Directors Note - Robin Witt on STAGE DOOR

Robin Witt Director of Griffin Theatre's STAGE DOOR talks about the play, late at night after a work through of Act One, scene 1

"A woman can look both moral and exciting -- if she also looks as if it was quite a struggle." - Edna Ferber

Griffin Theatre’s production of Stage Door by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman: 248 costume pieces; 33 characters; 27 actors; 16 set pieces; 13 door slams; 9 door bells; 5 phone rings; 4 bananas; 2 apples; a baseball bat; an upright piano; a two-story staircase; and 1 small dog.

Bill Massolia, Griffin’s artistic director, phoned me up last summer and asked me if he was crazy. He thought the Griffin should produce Stage Door in the upcoming season. I had directed a staged reading of the play as a benefit for Griffin a few months earlier, and it had gone surprisingly well. Yes, I had to rehearse it in shifts, and yes, only 17 actors played the 33 roles. But the evening had been really, really fun (and oddly, on the night of my birthday). Amidst the fast-paced carnival atmosphere of the reading, there had also been moments of deep pathos.

I said “yes” to Bill. Yes that he was crazy and yes, that I would love to direct it.

Set in a boarding house for actresses in Manhattan, Stage Door premiered at the Music Box in NYC on November 1, 1936. It was a time when the United States was struggling to pull itself out of the Great Depression and Hitler had recently presided over the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The world was a dark and uncertain place, and the theatre and film of the era were doing what they could to lift public consciousness away from gloom and despair. Ferber/Kaufman did their bit with some of the greatest comedies of the time, including The Royal Family and You Can’t Take it With You. Inspired by Ferber’s visit to the boarding house in New York where her niece–the actress Janet Fox– lived, Stage Door is an acerbic and loving look at the intoxicating, backstabbing, heart-breaking, and arduous life of show folk.

Below is a roughly outlined list of what I considered some of the most important ideas/actions/themes of the play:

· Hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds

· Sharing of worldly goods—generosity in times of hardship

· Theatre as a higher art form than film—a noble life

· The draw of fame and money

· Artistic life worth living despite of rejection, poverty, and the bad rap being of the world’s 2^nd oldest profession, etc

· Struggles of poverty

· Grasping for success

· How is success measured?

· The inequities of gender and class

· Dire acts committed by the desperate

· Insular nature of the boarding house that the women inhabit—a safe place

· Outside world—the theatre: impossible to penetrate and conquer

· Action within the boarding house—ceaseless, fluid, elegant, desperate, tedious, churning

· Stage-stuckedness (I made up this word)

· Music. Dance. Drama. SHOWTIME!

There is not a whole lot written about Stage Door (the play). Ferber/Kaufman’s other plays have garnered more attention and therefore more scholarly research as well. SD isn’t produced very often, except at Colleges and Universities. Why is that you ask? See the above list of elements needed for the production (elements=$$$$$). But there is also a very interesting tone issue in this play. SD is not pure comedy. It is not You Can’t Take it with You. SPOILER ALERT: skip to the next paragraph if you don’t know the play and want to come to the production without knowing key plot points. There is a suicide, and prostitution, and shattered dreams. SD also has elements of screwball comedy. Comedy and tragedy sit side by side and the switch between them can be razor sharp. How does one navigate through such ever-changing currents?

Brooks Atkinson, in his review of the 1936 production, puts it best. After praising the play’s “keen edge” of comedy and its “ebullient” nature, he ends with a lengthy discussion on how badly actors were treated by producers. Atkinson writes: “Stage Door would be funnier if the whole subject of acting were less painful.” He spends 3 paragraphs in the review naming all that is wrong with the current hierarchal system of 1930s Broadway. It’s amazing. He pretty much predicts what is going to happen in the 1960s with the birth of repertory companies in the U. S.

Ok. Now it’s really late at night. More later regarding tone…..xo and goodnight.

1 in 27 - How do you fit all those cast members into the Griffin rehearsal space?

Jennifer Bettancourt plays Bobbie in our upcoming production of STAGE DOOR. A recent graduate from Notre Dame, Jennifer provides perspective from one who is relatively new to the Chicago scene.

So far, whenever I tell people about Stage Door: the setting, the gist of the plot, and especially the cast size/make-up, nine times out of ten I get, "There are HOW many girls?! Whoa!! Please, you HAVE to tell me about the drama that goes on backstage!" and for those that know The Theatre Building, there's the additional, "Ha, Have fun in those dressing rooms!" As of this point in the rehearsal process, though, I'm pretty happy to say that I'm only seriously concerned about the dressing rooms...

