"Anarchist" Update I

"Acting is a thinking man's game." -Prof Carl

We are about three weeks away from opening night of "Accidental Death of An Anarchist" here at CCBC.  This will be the shortest amount of time I've spent on a production process (we started rehearsals the last week in September, totaling six weeks of rehearsal- very long compared to the professional world).  Professional and undergraduate productions move at a much quicker pace then community or club theatre, which up till now is all I have been involved in.  I speak of the brief time period with my sympathies to the cast.  They're all struggling during this our first off-book week, and if I was acting instead of directing/researching I probably would be too.  Also I'm watching the design team and crew putting their nose to the grindstone as the first flats and frame of the set where put in place on Monday.

But I'm feeling the pressure of deadlines for my own job too.  As the dramaturg it's my job to know and understand as much as possible about the play, the playwright, the time period, contemporary events, the characters, the past productions, etc etc etc....and I honestly I'm not in a place where I feel I've adequately researched any of that to exhaustion.  I've kept the focus a bit more streamlined by focusing on the author's belief's and motivation for writing the play, public reaction to the play itself, indiosyncrasies and personalities within the play, and political events in relation to the play and our production of it.  As you may imagine from the title the text is heavily steeped with political issues and events.  In addition, we're updating some of the text as we go along to make "Anarchist", written in Italy in the 1970's, relevant to our time, our country, and our town (something commonly done wherever this particular play is put on).  This requires Carl, myself, the cast, and the rest of the production team to constantly be on our mentals toes for ways to make the show engaging and contemporary.

The show is transitioning into a hard place.  For the next three weeks I'll be helping actors drill lines and deal with all sorts of unforseen frustration.  Costumes, set, lights and blocking all need to be created and finalized.  Up till now it's been the bliss of sitting next to my mentor and having fun, but there's lots of hard work in store between now and November 10th, for everyone.