Thursday, September 21, 2006

Closing Thoughts


"Click on any image to enlarge." How many times have you seen that. I put it at each post for the person who doesn't know that I've put it at every post before this. Ironically that phrase embodies the journey we have made. To magnify, to look closer, to expand. To click and enlarge.


This was a special experience - dramaturgy on a play where Tuttle the writer is Tuttle the director and the piece takes place on very common and familiar turf. What value could I add? I wasn't sure. But I hope and trust that my work enhanced the atmosphere, the connection of the actors to the world, and the connection of the audience to the play and to the company.


Last night of rehearsals and after all the photojournalizing I inflicted on the cast and crew, Tim the designer insisted on capturing pictures of me so there's a couple here. One in the role of Margaret and the other, also ironically, under the exit sign.


I found this process as a dramaturgical exercise to be pure joy and yet end in some despair. Because I've had a taste of dramaturgy, I want to do it all the time. But because it's only a taste, I have much to learn. There are books to read and scripts to critique and I'm thrilled to learn, but the doer in me wants to do do do. So I step back. Tuttle does The Tempest next. Begins rehearsals in the next few weeks. Am I ready to tackle the Bard? Yes and no. I don't like to do things half-heartedly. If it's not sold-out passion then it's tepid and I'm not deserving of the opportunity. And if I'm unsure what I'm doing then I may hinder, not help. And that would be a travesty.



If I've learned one thing about dramaturgy through this collaboration, it's that passion is positively correlated to the contribution and that, in turn, is positively correlated to the outcome. So I venture forth with a new and improved mental horizon. I thank the actors and crew for receiving the flow of images in rehearsals. I thank Tuttle for being an open director, Ilana Brownstein for aligning my skewed impressions of what becoming a dramaturg involves, and I thank God for the gift of theatre which has been a constant resource for inspiration through all sorts of times in life.