Stage Banter: The Arena Stage Blog

From the Road: "August: Osage County" and "The Receptionist"

posted by Vijay Mathew

Last week I had the chance to see August: Osage County by Tracy Letts and The Receptionist by Adam Bock in New York (that's the Receptionist, herself, on the left—Jayne Houdyshell). The two are very different plays, each exhibiting what theater is best at doing. Without exaggerating, I think the production of August: Osage County originally from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a masterpiece of American theater, and it was heartening for me to see something of such great artistry, humor and depth in the theater. In many ways, this production situates itself in the tradition of the great dramatic American plays about family—except that it is hilarious. Which made me doubt my assumptions for a brief moment about the great American mid-century dramas from which August springs: have they lost their humor in their subsequent revivals? Maybe Long Day's Journey into Night was a laugh-riot when audiences first saw it in the 1950's. But then I thought about it again, and no, Long Day's Journey was probably never funny, no matter how great it was. (If someone saw that production on Broadway in '56, please comment here!) The next doubt to enter my mind was: will August be around in fifty years and if so, who are these mysterious people and institutions that make those decisions about the future and have influence on a play's legacy? I want to meet them.

Video: Moisés Kaufman at Arena Stage's "Salon"

posted by Vijay Mathew

A few evenings before the opening of 33 Variations, Senior Dramaturg Mark Bly interviewed Moisés Kaufman as part of Arena Stage's "Salon" series. It was an exciting in-depth discussion with Moisés about his life and work in the theater—a rare opportunity to discover his unique approach to making theater. If you are interested in attending future Salons with Arena Stage's artists, click here for more information.

Here's my favorite excerpt from the Salon.

Part 3: Moisés Kaufman talks about his theater company, his attempt to break away from realism, and his search for new theatrical forms:

Discuss: What is Theatrical in 33 Variations?

posted by Vijay Mathew

As you can tell even from the photos, 33 Variations is wonderfully theatrical. But why and how? We'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

To start you off, here's a quote from the playwright and director Moisés Kaufman in an audio interview I conducted a few weeks ago:

"Moment Work" (a directing and writing method Moisés Kaufman uses) really allows the theater-maker to make work that is theatrical. It poses the question: what can happen on the stage that cannot happen anywhere else? If we as people working in the theater are only concerned with the play that we're doing at any given time, we're doing the art form a great disservice.  But if every time we come to do a play and ask: "how is this going to contribute to our understanding of the art form?" Then, I think we're beginning to address our job.   

For those of you who have already seen 33 Variations, post your opinion at the end of this blog entry telling me what you think is particularly "theatrical" about 33 Variations by Moisés Kaufman. What moments or what about the production do you feel can only exist in the theater and not in any other medium such as television or film.

Audio Feature: Moisés Kaufman Interviewed by his Assistant Directors

On a break during busy technical rehearsals for 33 Variations in the Kreeger Theater, Vijay Mathew, Jessie Gallogly (First Assistant Director) and Colleen Mylott (Script Coordinator) found some time with Moisés Kaufman to ask him questions about his directing and writing.

Download moises-interview.mp3

Here’s an index of the interview questions:
0:45 - Vijay asks: How is your directing different when you’re not directing your own play?

1:40 - Jessie asks: What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with your company of actors and working with a new group of actors?

3:08 - Colleen asks: How has 'moment work' evolved through the years?

5:02 - Vijay asks: Does your process determine what the final structure or form of the play will be?

5:50 - Vijay asks: Can your plays be rightfully produced and interpreted by other directors?

Writing through Performance - Interpreter vs Author – part 1

posted by Vijay Mathew

What is immediately striking about Moisés Kaufman's rehearsals for his new play 33 Variations is that the text of his play stays fluid and in process. He's both the director and playwright for 33 Variations and he's visibly playing both roles during rehearsals. His text is not finished and locked during the first few weeks of rehearsal, so his role as director is not as a traditional interpreter, but as creator or author. His directing actually functions as a way to write the play, usually using primary source material (such as historical documents) as starting points. The primary source is then adapted, through the actor and design elements, to become an event on stage – the text becoming lines spoken by a character or dialogue in a scene between characters. This is a fascinating process because the rules and techniques are unique to the needs of the project and to Moisés' background as a theater-maker. You’ll hear more from Moisés about this technique in an audio post coming soon.

Vijay Mathew

As this season's Allen Lee Hughes Directing Fellow, I have the unique opportunity to witness very established directors at work in rehearsal on a daily basis. In addition to this time in rehearsal, I am also working with David Dower, the new Producing Artistic Associate. Work with David is especially exciting because it is functioning as an artistic producing apprenticeship for me. I'll be blogging here about each show from the inside view of the rehearsal hall and reporting about new developments on the producing end of things. Occasionally, I’ll comment from my perspective as an emerging director in contemporary American theater and as a producer-in-training.