by Brian Bozanich, MFA
Five Formative Theatre Experiences
I have spent the last few weeks discussing my own work. I wanted to share the moments which spoke to me as an audience member, honor the craft of others, and explain how it shaped my work.
Les Miserables
You never forget your first. In July, 1987 I saw Les Miserables in Los Angeles. It was the first professional musical I had ever seen. I knew the complete soundtrack before attending, but it did nothing to lessen the impact of the piece. There were two specific moments:
The Bishop of Digne- The emotion of the music and the combination of music, voice, and lighting had me in tears in the first five minutes.
One Day More- The build from a single voice, the overlapping stories, the turntable staging, the crescendo at the end. I stood up to applaud and realized, "@#%$, this is just the end of act one."
Les Miserables effected me emotionally. The music hooked me and pulled me through the show. I still prefer through-sung shows over the scene, song cue, number structure. The show never lets the audience up, there is never the pause to count the lights or admire the costumes. It carries you through and the music provides the train tracks for the journey.
Tamara- Amazon, Wikipedia, Actress Bio with photos
In 1988, I traveled to the American Legion Hall on Highland Ave. in Los Angeles to see a play, Tamara. The story was set in Italy on the eve of WWII and the play took place in multiple rooms throughout the building. As an audience member you chose which character to follow at any given time. You could follow the chauffeur into the room and then the maid when she left the room moments later. Audience members were told to always follow a character except when a character shut a door in your face. While following the chef with four other audience members, we were met with a shut door. While standing for a few seconds in silence, the butler passed through the room and we picked up the scene with him. A half-hour intermission with lively conversation about the story helped fill in the narrative.
The crystallizing moment came when I left the room following the chauffeur I was right on his heels from the third floor moving down toward the basement. We came to a door in the lower level and he threw it open to find two other characters about to kiss, they looked at the chauffeur in shock. My eyes then traveled past the bed to the eight or more audience members pressed to the walls following the characters embracing on the bed. It was incredible to see the shock on their faces at being caught in the act. The audience turned from empathetic to accomplice in a moment. This set the tone for the audience engagement in my work.
Chess
I saw the 1991 Sacramento Music Circus production. I had never seen a musical in the round before. The director and choreographer used the under-lit chessboard stage to great effect. The ensemble dressed in monochrome black or white, depending on the scene. The actors moved on the board in a manner which fit the character's assigned chess piece.
I was struck by a few of things. The direction was very dynamic, the constant motion of the actors helped give all audience members a view of the action. The use of the chessboard metaphor throughout the show taught me how a production concept can inform many aspects of a production.
This video is of a more recent production, Miss Saigon. It shows the venue, playing space, and audience proximity well.
The Gift of the Gorgon Info
Five words:
Dame. Judi. Dench. On. Stage.
On my 1993 trip to London, I saw Peter Schaffer's The Gift of the Gorgon. The story of a deceased playwright, his estranged son, a stepmother who tells her husband's story. Dench played the pivot point of the triangle. As she revealed her husband's life to the son he never knew. She simultaneously acted in the scenes of her life and gave commentary to the son writing a biography.
This was one of those rare ambush moments in the theatre. I walked in knowing nothing of the play, other than Schaffer wrote Amadeus. I did not know the actors and pointedly did not open the program until back in my hotel that night. The purity of ignorance and openness to the work was amazing.
I realize these were all twenty years ago. I continue to see theatre (as much as I can afford.) I continue to be transformed as an artist by the work of others. These are the experiences which started me down my creative path. What experiences helped shape you as an artist?
Brian Bozanich
MFA, Youth Theatre, University of Hawaii, Manoa
MFA, Youth Theatre, University of Hawaii, Manoa
Please visit: Twitter: @FilmRobin for up-to-date info on where I am travelling for ART. LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com/in/robinscottpeters for complete resume & work history. Smashwords.com and look for Dr. Robin Scott Peters Ebooks now available. YouTube: Youtube.com/user/robinscottpeters for all my video work.
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