Tori Haring-Smith, Theatre Topics, 2003
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
What must a dramaturg do?
"To illuminate meaning in non-realism, dramaturgs do not trace a narrative or mine a character’s depths, but rather identify complex patterns of action, image, and language. They must encourage the spectator to see both what is present on the stage and also what is absent, unsaid...Because non-realism follows a different kind of logic and creates meaning in a different way than realism does, it redefines the processes of spectatorship and rehearsal. Working with non-realist productions changes the dramaturg’s role in the rehearsal process...Dramaturgs working with non-realism must cultivate more playfulness in their own questioning. They must open up meaning, not secure it. They must point to the gaps in the text not as holes to be filled in, but as sites of meaning that escape simple representation through language or image. They become less the source of answers and more the source of questions"(p. 50)
Monday, March 27, 2017
Aliveness
"I do not think that what makes strong theater is accessibility at first instant, mainly because my first experiences in theater were not simple—I didn’t understand it. But I did sense that there was something there. I find immediate accessibility easily forgettable. All the great theater experiences I’ve had have either been too long, or too difficult, or I’ve had to reach...I don’t necessarily think that the sign of a good work is where you have to come back to understand it; I don’t understand most of my work. I have to look at it and constantly redefine what it is. If I did understand it, it probably would not be as volatile. I don’t think that understanding is necessarily the best thing in art."
"What is?"
"Aliveness. In the theater, certainly a sense of event. A sense of human beings reaching towards something, a sense of inspiration. As in great music: you are taken to a place where you are not in familiar territory, where one encounters new landscapes. That’s what I want in the theater. I want the audience to be in new territory, I want myself to be in new territory. I mean, I am the audience, ultimately."
"...all of the detours are part of the research"
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Quantification
I am trying to learn this text.
Trying to understand it.
Last night.
Ink gliding over paper.
I copied each line into my notebook.
This was much slower than speaking the words aloud.
It was an exercise that didn't help me to understand voice or embodiment.
But it did help me maintain a connection to the text. I have something to hold on to now, as I continue traveling this week, with no spaces to move in and say these lines (without disturbing the peace).
I can hold the understanding of a newly discovered pattern--the same sentence repeated, pages later, in a new context.
I wonder if Lady Grey keeps a journal.
I wonder if Will Eno writes his scripts with pen on paper or if he types them on a keyboard. Probably a keyboard.
Last night I counted the punctuation in this piece.
# of periods: 425# of question marks: 49
# of commas: too many to count.
Tonight I am sitting here wondering, what, exactly, these symbols signify. Sometimes there's a period. But the thought, the sentence as I understand it, does not end. And sometimes a question ends with a period. Even when a question ends with a question mark, there are so many types of questions. All signified by the same little symbol. And then there are the commas.
How do the commas relate to the pauses indicated in stage directions, the spaces between each word, the capacity of my lungs to hold and ration a breath?
Bibliography
Some of my favorite interviews with Will Eno and writings about his work.
Butler, Isaac. “The Great American Living-Room Play Gets a Remodel.” American Theatre, March 25, 2015.
Hooker, Jake. “In Dialogue: Stepping into Darkness with Will Eno.” The Brooklyn Rail, September 1, 2005.
King, Darryn. “Will Eno’s deconstructive theatre.” The Saturday Paper, October 8, 2016.
Reynolds, Kyle. “Will Eno: The Page, The Stage, and The Word.” Master’s thesis, Texas Tech University, 2009.
Steketee, Martha. “Will Eno’s Theatrical Rhythms.” HowlRound, December 10, 2015.
Silverstein, Marc. “‘A word by which you will be revealed’: the problem of language in Will Eno's monologues.” American Drama 15(2006): 61-90.
Simons, Seth. “Pulitzer-Nominated Playwright Will Eno on the Upside of Sleepless Nights.” Van Winkle’s, November 10, 2015.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
“Etymologically, monologue (mono-logos) derives from the Greek term for solitary speech. In linguistic terms monologic speech is both univocal and monophonic, meaning that monologue can be broadly understood as being any sustained speech by a single subject that does not require an ‘other’ to speak to, nor needs a reply. However, ‘pure’ monologues are almost an abstraction, because solo speech is far more likely to exist in a complicated relationship with dialogue, meaning that even the most isolated monologues (a speech to ourselves spoken out loud or in our heads) tend to address an other, even if that other is the self, and thus implicitly seek a kind of dialogue.” (Eddie Paterson,The Contemporary American Monologue: Performance and Politics, p. 13)
Friday, March 17, 2017
A timeline of Will Eno’s work
2001 - Vaudeville, Population Two [preview]
Tragedy: a tragedy [preview]
2002 - A Canadian Lies Dying on American Ice [full text]
Mr. Theatre Comes Home Different [full text]
Intermission [preview]
Behold The Coach, In Sorrow, Unemployed [full text]
2003 - The Flu Season
2004 - Thom Pain (based on nothing)[preview]
Lady Grey (in ever-lower light)[preview]
2006 - Darkness at seven
2007 - Oh, the Humanity [preview]
Behold The Coach, In a Blazer, Uninsured [full text]
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rain [preview]
The Bully Composition [preview]
2012 - Title and Deed* [preview]
The Realistic Joneses [preview]
2014 - The Open House* [preview]
2017 - Wakey, Wakey*
*written during Signature Residency
"I'm trying to think: What is language, anyway, what is speech? Does it just float, like smoke
from fire, away from the speaker, signifying rather than being the thing that caused it? Is speech, like smoke, a byproduct of some burning rather than the burning itself? It is that, isn't it, my speech
is like smoke and my body is the burning, can't you see that, I'm sure you can see that, be gentle with
this eternal flame as you extinguish it be mindful of its eternity, and bring it back dear gentleman dear older older gentleman who speaks to me and touches me like the Mediterranean sea."
Deb Margolin, “To Speak Is to Suffer” and Vice Versa, TDR 2008
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