photo: Will Lyman (Spier), Anne Gottlieb (Etty), wrestling
posted by Kirk Lynn -
I’ve been thinking a lot today about the relationship between certainty and responsibility.
The responsibility of each member of the cast and crew shifts as we become more certain about what the play is.
My responsibility is waning:
There was a time when I was trying to imagine the entire play as a talkback with the audience. The audience would enter the theatre and we would ask them if they had any questions about Etty Hillesum. If someone did, we would perform the scene which we thought best answered the question.
Then there was a time when I was trying to frame the play as a vaudeville sketch, like the performances that took place at the cabaret inside Westerbork. The idea was, as the play made its way forward through the story, the audience would come to realize the context of the performance—and the play and the audience would meet when Etty, herself, arrived at the cabaret in Westerbork.
There was a time when I was trying to imagine the play as the story of all the people who were impacted by Etty. The people to whom she gave hope, the survivors who knew her. This version of the play is turning into its own project entitled “the Gingerbread Man.” It takes as its starting point people like Osias Korman. Osias new Etty in Westerbork and after the war helped reunite Jewish children and their families. The children often had no idea they were Jewish or that they had another family. It’s going to be produced at the University of Texas next year. Katie’s directing.
In those times when there was the greatest uncertainty about the play, my responsibility was the greatest. Most of the designers had no responsibility in those times. This was years ago; they probably weren’t even hired. Most of the actors had very little responsibility. We held readings and we learned a great deal from the actors, but I don’t think they felt a lot of pressure.
Now things are different. The increase in certainty creates new responsibilities.
The designers have to turn the script into a world. They have to build things. It takes me five minutes to write a description of a tree on the stage. It takes me thirty seconds to cut it. It takes hours of planning and organizing and building for the designers to make it happen. Their responsibility is likely at its peak right now. They are creating and visioning and telling me what isn’t going to work and how to improve the descriptions and hints that live in the script.
The actors are also getting more responsibility. They have to turn lines into characters. They have to memorize and explore. They have to learn blocking and fight choreography (there is, of course, wrestling in the The Wrestling Patient). And their responsibility will carry on beyond my own. The actors are the ambassadors between the play and the audience. Once the play is running, I think the actors hold the majority of the responsibility.
And The Wrestling Patient is a collaboration, that means some of the responsibilities are shared. The conceiver of the entire project, Anne Gottlieb, and the director, Katie Pearl, have helped me shoulder the writer’s responsibilities in ways I can’t repay. They have written some and helped shape outlines, and meticulously noted draft after draft. I have no interest in or capacity for acting along with them or directing. So the responsibilities for the collaboration are shifting, too. Anne Gottlieb and Katie Pearl have had a more constant level of responsibility than almost anyone else.
And then there’s stage management. Victoria Coady and Jessica Stansfield. Stage Managers, once they are hired, have the same amount of responsibility regardless of the amount of certainty as far as I can tell. If we can’t decide whether she’s holding a handkerchief or a scarf, stage management has to have both available. Once we decide, stage management needs to know when it comes on, where it lives before and after, and they need to make sure it gets there every night.
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