
"The Skin of Our Teeth" by Thornton Wilder
Anyone involved in "Alphabet Backwards" is familiar with this. A
comedic saga of all human existence as embodied in one family, the
Antrobuses, and their maid Sabina, who endure the coming of an ice
age, the great flood, and a great war.
"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams
An American classic about a woman with traditional southern values
moves in with her sister in New Orleans and fights for her sanity in a
world that is unfamiliar to her.
"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
Another American classic about the Salem witch trials.
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These are all pretty minimal and kind of cliche descriptions, but they
should give you a rough idea of what's going on. It isn't necessary
that you even pick one play you prefer; feel free to comment on any of
them or just say what general qualities you think this season needs.
All that said, here are a few of my thoughts. I think all of these
plays are excellent pieces for us to perform-- eventually. Some of
them I think are out of our league at the moment. Shakespeare,
especially, contains many demands we didn't address during The
Tempest, and while it came out great, we need to do better next time
we take on the bard. I feel much the same way about Miller, Williams
and Ibsen; they are great plays but we would be better equipped to
approach them in a few years, maybe less. "The Outsiders" is quite
suited to our lot-- it has the right age bracket, especially.
However, there is a production of this going on in Shreveport, so I
feel we should give it a little while and come back to it.
That aside, the qualities I'd like to see in whatever play we choose
are a great potential for entertainment quality (so they'll keep
coming to see us), a relevance to what's going on in our community (so
we have a chance at improving their lives), a cast size of five to
ten, possibly with multicasting (so we are assured a full cast from
the start), and a challenge-- something that will really test our
skills and make us better at what we do. And at the same time, the
play should be suited to our particular skills.
I personally am excited by the challenges of "Caesar and Cleopatra" (I
know it sounds like a dull history, but it's actually quite
interesting and funny with a lot of potential for design and
theatricality), "You Can't Take It With You" and "The Skin of Our
Teeth" in particular. What do you think?
Thanks for your attention, everyone. Hope you're all doing well.
--Andrew
Lucy Morrison
It might be cool to do The Crucible, since the high school students all read it their junior year anyway. Those who have already studied it will be more familiar with it and can bring more to the performance, while those who haven't will be especially prepared when it comes time to read it in school.
I don't think you need to worry about not doing the playwrights justice...they're dead anyway. The beauty of art is that you can interpret it any way you choose--and as long as the audience enjoys it and y'all have fun performing it, you've done a good job. (I wouldn't try A Streetcar Named Desire yet, though.)
By the way, I was a little surprised when you started talking about becoming a corporation, because for some reason I thought that y'all had already done that a long time ago. (I'm kind of out of the loop!) Anyway, it seems like a good idea--if you're as serious about it as you seem to be.