After doing the staged reading last year, I feel really lucky and beyond excited to be able to delve into this script and get to know the characters and their relationships again, and much more fully. When we did the reading, everyone except a few were given multiple characters and, at least for me, it was like a really cool challenge to try and give each one their own distinction while sitting down and without changing costumes. This time around, I'd be lying if I said I didn't keep my eyes and ears open during the first few reads to see how these "new girls" chose to play the parts I'd done and perhaps it's petty of me to admit that I was worried I'd never be able to fully let go of the idea that I'd once said that line differently. As we've gone along though, it was beyond easy because of everyone's enthusiasm for the script and the story (no one more than Robin, and that energy has done wonders, at least personally, to make my excitement just continue to grow with every rehearsal). The ensemble nature of the show has made it essential for each character to know themselves in and out and embrace what everyone else offers.

We're now in my favorite time of the rehearsal process: Books are dropped, blocking is done, and now it's time to string it together and explore and play! I've always been tickled at the idea of playing Bobby but the more we rehearse, the more I discover her and really dig the person we're becoming together (that doesn't sound too strange does it?) For example, despite what I think of myself walking down the street on any given day, when I think of being Bobby I immediately feel lighter, springier, flirtier, more in control of that flirtation, and really oblivious to time. It also works in reverse as I relate onstage the Bobby that is tempered by who I am as an individual. We also, meaning the girls of the Footlights Club (not me and my apparently multiple personalities), have spent enough time together in rehearsals to start becoming familiar with each other and it's exciting to see where different bonds and friendships are forming. It isn't that there are people NOT getting along (or maybe there are and I just am not cool or perceptive enough to know) but the substance of actually knowing and liking the people you're onstage with and why you like them, what it is about them specifically that makes you giggle or wince, is invaluable.

Given the time the girls have had in the last few weeks just to rehearse with one another I don't envy the guys (aside from Chuck...poor chuck, reinforcements are coming soon!) having to come into it and find their way in this nest of women giggling, gossiping, and constantly in various states of dress (actually, maybe they won't mind so much...). It's only gonna get better from here on out and I can't wait to see where we all end up together! While there may develop some drama backstage, I'm sorry at this point to disappoint those that were expecting it by reporting what can only be described as a veritable profession of love, maybe I'll try and start some tonight. You know, to make it up to you. - Jennifer Bettancourt

Next Up at the Griffin - STAGE DOOR by Edna Ferber & George S. Kaufman

In the upcoming weeks we will be posting interviews, rehearsal photos and directors note from our upcoming production of STAGE DOOR by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. Check it out!

Brian Dennehy to host LETTERS HOME at Westport Playhouse

Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy will host Westport Country Playhouse’s presentation of “Letters Home,” a dramatic production of actual letters written by U.S. troops serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on Veteran’s Day, Wednesday, November 11. Produced by the Griffin Theatre Company of Chicago, the initial production last winter was critically acclaimed and nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for “Outstanding New Play.”

In conjunction with “Letters Home,” the Westport Arts Center (WAC) will install an exhibition in the Playhouse lobby, “Daily Exchanges: U.S. Soldiers in Iraq - The Ordinary in Images.” Curated by WAC's Director of Visual Arts Terri C. Smith, with the guidance and input of artist and "Operation Enduring Freedom" veteran Paul Kaiser, "Daily Exchanges" will feature photographs and videos depicting the everyday lives of troops serving in war.

A reception and guided tour of the art exhibit will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the performance of “Letters Home” at 7 p.m. A panel discussion will follow the play at approximately 9 p.m., moderated by Lisa Chedekel, an award-winning investigative reporter with more than 20 years experience writing for Connecticut newspapers. After the discussion, Smith and Kaiser will be available for comment on the exhibition.

“The Playhouse is pleased to present ‘Letters Home’ as a powerful reminder around Veteran’s Day of the hard work and sacrifices of our nation’s servicemembers. We are delighted to work with the Westport Arts Center to create an immersive experience in the portrayal of our troops in both drama and the visual arts,” said Angela Marroy Boerger, the Playhouse’s Education and Community Programs Coordinator.

“Letters Home” paints a powerful portrait of servicemembers’ experience in the ongoing war, and, without politicizing, gives voice to the people who are still fighting and dying far away from home. The production is inspired by the New York Times Op-Ed article, “The Things They Wrote,” and the subsequent HBO documentary, “Last Letters Home,” and additionally uses letters and correspondences from Frank Schaeffer’s books, “Voices from the Front: Letters Home from America’s Military Family,” “Faith of Our Sons” and “Keeping Faith.”

The art exhibition, “Daily Exchanges: U.S. Soldiers in Iraq - The Ordinary in Images,” is in dialogue with the Westport Country Playhouse’s “Letters Home” performance and includes artist interpretations of the daily lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq – as well as projects relating to their loved ones at home. The exhibition will also feature photographs, videos and emails from soldiers themselves. Direct documents and artworks are exhibited in tandem to provide a variety of viewpoints. By emphasizing the quotidian – the everyday routines, environments and stories of U.S. soldiers – the hope is to avoid “newsworthy” portrayals of a soldier’s life in a deliberate attempt to circumvent stereotypes of troops and war. In addition to Wednesday afternoon and evening, the art exhibition will be on display Thursday, November 12, 1 to 6 p.m. and Friday, November 13, 12 to 6 p.m.

