Theatre as Rorschach

Well, Doubt is done (look here for the critic’s view) and we’re moving onto Steve Martin’s adaptation of The Underpants.  But before we leave Mr. Shanley’s tightly constructed piece, there’s an interesting phenomenon that we noticed during the talkbacks.  Many of the audience members who hung around for the talkbacks (and I’d say that we had a much larger percentage of the audience want to chat than usual) were very interested in arriving at a verdict:  Did he or didn’t he (did Father Flynn molest the student, or not).  At one of the first talkbacks, it was interesting to note that it split mostly along gender lines:  the vast majority of women sided with Sister Aloysius (the nun who accused the priest), while the vast majority of men thought that Father Flynn was innocent and that he had been unfairly persecuted by Sister Aloysius.  Going forward, we were very interested to see if the gender-based trend continued.  Did it?  Nope, not really.

After that first talkback, it settled down to a pretty even mix of men and women who came down on either side of the verdict discussion.  And another group (and totally unprompted by me, I promise) who argued that the ultimate “point” of Doubt is not what you think the truth is, but a challenge to embrace uncertainty and doubt.  Was this group sizey?  Nope, not at all.  But even among the verdict crowd, it was interesting to hear people talk about how their backgrounds influenced their thinking on the matter.  One man had been a school administrator for over 30 years, and he identified very strongly with Sister Aloysius’ instincts concerning Father Flynn.  A woman talked about a personal experience when she had been unfairly persecuted when explaining why she sided with Father Flynn.

That got me thinking about more global issues of theatre and art in general.  Rene Copeland, Doubt director and Tennessee Rep Artistic Director, talks about one of the greatest aims of theatre being to engender empathy in the audience–to touch an audience, to move them and make them think not only about what they see but also about themselves.  This idea of theatre as Rorschach test is a powerful one for me.  In my view, the ultimate fulfillment of theatre is not in the performance; if that were true, we could keep the theatre’s doors closed and run a show to our hearts’ content sans audience.  No, the true fulfillment of theatre comes not with how the actors, directors, and designers feel about what is being done on stage; the highest aim of theatre is how the audience feels about it–what it makes them think, how, and if, it changes them, even for a moment–and the beauty of one audience member feeling a certain way about a play, and the person sitting right next to them feeling totally different.  Just like the inkblots–that one person may look at and see a bee sitting on a flower, another may see a dragon soaring across the sun–our individual personalities, backgrounds, and experiences affect how we react to what we see.  In this way, theatre can engender empathy not only in the different lives an audience witnesses on stage, but also when recognizing the different reactions among the people sharing in their experience.

DOUBT by John Patrick Shanley

And after the controversy and vase-shattering of The Goat, Tennessee Rep’s next production is a subtle, intricate, but no less fascinating piece of theatre: Doubt.  This fabulously wrought play is set in a Catholic parish and school in 1964.  The principal, a stern, authoritarian nun named Sister Aloysius, comes to suspect (with growing and fervent certainty) that the young, progressive, charismatic priest, Father Flynn, has or is plotting to molest a 12-year-old male student in the school.

The cast is full of incredibly talented Nashville actors.  Rona Carter plays the indefatigable Sister Aloysius.  Jessejames Locorriere plays the suspected priest, Father Flynn.  Jenny Littleton plays the innocent nun-in-the-middle, Sister James.  And Delali Potakey plays the boy’s mother, Mrs. Muller–who finds herself in the unenviable position of having to choose between the young priest who has reached out a hand of love to her isolated son (he is the school’s first African-American student) and the nun who believes that hand was extended not in Agape but Eros love.

So what’s the play about?  This is certainly not a treatise on the Catholic Church’s scandals regarding priests and molestation.  In fact, if we (and Mr. Shanley) have done our jobs, you should be left with some doubt as to whether or not the priest is guilty (although you’ll undoubtedly have an opinion on the matter).  No, at its heart Doubt is about exactly that: doubt, and, by extension, our current culture’s obsession with certainty.  In a time when doubt is viewed as weakness and certainty (even uniformed, misguided, overly enthusiastic certainty) as strength, Mr. Shanley argues that doubt (and the thought that doubt engenders) is a necessary precursor to growth.  In our highly-politicized, bumper-sticker climate, people like things black and white; people long for that, will even fight for that.

But in Doubt, we’re led on a journey of self-discovery through the gray areas of life.  The characters travel from moments of surety to moments of great doubt.  And do they emerge on the other side, stronger, wiser creatures, more sure of themselves and the gray-filled world around them?  Ah, but that wouldn’t be Doubt, would it?

Some Goat photos

Just finished up a great run of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? and I thought I’d share some photos with you.  Enjoy!

 

Martin and Stevie in scene one–before the breakage.

 

Martin and “great good friend” Ross–ditto.

 

Top of scene two and the goat is out of the bag–Martin, Stevie, and their son, Billy.

 

 Scene three–post breakage but more on the way.

The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?

And the new year finds us exploring Edward Albee’s controversial, emotionally-charged The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? in which a highly-educated, highly-successful, married architect falls genuinely in love with a goat.  But when trying to find out what this play is truly “about” and why Tennessee Rep has it on its season, I turned to the talented cast and director.

According to Matthew Carlton, who plays Martin–the man himself, “It’s about the mysterious nature of love, the bonds of family and friends and the fragility of what seems most steady and firm in our world.” Director Rene Copeland adds, “Betrayal in and of itself is not necessarily such a shocking theme in the world of storytelling. Betrayal is universal, but the answer to ‘how far is too far?’ is different for everyone, so by having this marriage threatened by such a universally unacceptable betrayal–physical relations with animals–Albee has managed to find a way to take us all on the same journey as Martin’s family and force us toward total empathy with the ensuing consequences.”

When asked the question, “Why is it important that this play be produced here in Nashville” each gave an interesting answer.  Carlton responded, “All great art should be shared and this is a great play. It will stir debate and hopefully challenge the audience to look beyond norm when making easy moral judgements.” For Copeland, “[The Goat] is a brilliant play being produced by regional theatres all over the country, and I think that Nashville deserves to have such an important piece produced here. And more than that, I think that, despite any shock at the frankness of the subject or language, with Tennessee Rep’s fabulous technical designs and the stellar ensemble of actors theatre-goers will find themselves proud that theatre of this quality is being produced here in Middle Tennesee.”

As we head into our final week of performances, we have had overwhelming positive response to the play. Some audience members have walked out, but not as many as we had feared. Our marketing staff did a wonderful job in making sure that the word got out so that there would be as few surprises as possible when people showed up to the theatre.  For those brave souls who put on their big-boy undies and came to see it, The Goat has offered an intense (and often surprisingly humerous) night of theatre unlike any other they’re likely to experience.  Check out the critics’ reaction here.

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season!  I’ll be back in the new year with more about The Goat, but for now…here’s a Christmas image from my recent cookie decorating.  It started life as a holly-leaf-shaped cookie but then creativity happened.  (think mother bird/aerial view)  Enjoy!