Wearing multiple hats can cause an irritated scalp

Stanislavsky’s AN ACTOR PREPARES

Adapted by Mickle Maher

University of Chicago Theatre and Performance Studies Program

Theatre East, Logan Center for the Arts

Directed by Devon de Mayo

Scenic AND Lighting Design by Yours Truly

Costume Design by Nathan Rohr

Sound Design/Composition by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen

THE STORY

Constantin Stanislavsky was a great acting instructor in Moscow in the early days of the 20^th century, made famous for creating a system of acting that brought about a revolution of a more naturalistic style. This was manifested in his great book, AN ACTOR PREPARES, which virtually every actor reads at some point in his/her training. His personal life was fraught with trying to stay on the ‘good side’ of Stalin and the rise of Communism in his homeland.

Our play is, in essence an adaptation of the book, which takes the form of a journal of a young actor beginning his formal training. All of the characters have aspects of Stanislavsky’s personality in them, making it somewhat strangely autobiographical.

In it, the young student KOSTYA begins exploring the different aspects of how to “live through a role” the central conceit of Stanislavsky’s “System”. At the beginning of the play, Stanislavsky talks to the audience, about how he wants to present each chapter to them, but is interrupted by another actor dressed identically, who identifies himself as Stanislavsky… These two are joining by a third, fourth, all the way up to eight

OUR PRODUCTION

Not sure how to begin writing about this one… it’s special on many fronts.

Firstly it is the inaugural production in the brand spankin’ new Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts here at University of Chicago.  So… we moved into the building a mere 4 weeks before we went into tech, and were constantly challenged by the fact the contractors were (and even now AFTER the show) continuing the work to finish the building and the full functionality of all its’ spaces. In the coming couple of weeks I’ll write a post about the building itself, as its’ fascinating on many levels and having been party to the creative process that birthed the building itself, I have a soft spot for this place now. I think I always will, but more on that later, back to the show….

Secondly, this was the first piece that was truly commissioned by the academic program here. And the process was LONG and fascinating. Mickle Maher, the writer/adapter is known about Chicago for his challenging, erudite, quirky and endlessly inventive creative works… whether juxtaposing Camus’ The Stranger with the Bush/Kerry debates from ’04 in THE STRANGERER, to the bizarre and fascinating opera HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS in which Beethoven and Hugo’s Hunchback try to create a sound effect for Chekov’s CHERRY ORCHARD… You can’t argue with the power of intellect here.  You CAN argue with the fact that the design process had to take a backseat to a text that was undergoing radical revisions up until first rehearsal. And even beyond. So… you do it… try designing set and lights for a show that is in flux, in a building and space that’s also in flux as to its’ availability, and it’s physical preparedness for a show. Let’s just say I have a few new gray hairs following this project…. Having said that, I’m really quite proud with how it turned out. The actors were STUNNING, , the arc of Stanislavski’s journey of continuous re-self-discovery (literally) became truly alive onstage, in a way that was hard to comprehend on the page. I have to give huge kudos to Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, the composers/sound designers on the show, as well as the director, Devon, for sculpting the play with sound, and underscoring, in a way that I didn’t think was truly possible. Exacting selections of Shostakovich and newly composed pieces dovetailed with the emotional journey of facing the horrors of Communism on the psyche of a consummate artist of the human.

Marya's apartment

the arrival of Stanislavski-5, aka Meyerhold

The killing of Stan's nephew, Mika (Stanislavski-6)

As to my contribution… I took on two separate areas this time around, and I’m both glad that I did, and more-than-mildly exhausted from the effort. The set consisted of a series of draperies in the spirit of an old slightly-unused theatre (the play is nominally set in the theatre that Stan erected in his residence, called Onegin Hall. It’s where he taught students, rehearsed and performed many great works), these curtains tabbed up, slid on slider tracks, and generally whizzed around the space to sculpt the individual moments of the play. Upstage was a set of old-forgotten-looking theatrical walls (called ‘flats’ in the biz), scattered about, that without moving, were transformed by light and usage into the many nominal locations that Stan’s mind moved to in process of embodying the story of Kostya and his mates and their teacher Tortsov.

As a scenic designer, I’m so very used, in tech, to be sitting there… paying attention, ready to help, but generally sitting on my @ss, as I can’t actually DO much during tech aside from take notes on things that need to be altered, painted, reworked in some way…. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog… I’m often bored to near tears during tech, because there isn’t much for a scenic designer to do aside from be supportive….and surf the web.

BUT THIS TIME… I was the one trying to figure out what lights were where, and trying to decide in the moment, how to sculpt the visual space with light to help support the tone of the differing moments in the story. I had to be ON, for two straight days during tech, and I have to say, I found myself a little lacking. Those mental muscles are enough out of shape that I really ought to reengage with lighting or sound in the future, and flex them. I created a set of “basic looks”, a warm inviting  world whenever we were in the classroom, something bluer/colder for whenever MEYERHOLD came into the storytelling frame, to augment the sense of doom that really followed Meyerhold during Stanislavskis’ writing of  AN ACTOR PREPARES.

Beyond that, I worked some lighting textures (called gobos) into the lighting palette, in order to soften the harsh lines of all the vertical curtains that dominated the set. And the upstage I used a couple Constructivist-style gobos to stand in for Stalin and the politics of the world (Constructivism being a visual art movement popularized in the 1910s/1920s in Russia that used lots of geometric shapes to create robot-esque worlds that pointed to man’s futility in a machine-like society. This movement softened somewhat (or was co-opted) into the more fluid Art Deco Movement of the following years.

note the thread-like patterns at the bottom, and the red abstract shapes behind them.

But my favorite gobo-set was a series of silky languorous clouds (that we colored yellow) that streaked diagonally across the upstage flats. I LOVED the shadows that they created, especially when the muslin walls were backlit so that you could see the STRUCTURE of the theatrical flats. Ultimately I didn’t’ get to use them as much as I would have liked, but they gave an eerie and unsettling tone to the scene near the end where Stanislavski is forced to accept (and view, if only in his head) Meyerhold’s execution.

Ultimately, I have to admit that I was pleased with how the show visually turned out, and even with my own misgivings about my abilities as a lighting designer, I feel confident in saying that I supported the story, and that it looked pretty damned nice… if I do say so myself…. But now… I need some rest….

Meyerhold's Execution