Comments on: Creating The Fugitives for La Rinascita

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:08:04 +0000

Your comments about your rehearsal process and giving up what doesn’t contribute to the overall arc of what you are creating resonated most with me. For me this is the hardest part of the writing (rewriting) process: excising material you hate to cut because it doesn’t belong. Some writers maintain that if you find yourself too much in love with parts of your creation, it’s probably a sign that it needs to go. Maybe so, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Congratulations on your production and your participation in the festival in Prague!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:57:26 +0000

“experiencing a fleeting piece of art which will vanish when complete” ..and vanishes as it is experienced! I can’t wait to experience this :O) In Bocca al Luppo!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:16:10 +0000

A great meditation on not only this specific piece of theatre, but the process (the ridiculous but somehow endlessly fascinating process) of putting together anything that is meant to inspire some kind of reaction in people. Loved the bit about how conceptualizations that seemed like masterstrokes often end up looking dumb when stages… couldn’t agree more. Anybody ever see something at a play and gone, “I bet that looked really great on paper. But man. I have no idea what’s going on.”

By: Ted McKinny

Ted McKinny — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:49:01 +0000

Anne – Thanks for responding to my post. I agree with you on the difficulty in drawing the line. Aesthetic or “out of the box,” creationist theater is it can very easily become a caricature of itself. You have to be sure to still be grounded and motivated in your exploration so you don’t become the theater cliche of modernist performance. It’s more risky and more of a balancing act then traditional theater, which has become so boring because its overly explored.

By: Matthew B

Matthew B — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:57:56 +0000

Really amazing article. I agree completely and would just jump at the chance to work in a similar fashion. I believe it is in the creation sometimes that I find this work the most thrilling.

By: Anne Veal

Anne Veal — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:36:50 +0000

Everyone, thanks so much for your comments and well wishes!

In reference to both Ted and Jon’s comments, I think the problem of overly-contrived theatre goes hand in hand with expecting nothing from an audience. Making theatre is in a way like doing magic, there’s an element of sleight-of-hand, an element of wonder you hope to induce. When you explain every facet and leave nothing to the individual’s power of imagination, suddenly people who are paying attention can see all the strings. That being said, we’ve had some really interesting arguments about where to draw the line. Questions will be raised and you have to wonder, are we not answering this onstage because it’s more interesting not to or because we’re being lazy. It’s a challenge I constantly face.

Kate, I truly hope we learn a lot from our audience! Theatre you really care about should always be in a state of change. I hope we’re able to make changes night to night based on what we learn.