Followers and Dogs and Wolves, Oh My!

I'm still getting the hang of blogging (gosh, I sound like a dinosaur here, I swear I'm 23 though) and I hope you enjoyed my most recent post. I am enjoying blogging, and Blogger has some features that I am thoroughly enjoying.


For example, Audience. According to this feature, The Daily Dramaturg has been viewed 100 times since its inception, in the USA, UK, Israel, Australia, India, Ireland, Greece, Canada, Belgium, South Africa, Puerto Rico (part of the USA, but that's another blog), and oddly, someone in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Most of my non-American viewers I know via real life, Facebook, or Bookcrossing, so thanks for increasing the traffic and making me feel popular. I don't know if the viewing from Saint Vincent was a fluke or a mistake, but if you're reading this from the nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as they say in your country...hello! 

Then, Followers. I know I've only been live for a week, but to have five followers, even if they are my friends from Bookcrossing, isn't lame, so if you're reading, a big dramaturgical hello to Alexa, Nancy, Lilithcat, starbytes, and Mozette! Don't go away, I swear I'll do something fun and interesting! 

And now, to the plugging section of the blog: 

My lovely friend and confidante Anne Hamilton of Hamilton Dramaturgy (contact her for a script consultation and tell her you love the Daily Dramaturg!) is also a go-to gal for hot new play happenings. We're all artists and out to lend a hand, so if you live in the NYC area, be sure to check out this new play Dog and Wolf by Catherine Filloux, because any friend of Anne's is a friend of mine, as cliche as that sounds. I'll flog myself after I blog myself, but here are the details: 

When Jasmina, a political refugee seeking asylum in the U.S., suddenly disappears, her lawyer must track her down. Who is the dog? Who is the wolf? A psychological and political play of intrigue, identity and pursuit. The full schedule can be found below. The readings run one hour, are followed by discussion, and everything is free. These presentations are part of an innovative effort by the playwright, to bring a theater experience to areas where theatergoing isn't necessarily part of the everyday culture, and to focus on the neighborhood's feelings and concerns surrounding issues raised in the play. Childcare and refreshments will be provided at some venues. The play is directed by Jean Randich and performed by a company of actors including: Snezana Bogdanovic, Nadia Bowers, Aysan Celik, Lynn Cohen, John Daggett, Daniela Dakic, Elizabeth Hess and Antoinette LaVecchia. Production manager: Sarah E. Peterson and stage manager: Jes Levine. Dog and Wolf was produced earlier this year in a sold-out run at 59E59 Theaters in NYC. The first community reading was at Still Waters in a Storm in Brooklyn this summer. Please feel free to request a copy of the script or call/email with any questions. 

November 5, 2010, 6:30-8:30 PM 

St. Rita’s Refugee Center, 2342 Andrews Ave # 1, Bronx, NY 10468 

https://a069-webapps3.nyc.gov/dsial/Agency_Detail.aspx?id=272

November 9, 2010, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM 

Culturehub, in association with Center for Justice and Reconciliation, Sarajevo
47 Great Jones St. 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10012
http://www.culturehub.org/home 

http://www.cjr.ba/en/

November 12, 2010, 1:00-3:00 PM 

Independence Care System New York, in association with the NYC-Southern NY Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society & Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts 25 Elm Place, 5th Floor (between Livingston Street and Fulton Mall) Brooklyn, NY 11201

http://www.icsny.org/building-a-community/events/dog-and-wolf/

November 14, 2010, 2:00-4:00 PM
YM & YWHA of Washington Heights-Inwood with People’s Theatre Project
54 Nagle Avenue, New York, NY 10040
http://www.peoplestheatreproject.org/Peoples_Theatre_Project/Dog_and_Wolf_Series.html

November 16, 2010, 7:00-9:00 PM
Hour Children @ Immaculate Conception School
179-14 Dalny Road, Jamaica, NY 11432
http://www.hourchildren.org/index.php

November 18, 2010, 2:00-4:00 PM
Isabella Geriatric Center with People’s Theatre Project
525 Audubon Avenue, New York, NY 10040
http://www.peoplestheatreproject.org/Peoples_Theatre_Project/Dog_and_Wolf_Series.html

December 1, 2010, 6:00-8:00 PM
Anne Frank Center, 38 Crosby Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013
http://www.annefrank.com/ 

It looks interesting and has a pretty cool cast, so if you're in NYC, check it out, and if you feel compelled to jot down some notes, send them along to the Daily Dramaturg! Anything (dramaturgical) goes here, and reviews of new plays are certainly dramaturgical and generally make people feel good about what they've spent so much time working on. 

