Open Letter to My Cast & Crew

My Dear Friends;


Every once in a while, the stars align, bringing together all the right people for just the right event. This whole mad, grand, steam-driven machine has actually been fueled by your talents and and imaginations. I turned the key and primed the pump, but once that engine roared to life, there was no stopping it. The show grew into a very, very funny and exceptionally entertaining statement on about 5000 topics, while managing to create a living world where dinosaurs as house pets made complete sense (of course, if you're an insane Alaskan governor, it already did -- sorry, couldn't help myself). Who cares if grouchy old deaf people didn't get it? Linc loved it, the conference scholars loved it and Shakespeare '70 saw some of it's biggest crowds at TCNJ, ever. I only hope that each of you is as proud of the show and yourselves, as I am of it and you. My expectations were continually and exponentially exceeded throughout the entire process. A director alone is nothing. A director with an amazing team can create an entirely new and unique new universe. Your trust in and commitment to my vision has gone above and beyond everything I had hoped for and each of your unique contributions to the show added up to far more than the sum of its parts.


Theatre began as religious worship, and I like to continue to think of in that way. As much as anything (and more than many things), art is what makes us uniquely human. And when so many people can come to a consensus about a piece of art and express it through such amazing work, the gods are pleased, indeed.


Thank you all so very much for taking part in such an important production for Shakespeare '70, TCNJ and myself. What we all managed to achieve with this production has not gone without notice and will go a long way toward cementing S'70's relationship with the College and their ability to produce more lage-scale productions on the main stage. As for myself, getting to direct in a space I know so well and love so much, on a show of such massive scale, has been both intimidating and exceptionally rewarding. Getting to share that experience with all of you has been like the gooey-fudgy frosting on a prize-winning brownie. Theatre should feed the soul, my dears. I am so very glad you were all there to partake with me.


I love and will miss all of you. I will never forget any of you and it is my fervent wish that we get to work together again and again. I'd take a trip to Excelsior (or anywhere else we might find ourselves) with all of you, anytime.


Remember to play! I promise you'll never be sorry for it. It will keep you young and happy. It has been my complete joy to play with you.And keep an eye out for those sneaky ham- bushes!


With my deepest affection and boundless gratitude, Prospero


"What hath God wrought!"


PS - One last thing about teamwork (and if you've already heard or read this, it bears repeating. Plus, it's the short version):


Confucius dreamt that he visited hell. Hell turned out to be a huge dining hall, filled with tables laden with every delicious and delightful dish known to mankind. The damned were all seated around the tables, starving. They had each been given ten-foot long chopsticks with which to eat and try as they might, they couldn't maneuver their chopsticks to reach the food into their mouths. They wept from hunger and despair. Then Confucius visited Heaven. Heaven turned out to also be a huge dining hall, filled with tables laden with every delicious and delightful dish known to mankind. The people seated around the tables in Heaven had also been given ten-foot long chopsticks with which to eat, but they were all happy and well-fed, taking great pleasure in the bounty before them. The difference? In Heaven, the blessed used their chopsticks to feed each other.

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Academia, Etc.

Tonight (Thursday, Oct. 2nd) saw the first performance of the second and final weekend of The Skin of Our Teeth. It was also the "official" performance of the First International Thornton Wilder Society Conference: "Wilder in the 21st Century."
http://www.tcnj.edu/~wilder/conference/


We had a good and only momentarily silly pick-up rehearsal last night, so I was confidant going in. It was our biggest house yet (and probably will be) and, as tired as some of the conference attendees were, attentive and responsive. Their energy fed the cast and it was a lovely performance, despite some technical issues (sound is still a horror-show; that's what I get for not running my own sound board - or at least having my best friend, "K,"* run it for me). The "extras" are either really terrific or truly horrible and although the shadow puppets are better (they at least make sense, now), the simplicity of their operation remains a complete and incomprehensible mystery to the manipulators (the above mentioned "extras"). All in all, I'm still very unhappy with the shadow puppets. They are surreal and funny, but awkward and not what I had hoped they would be. Unlike the simplicity of their roles in the other two Shakespeare '70 productions in which student extras from correlated English Department classes were employed, the complexity of this show required more commitment and attendance than the professor was willing to impose upon them. Subsequently, several of them don't care about what they are doing because it's only slightly less effort than writing a paper. A few care, but are completely inept on stage and shouldn't even consider minoring in theatre. One or two care and are into what they are doing, and actually created characters for themselves.



But enough bitching. this post is about crowing! About 25 or 30 people stayed afterwards for the talk-back, and I spent most it sitting there listening to several of the nation's top scholars on Wilder talk about how much they loved my production. I'm not being narcissistic or egotistic in the least. The President of the Society (who is also the English professor at TCNJ who specializes in Wilder and drama), said that we had found things in the play which no other production he had seen had found (in particular, a true character arc for the usually-neglected Gladys) and another conference attendee said he loved the Steampunk concept.


In addition to those folks, many of my colleagues from various companies were in the audience, all of whom were very enthusiastic in their compliments.


In all fairness, though, I must give credit where credit is due: my amazingly talented cast and design team. This was an exceptionally ambitious production, not only because of the design concept, but the technical requirements inherent in the text. There's a dinosaur and a mammoth on stage, for heaven's sake (not to mention the Atlantic City Boardwalk).


My cast - my amazing, surprising and inventive cast! It took a while for all of them to get it, but when they did... Kapow! It was like lightning in a bottle. "Fred Bailey" (AKA "Mammoth Puppeteer") continues to provide the funniest performance in the show. My "Announcer," however, wins the Honey-Glazed Virginia-Baked Award (there's a special place in Director's Heaven for me, just for putting up with him). My "Sabina" is a gift from Thespis and "George," while a curiously cantankerous fellow, is brilliant. "Maggie," my dearest and longest friend; my muse; my support; my left and right arms for this show (she also produced, God love her), just so gets it. "Gladys" is a riot, especially in Act II and the "Fortune Teller," while still a little too fast, is a study in 'young actor goes for broke.' Then there is my "Henry." I can't be more proud. I have worked with this young man on four shows now, and his skills as an actor continue to grow and amaze. His trust in my direction is without question and he is willing to go wherever it takes to get the right result. Nothing gets a director more excited than an actor who is not only willing to do what you want him to do, but understands what you want and delivers it so well. He is quite beautiful and continually degrades himself as 'dumb,' but really good actors aren't dumb, and he is a really good actor. And to top it all off, he's just a terrific person. A polite, funny, personable and gorgeous young man.


So, I am very happy. Two more performances to go. I am sorry to leave this "family." We've had much fun together.


As always, more anon.
Prospero


*She and our mutual friends all know who she is, so there's no need for elaboration. Anonymity is the lure of the Web, isn't it?

You have read this article "The Skin of Our Teeth" / Ramblings / Theatre / Wilder with the title . You can bookmark this page URL https://tammycross.blogspot.com/2008/10/academia-etc.html. Thanks!