Five questions for an aspiring playwright

Last month, I mentioned my friend Janet Jiacinto, who was in my Playwriting class and who will soon be staging her self-written play, Chapstick Smells Like Fish. She recently gave me some insight into the process of writing a play and having the opportunity to perform it.

How did your concept for the play evolve in your head, before, during and after Playwriting class?

I was taking an EMF class where we were required to keep a dream journal. That was when I first started thinking about the concept of unspoken dream logic. This is the way, in dreams, you can be in what looks just like your living room, but it's not actually your living room -- it's a swimming pool or something.

Dream sequences happen all the time in movies, but I'm not sure I've ever seen or read something where the entire thing is a dream. I thought it would be cool to try to find a way to stay true to the world of dreams without becoming so convoluted that no one understood the story.

When analyzing a play, one of the first questions you should ask is "Why is this day different from all other days?" because if it isn't, not much is at stake. It's the same with writing. So, I stole some characters I liked from another play I've written and picked a day in one of their lives that they could never forget.

The feedback in Playwriting class and Playwriting Laboratory was absolutely vital to Chapstick's development in that it helped me to shape the characters and shifts in logic so that they made as much sense as possible without perverting the nature of the world.

When did you know that you wanted to potentially produce it?

I sincerely doubt the existence of professional playwrights who work on plays with the idea that they'll never see a stage. I can't write a play without visualizing it in a certain space. I've been working on Chapstick for roughly a year, it's gone through three workshop readings, and I reached the point where I had a script and wasn't sure how else to make it better.

Since the setting is so minimalistic, it is an extremely easy play to produce. The challenge is in making the world something easy for the audience to understand. The production will be more like a workshop in that I want to stage it to find problems in the script that wouldn't be obvious for a reading.

Do you think that since it's a bit abstract to most people, students will respond positively to it?

I certainly hope so. The story walks this fine line between ludicrousness and realism and in doing so finds this place where we can believably say and do things we never would in reality.

Has any particular play, playwright or other person or thing inspired your work?

Every character in the play is based, however loosely, on someone I've really known -- even Ashu, the character who ranges from Sean Connery to a cartoon.

What do you hope to do by producing your play at TU?

By putting a play into the hands of actors and designers, new things will be found in the script. A lot of things the playwright didn't intend to put in the play suddenly become unspeakably important. Stage directions are a whole different world when they're no longer words on a page. Unless the story is completely antiquated, a play is not meant to be read but seen. That's why I believe every play should be forced through at least one workshop performance before it's declared to be a final draft.

Janet's play will be performed as part of Towson University's 2009 Fall Season. (Photo courtesy of Janet's facebook page.)

--DQ

Chatting with John Freedman

John Freedman, an American-born translator who lives and works in Russia, spoke to my Russian Theatre and Politics class today about his experiences both in Russia and with translating some of the plays we're studying.

With regards to choosing the title for the play Frozen in Time, a modern day Russian Romeo and Juliet, Freedman noted that the original Russian title, Exhibits, didn't exactly do the piece justice.

"It's interesting, the power of choices," he said. "'Exhibits' doesn't really give you a feeling. It doesn't give you anything. A title should point you in a certain direction, make a suggestion. I thought 'Frozen in Time' sounded much more influential. It implies not moving on, losing something that is part of human experience."

After seeing one of the first performances of Frozen in Time in Moscow, Freedman left disappointed and confused.

"For me, it lost a lot of course," he said. "You didn't get the way little things kind of build up and lead to the explosion. It's a difficult play to do. If I were directing it, I'd come back to this: you cannot create characters of these people. The ambiguity is very strong. You're encouraged to take sides and make judgments. If you have done that, you've started losing touch with the play. Everybody's life has its right to be expressed fully. The difficulties and conflicts we experience are legitimate. I love that ambiguity; it makes me accept everyone and everything."

Freedman also clued the class in about certain aspects of Russian culture. Infidelity, he said, while frowned upon, is not such a moral problem as it is in the United States. Gender roles that used to exist in the United States are still prevalent there, where in the most general terms, the females typically are the nurturers and the males are the protectors.

"There's a certain understanding of life that Russians have," Freedman said. "There's a sense that life itself is sacred, not the morals attached to it."

Freedman's endeavors in the emerging Russian theatre world will be transformed from page to stage this fall in the premier of the TU Theatre Department's "Russian Season," featuring several of the plays he's translated over the span of his impressive career.

For more on Freedman's experiences and life in Russia, journalism and theatre, head here.

I remain your Drama Queen.

The cast is great, the script is swell, but this we're telling you, sirs...

A couple of entries ago, I mentioned that each theatrical season at TU involves not only the larger Mainstage productions, but also student-directed shows, where theatre majors have the chance to cast and direct a show of their choice rather than perform in it.

I spoke with graduating senior Andrew Peters, an Acting student who is directing a play called Bug this spring, set to open next month. As a young theatre artist, he gave me some insight into the directing experience.

What drew you to Bug and why did you have an interest in directing it?