And stay tuned for some more goodness, as my thoughts on Gillian are far from over and I'm already exploring my next play! 

The Daily Dramaturg

To Gillian on her 37th Birthday (or from DD's 23rd)

Hey folks, it’s your favorite daily dramaturg here, and today’s topic is Michael Brady's To Gillian on her 37^th Birthday.

I’ve always done things my own way, doing trial-and-error until I find a good, efficient formula for communicating, and this blog will be no different. I thought and thought (and thought, which is why this posting is so late!) about how best to start each play’s entry, and those thoughts brought me back to my days as a teaching assistant for an intro to theater class at my alma mater. What I found there (and coincidentally, back when I was in high school) was that there was always one girl or boy whose level of interest and attention span combined equaled that of a fruit fly on speed, so I’ll start there with each play before going up to a philosophical level and exploring more of the nuances and production histories of each play. The folks to whom I refer in the previous sentence are generally not uneducated, just have alternate interests and usually little patience, along with an affinity for Orbit. So, without further ado, here are the answers to the “Gum Snappin’ Questions."

So like, what’s the play about? And why does it have such a long name?

To Gillian on her 37^th Birthday, by Michael Brady, centers around ex-professor David, and how he deals with mourning the death of his wife Gillian (hence the title) two years prior. The play opens with David, his teenage daughter Rachel, and her friend Cindy (who is also David’s running companion) stargazing on a New England beach in August during a meteor shower, when the conversation turns to Gillian, David’s late wife and Rachel’s mother,  focusing on the disappearance from the house of Gillian’s favorite hat. Enter Esther, David’s sister-in-law, and her husband Paul, who bring former student Kevin (who is a woman, to clarify), a recent divorcee and one of David’s former students and running companion to the same beach with hopes of David striking a match with her. As Esther angrily confronts David about getting out of his slump and taking better care of Rachel , or alternatively, letting her live with Esther and Paul, Kevin and Rachel bond while bicycling together. That night, on the eve of what would’ve been her 37^th birthday, the ghost of Gillian appears to David on the beach, and they relive some of the happier times they had together, as Rachel observes from afar. It is here we learn that the foolhardy, devil-may-care Gillian died on a family sailboat outing due to a fall from the top of the mast to the deck of the ship. The next day (Gillian’s birthday), Rachel confides in Kevin her true feelings about Gillian, who was a distant mother but devoted anthropologist; Esther further chides a now more-somber-than-ever David about getting over his wife, who is also her sister; and Kevin reveals that although quite young, she is not only a recovered divorcee but mother to a young daughter. Rachel subsequently reveals some details of her mother’s death and her lack of compassion for her, as well as the previously lost hat, which she most likely planned to abandon but now keeps. Then, Kevin returns to the house, where she presents her story to the still-mourning David and asks point-blank about what really happened to Gillian. In the next scene, Gillian returns to “share” in Esther’s retelling of a childhood story, and bluntly reveals her unwillingness to be a mother to Rachel, leading into David and Gillian reenacting Gillian’s death and the circumstances surrounding it. At this point, David and Rachel’s relationship begins to heal, as David’s newfound knowledge of the real Gillian hits him; he talks about moving on, looking into taking a professorship talked about by Paul, and hinting at a possible romantic future with Kevin. Rachel reveals that she had Gillian’s hat the whole time, and in a gesture of closure, David puts it on Rachel’s head as they leave the beach together – and leave Gillian behind – for the last time.

So like, what’s the point of all this?

In a nutshell, it’s a journey through grief to realization, with some elements of fantasy thrown in.

So like, who are the characters? Who’s the protagonist? Who’s the antagonist?

