About Theater Production
Have you ever wondered what goes on in those creepy dark corridors behind the stage of a play? Well I sure have – so much so that I conducted an investigation. It was simple really, they asked if I wanted unlimited access to intimate knowledge on the inner workings of play production and I said yes.
In layman's terms, I agreed to be a dramaturge this semester for the Coe College production of “Roadkill Confidential”. It was the first play I had ever had the pleasure of working on in my entire adult life. Obviously that’s only been two years and before that I did write, produce, and star in a play entirely conducted by middle school children with single mothers incapable of picking them up immediately after school.
What!?... is a Dramaturge
I had what could possibly be called the second nerdiest job in history (the first being intern at a video development company). A dramaturge is someone who studies the informational context around a play. “Roadkill Confidential” was a particularly interesting topic of study as its motivational topic was performance art. Performance art is a style of artistic expression characterized by its expressive, typically physically involved, and boundary pushing artists. In particular I studied two interesting characters.
Bob Flanagen and Cassils are performance artists of great acclaim (or rather unfortunately, were, in Bob’s case, RIP) who I was tasked with studying and putting my findings on display. My studies started in class, a P&P class (no I don’t know what that stands for), as part of my role as dramaturge. I took this class to learn about the history of performance art including Bob and Cassils’ place in it. Independent research was also conducted outside of class by me. If you were to go to Dows to witness the school’s rendition, you could also find trifold presentations of many performance artists – including trifolds of my own creation depicting Bob and Cassils.
The following is just a snapshot of the construction process of the display for Cassils.
Surely You Did More?
Yes, I had other responsibilities as a dramaturge. Namely I was a sort of assistant director, mainly observing and inserting the occasional idea during rehearsals. I also practiced as an understudy and helped with props. Furthermore, I was listed as an understudy but that mainly proved a formality as I was rarely called upon during rehearsals and (as of the time of writing) never asked to actually perform.
The final job I had was as a puppeteer, which made up the bulk of my performance work. These puppets were crafted by another volunteer credited as the puppet designer Lex Corrigan. Here you can see the expert craftsmanship in this next image.
Very cute yet still utterly disgusting. It’s supposed to be an animal that was run over for those that didn’t see it.
What did I Learn?
I met and fraternized with the professors and instructors in charge of the theater department. Namely Dennis Barnett and Ben Schmidt who proved amicable and pleasant. I also met with student leaders such as S Walker, Giana Akins, and Olivia Hornyak who were the stage manager, assistant stage manager, and proprietor in that order. They proved experts in their craft and were invaluable to my gaining of experience.
The production process also taught me stage vernacular. Slang for important parts of the stage, and rituals for rehearsal. I learned what a vom was and how they were numbered similar to a clock. New traditions for me to partake included pleasantries like “Thank you five” whenever the stage manager informed us of the length of our break. Other examples include "Thank you places" when we were called to places. Basically it was thank you, whatever the last thing the stage manager said.
Finally and most importantly I got to meet and get to know my fellow crew members and actors. The cast list included names familiar to the writing center like consultant Lincoln Johnson, and obviously S Walker.
Takeaways
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