I first read Bug a few years ago and I've always been drawn to how visceral and gritty it is. It's a love story, a thriller, a piece of science fiction, a dark comedy...all of these different genres all wrapped into one. As a student director, I wanted to direct something challenging and gritty, but something that would allow me to also flex a creative muscle so to speak. It also came down to what I thought would not only interest theatre artists, but the Towson student body as well. With most of its Mainstage repertoire, the Towson theatre department puts on shows that I feel are good learning experiences, but I don't always feel that they are chosen due to what students our age actually want to see. So I wanted to do something very raw, provocative, and fun, but still doable in a college environment.

Author Tracy Letts is also responsible for the Tony Award-winning play August: Osage County. Did this success have any effect on your decision to direct Bug?

The fact that Letts is becoming a huge name in the theatre world definitely influenced my decision. In general, I wanted to do this to get his name out there to a younger audience because I think he's going to be someone who continues doing work for years, and if I can spread his work around to as many people as possible, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

As a theatre student, how valuable is it to have this kind of behind-the-scenes, hands-on experience with a show?

You learn a lot about the process that certain things like classes and such won't teach you. I've been in a good amount of shows here at Towson, but directing a show has taught me so much more than I could've gotten from actually being on stage. You learn about the process and the ways to adapt to it.

What have been your favorite moments so far?

Sometimes, we've stumbled into territory I never expected. For instance, I love it when the actors take a risk with a way they deliver a line or an action they perform, and it completely makes me rethink my original ideas. Also, seeing the show on its feet as it progresses is incredibly exciting each step of the way. The first time we put together Act 1 in one night, I really got a sense that we were well on our way.

Do you have any advice for future student directors?

One, don't be afraid to take risks. Jump in head first! Second, think around the box. With Bug, there are a lot of technical things that I am working around now that I've been able to brainstorm solutions for, and I'm really excited to see how those choices will pay off when the performances start. It's a thrill to be able to see how you can play with a concept and adapt a piece of text to it.

Bug runs April 2 - 4, 2009, in the Ruth Marder Theatre at Towson University.

--DQ

Nothing lasts, nothing holds all of me.

OK, so I realize this is a bit out of the norm for a blog, but as this interview relates to my topic of discussion, I have to take a personal route here and do it. And you get to learn a little more about me in the process. Plus, theatre people generally like to talk about themselves a lot.

FAVORITE MUSICAL(s):
There are so many of these! My all-time favorites are RENT, Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, Damn Yankees, Guys & Dolls, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Beauty and the Beast, Avenue Q, The Phantom of the Opera, and Me and My Girl.

FAVORITE PLAY(s):
There are lots of these too, but if I have to pick a few, I suppose Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya would be near the top of the list. Marisol is also dear to my heart; I directed a scene from it in Directing I a year and a half ago.

FAVORITE ROLE OVERALL THAT I WOULD LOVE TO PLAY:
Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

YOUR GOAL IN SHOW BUSINESS:
There's no business like it! It's all about taking your performance seriously, of course, but it's also about having a good time and enjoying every minute.

FAVORITE DIRECTOR YOU HAVE EVER WORKED WITH:
After working for so many years with Mr. Trowbridge in high school, I can't say I really have a favorite other than him. But Naoko Maeshiba oversaw our directing scenes in Directing I, and she's so knowledgeable and interesting.

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW?:
Damn Yankees when I was a freshman in high school!

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW?
One of them, but not the very last.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO NEW YORK?
What kind of theatre major would I be if I hadn't?

HAVE YOU BEEN TO L.A.?:
Now that I will admit to never having done. But I hear it smells, anyway.

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?:
I hate doing monologues in general....I don't really think they tell you anything about an actor except that they can play one specific character semi-well. The scariest part, then, is performing your monologue, although the wait for the cast list is never fun, either.

WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION?
Usually no one knows you, so you walk in with a clean slate. Then you get one shot to razzle dazzle 'em.

NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:
All of the shows I've been in have been spectacular, but if I have to choose one, I'd say How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, only because it's close to three hours long. That's asking a lot of an audience.

NAME A SHOW YOU COULD DO FOR YEARS:
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown! I would reprise my role of Lucy van Pelt in an instant!

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?:
Oh, heck yes. I've made some dear friends from being in shows with them.

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?:
It never hurts, but it wouldn't really matter to me. I've never been paid for a show before and I've always had an amazing time.

EVER BEEN NAKED ONSTAGE?:
I only left this question in because I actually HAVE been "naked" on stage. Well, a naked simulation. I was in Verdi's AIDA with the Baltimore Opera Company last fall, and I played Amneris' body double as she rises out of the bath. So my costume was a nude-colored bodysuit, basically, and it really looked legit from a distance. It was definitely the most daring thing I've ever done in my life!

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOUR THEATRE EXPERIENCE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I wish I took chances more when it comes to auditioning for shows I really want to be a part of. I don't like auditioning, period, but unfortunately for me, that's how this business functions and how actors get their starts. You have to prove to the director that you fit what they already see in the character, and you only have a couple minutes to do it if it's a big production. It's a very unforgiving industry, so if you don't make an immediate impression, you're forgotten.

Congratulations. You now know more about me and my theatrical experience than you did two minutes ago. I think I even learned something about myself.

Always,
DQ