There are seven characters – five female and two male. Let’s start with biggies and work our way down.

• DAVID is a university professor in his 50s. It is not revealed what he teaches; ostensibly, it is astronomy, judging from his knowledge about the subject. He is the protagonist, as the play follows his journey and he’s the one to whom Gillian appears for her moonlit beach visits. He starts off as somewhat out-of-touch, oblivious to his daughter’s desire to be close to him and to Cindy’s flirtatious advances. He is revealed to have a preexisting relationship with Kevin, the woman his sister-in-law sets him up with.  He didn’t come off as particularly sympathetic up until the end, when it’s clear that he’s put Gillian and his time with her into perspective.

• RACHEL is David’s 16 year old daughter. She is best characterized as being motherly – namely, mothering her own father by keeping tabs on his health and seemingly having mothered herself, due to her tense relationship with her own mother. A supporting character to the protagonist, is attracted to Kevin’s breezy and laid-back nature, and drawn to her because she is the only other member of the party without a deep commitment to the Gillian/David relationship and they bond over that. Fiercely independent, she resists her aunt Esther. Rachel was one of my favorite characters; she is strong-willed and seems to have a good grip on reality throughout the play.

• CINDY is 16 years old and a friend of Rachel. I found it unclear as to why she is there, other than being somewhat of a young “jailbait” love interest of David and a bit of amusement to Paul. Though she’s said to be “Rachel’s friend,” she and Rachel seem to have little in common. She is described as being in shape, seeing as she is David’s “running companion.” It never seems evident that David and Cindy’s flirtation will result in any sort of relationship between them due to their stark age and maturity difference. Overall, she’s a secondary character, somewhat of a wild card.

• KEVIN is a recent divorcee and one of David’s former university students. Much like Cindy, Kevin was at one point David’s “running companion.” Unlike Cindy, Kevin is closer in age to David and at a point in her life where a relationship with a man like David seems possible. I found her to be a bit demanding, as, like Cindy, she’s not a blood relative, but it was obvious that David and Kevin still have some flames burning from their university days. Nonetheless, Kevin, like Cindy, would be a wild card, leaning to protagonist supporter.

• ESTHER is Gillian’s thirty-something sister, which also makes her sister-in-law to David. Although she’s not evil, she could be considered an antagonist by virtue of her pretty constant antagonistic behavior towards David. She is nothing but pushy in her speeches to David, haranguing him to move on and stop feeling sorry for himself, and that Gillian was her sister before she was David’s wife, and she deserves some ownership over Gillian’s memory. She doesn’t really get along with anyone other than her own husband.

• PAUL is Esther’s husband, also in his 30s and a friend and colleague of David. He doesn’t serve much purpose to the main plot but his flirtation with Cindy is evident and significant. He reeks of secondary character.

• GILLIAN is a classic plot point character, if there ever was one. Until her appearance at the end of act one, she is painted as youthful, angelic, and David’s paragon of love. When she appears, this image starts to unravel. She’s a lot more of a risk taker and a free spirit than you would’ve believed from David’s thoughts of her, and the reenactment of her death and her speech about her hatred towards motherhood is about as blunt as they come. Even though she’s a ghost, I found her livelier than the living characters. Even through her seeming hatred of wifehood and motherhood, it’s hard not to appreciate her honest nature. And any ghost that picks a New England beach as her haunt is okay by me.

Okay, whatever. So, like, what’s going to be on the test?

What? Oh, you mean, some of the things worth remembering. Here’s a rundown of the motifs and themes (to be discussed in a future post)

•  Stargazing and star charts. This is what unites Rachel and David and keeps their relationship alive, especially mentions of who is the “star chart keeper.”
• The meteor shower. A rare event that symbolizes the rarity of true love.
• Gillian’s hat. A huge point of contention when it goes missing. To David, it’s all that remains of his wife. To Rachel, it’s the lack of Gillian’s influence on her life. Chew on that one.
• David’s potassium pills. Indicator of David’s age, mental state, and self-preservation (or lack thereof.)
• Orangutans. Gillian studied them, and she and David talk about them a lot, specifically, their mating rituals.
• The beach/water. It’s where the play takes place, where Gillian died, and where her ghost ultimately appears.