Brian Dennehy, host and panelist, has maintained a strong presence in film, theater and television for three decades. He has twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor: honored for playing James Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's “Long Day's Journey Into Night,” and for playing Willy Loman in “Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.” The latter production was also filmed for Showtime which subsequently earned Dennehy a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award nomination. He revived the role of Willy Loman in London's West End for which he received the coveted Olivier Award for Best Actor. Dennehy is well-known to audiences worldwide for his performances in many popular films and a wide range of television projects.

Lisa Chedekel, panel moderator, is a former staff writer for The Hartford Courant, where she won a number of national awards, including a 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news which she shared with a team of reporters. As a member of The Courant’s investigative team, she co-authored a series of stories in 2006 on soldiers’ mental health that led to sweeping reforms in the military’s system of screening and treating troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The series was a finalist for the Pulitzer in investigative reporting in 2007 and won a George Polk Award for military reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize, and the Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting. Chedekel previously covered the state Capitol, education and immigration for The Courant, and was a reporter and columnist for the New Haven Register. She now writes for publications in the Boston area.

The Playhouse’s presentation of “Letters Home” is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Pitney Bowes. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for veterans.

For more information or tickets to “Letters Home,” call the Westport Country Playhouse box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit the box office at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport, or www.westportplayhouse.org. For more information about the exhibition, call the Westport Arts Center at (203) 222-7070 or visit www.westportartscenter.org.

Photos of THE HOSTAGE

Rob Fenton & Sara Sevigny

Donna McGough & Eammon McDonagh

The cast of The Hostage break into song.

Rob Fenton & Nora Fiffer.

The cast of The Hostage.

All Photos by Michael Brosilow

A Note From the Director on THE HOSTAGE

Finally, with some time on my hands, I’m able to sit down and write a bit about THE HOSTAGE process, with a little perspective and, hopefully, a little insight into the work and our intentions.

I recognize that this play can be a little challenging to grasp. Lord knows in rehearsals, moment after moment, good intuitive actors had to stop and have a discussion about “why am I doing this now?” Just to grasp the history, and political beliefs of each of these individuals takes a whole lot of charts and diagrams and trust to just get the basics of the shifting allegiances brought about by the fight for Irish independence. I was grateful every day to have both Stefka, our dramaturg, and Eamonn McDonagh (playing Pat) in the room to provide guidance and insight and a vague road map of where Behan was coming from.

Even then, the shifts remain challenging. As Eamonn kept reminding us, there is a legend where Freud said that the Irish were the only people on the planet who are completely impervious to psychoanalysis. They love to fight and argue and sing and joke and dance and will do all of them within moments of each other – two folks can be fighting fiercely for their opposing political opinion one moment, then singing raucously the same freedom fighting song the next. They are, as a people, made up of a bag of impossible contradictions – so to represent them on stage is to embrace these contradictions, and hope that people spend less time looking moment to moment, and rather attepmt to grasp the whole picture at the end. One has to check one’s linear mind at the door. You cannot solve this play (or the Irish) with your heads. You have to use your heart.

And ultimately that’s why I love this play. It is a collection of such beautiful, flawed, painfully real individuals who embrace these contradictions and embrace the fullness of life in every moment. They are the people that were left behind, the fringe – none of these people will be important to the course of Irish history, or the movement – they aren’t particularly gifted poets – they are the everyday people of Ireland, fighting for their beliefs, or the next pint of Guiness, or the two pounds for the rent. But, despite their ordinariness, they fight for life with ferocity and a fullness of spirit of the greatest of Irish heroes.

No one feels that their life is unimportant. Behan wrote this for the people he knew from the neighborhood, those nameless, faceless people who he saw every day growing up in Dublin’s Fringe. We try to honor those people with this production.

Similarly, Behan looks at the cost of war – and that the people who pay the price aren’t the high up decision makers, not the generals making the plans, but the every day. As Meg says, “Old women and mother’s with their infants” – or in Leslie’s case – a 19 year old Cockney boy without a family, who has no real prospects and nothing much to look forward to. But Behan knows that, to him, he’s just as important as any Duke or Lord of the manor.

For the tragedy of the play to come from a chaotic misunderstanding is a strong comment on the absurdity of a war effort. Talk to some of our returning soldiers even now – the mission may be clear, but anytime you try to lay a black and white morality over the intricate grayness of our human existence, you are going to have trouble reconciling the differences. Our lives are not neatly ordered and regimented in sharp clear ideology. This play celebrates those contradictions and asks us to recognize that THAT is what makes us human, and brings us together, and that life must be cherished above all things.

Yes, the play is messy. It’s too much. It shifts to quickly. Sometimes it’s confusing and, when you think about it, it doesn’t really make sense. But that is so often my experience of life as well. And I believe that, if you come to this play with your heart, instead of your head, you’ll find a richness of experience that feels to me remarkably human.

I love this play. I hope you do to.

Jb