I’m not citing anything here since this entry is my own opinions, thoughts, and feelings, but rest assured, entries that are anything other than basic shall be cited accordingly.

Though it’s a pretty straightforward piece, nonetheless, I’ve got more thoughts and things and this is only the first post about the play – I’ve probably got another one or two in me.

So here it was, the initial dramaturgy-related entry. Hit me up with questions, feedback, and if you live in coastal New England, any Gillian sightings. She’s the ghost WITHOUT the hat.

Dramaturgically yours,

The Daily Dramaturg.

PS: Here’s a quote that stuck out to me from Act I, Scene I:

“DAVID: There are planets up there! New worlds springing to life, even as we speak. Think about that, just for a minute. It’s all happening again, the same glorious business. Another Jupiter, a new Saturn with her rings of crystal and ice. And it has always been right in front of us, but we couldn’t see. We are here to create new life! That is the message of Vega. But we forget. We lack vision […] Hold on to the eternals! Watch out for all this feeling business. You and me and what are you feeling, and I’m feeling and blah, blah, blah. Look to that which endures. The sea, the sky, the stars, memory, and the human heart. These are the eternals…”

Welcome to the Daily Dramaturg!

Welcome, welcome, one and all, to a brand new blog on the fantastic and wonderful thing that is dramaturgy.

At this point, you are probably scratching your head, so let me give you a little more info.

What is dramaturgy, you may ask?

Well...the jury's still out on that one, but hopefully through this blog you'll find out a bit more about what it is and how it works, and hey, maybe it'll even pique your interest.

To me, dramaturgy is the passion behind the entire concept of theatre, connecting director, actor, playwright, and audience in asking questions, getting answers (or not), and on the whole, enriching the lives and world views of those who go to the theater, creating a more unified experience. ::cue "Circle of Life" from The Lion King::

As for me? I'm the Daily Dramaturg, your ticket, vehicle, and ride through this mysterious and strange world behind the smoke and mirrors, a world that stretches beyond the boundaries of time, space, and human thought itself, from the spark of an artist's inspiration, to the brain, through the mouth, pen, and keyboard of the dramatist, onto a page, onto a stage.

Why blog about dramaturgy? Why now?

Because I can, and today is my birthday, and I decided that I should start a blog today. What better way to celebrate than think about something that I love?

What will you be seeing in this blog?

Writing, obviously. Words. Pictures. Links. Quotes. Videos. Actually...I haven't really decided quite where I'm going to go. I just figured I'd start somewhere, with something. One thing, though - I'm not going to be using this space as my personal venting board or anything of the sort; this is going to be a blog about dramaturgy and theater. I am hoping to discuss and define what exactly dramaturgy is and how it fits into the wider spectrum of theater. As a fervent play reader, I also plan on giving you some insight into what play I'm reading and how I'm seeing it, what questions I have and what answers I can Nancy Drew, as well as creating a "clearing house" of information that helped me understand the particular play better, and links and things that might be of interest to you. Of course - if it isn't of interest to you, then you wouldn't have read until here, would you have?

Well, I'm already getting ahead of myself. But I plan to get off to a rock-n-roll start later this evening by blogging about the play I'm reading today, To Gillian on her 37th Birthday by Michael Brady. I picked it because it has the word "birthday" in it, and today is mine.

I hope that I can update this blog with some degree of regularity and it encourages me to keep reading, writing, and researching - even if nobody reads it, I guess it doesn't matter to me.

Well, Daily Dramaturg, then what does matter?

If I knew the answer to that...well, then there would probably be no reason for the song "Bohemian Rhapsody" to exist. And there most certainly is, given that it is one of Freddie Mercury's greatest contributions to the world and I am in no position to slam Queen.

...And here we are, again, off on another tangent. Such is dramaturgy!

In conclusion to this entry that ended up being much longer than I initially thought, I'll end by saying a great big "happy birthday!" to me, and big hugs to all those out there who are drawn in to the magic of theatre as much as I am. See ya soon.

Until further notice,

the Daily Dramaturg.