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Dramaturgy and the American Citizen

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Dramaturgy and the American Citizen Northeastern University Addressing the Tragic Flaw: Dramaturgy and the American Citizen An Honors Thesis Submitted to Dr. Nancy Kindelan By Heidi R. Nelson April 2006 Northeastern University Addressing the Tragic Flaw: Dramaturgy and the American Citizen An Honors Thesis Submitted to Dr. Nancy Kindelan By Heidi R. Nelson April 2006 Contents Preface 4 Chapter One: Introduction 5 Chapter Two: Theatre Studies and American Citizenship 9 Chapter Three: Dramaturgy and Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge 32 Chapter Four: Conclusion 55 Appendices Appendix A: Sample of Abbreviated Actor Casebook: Marco 62 Appendix B: From Eddie’s Casebook: Excerpt from “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman 93 Appendix C: Cast Handout: “Sicilian Peasant Culture” 95 Appendix D: Photograph: “Light and Shadow Down Under the Manhattan Bridge” 98 Appendix E: Photograph: Set Model by Justin Townsend 100 Selected Bibliography 102 Preface Both serving as student dramaturg for the Northeastern University Theatre Department’s production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge (October 12-15 and 19-22, 2005) and completing this honors thesis have been life-changing experiences for me. Working on the play fed my passion to pursue production dramaturgy as a profession, while working on this thesis gave birth to questions and ideas that I will surely continue to explore throughout my life. Because this project has meant so much to me on a personal level, those who have offered me their guidance and support deserve my deepest gratitude. I owe many thanks to the faculty, staff, and students of the Northeastern University Theatre Department, as well as to Faith Crisley and the staff of the Honors Program, for their practical and moral support. I also wish to thank Scott Edmiston, Ryan McKittrick, and Craig Watson, whom I interviewed as part of my research. The cast, designers, and crew of A View from the Bridge merit my thanks for their enthusiastic work and their encouragement. I owe immeasurable gratitude to Dr. Nancy Kindelan, my mentor, for her profound guidance. Lastly, I extend my deepest thanks to my parents, Dian Nelson and Daniel Nelson, my brother, Hans Nelson, and members of my extended family for their endless love and support. 4 Chapter One Introduction In his autobiography Timebends: A Life (1987), Arthur Miller (1915-2005) wonders “how many times a country [can] be disowned by a vital and intelligent sector of its youth before something [breaks], something deep inside its structure that [can] never be repaired again…how many times before memory catches up with the latest swelling of the ideal and squashes it with cynicism before it can mature?”1 My eyes widened as I read these words. I reread the paragraph, my mouth falling open, as Miller’s musings reverberated in my mind. I paused, staring at the page, recognizing with surprise and some sadness that Miller had somehow foreseen the tragedy of my own generation’s apathy. Various studies on voter participation and civic engagement show an increasing political indifference among generations X and Y (defined in Chapter Two: Theatre Studies and American Citizenship). In Making Good Citizens (2001), William Damon discusses how “the civil disaffection felt by many of our young resembles their moral confusion in many ways: it has led to a similar sense of indirection—indeed, paralysis— 1 Arthur Miller, Timebends: a Life (New York: Penguin Books, 1995), 102. and it feeds on the same general sense of skepticism and uncertainty.”2 Educators, political scholars, and even everyday citizens have been moved to research this apparent “civil disaffection” and to address the “urgent problem of fostering civil identity among young people growing up in a time of skepticism about public life and public service.”3 The purpose of this research paper is to investigate how theatre practitioners can help address this problem as well. Theatre has a rich history of functioning as a social agent, from ancient Greek festivals attended by the entire polis, to modern tragedies, composed by Arthur Miller—one of America’s greatest writers. Unfortunately, as more and more Americans are inclined to pay better attention to their televisions than to events at the local playhouse, today’s theatre practitioners are faced with two major challenges: the first being how to draw audiences to the theatre in the first place; the second being how to provide those audiences with theatre experiences that will meet their needs as human beings and as members of a common society. In American theatre these challenges are increasingly being addressed through a process called dramaturgy. Dramaturgs are hired by theatre companies to help decide which plays are appropriate for their communities, to assist their directors, designers, and actors in keeping productions true to the playwrights’ ideas, and to research the backgrounds of the plays and provide audiences with whatever information will best help them understand and connect to the plays on psychological, historical, and sociological levels. Theatrical scholar and critic, Martin Esslin (1918-2002) emphasized that “the dramaturg must be a highly knowledgeable individual, widely read and cultured, familiar with the demography, sociology, and psychology of his environment. But, above all, he 2 Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti, eds., Making Good Citizens: Education and Civil Society (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 133. 3 Ravitch and Viteritti, 133. 6 or she must be a person of authority, able to command the respect of writers and directors.”4 My experience as dramaturg of the Northeastern University Theatre Department’s production of A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller not only helped me learn about the practical tasks of production dramaturgy, but also showed me how dramaturgy amplifies the impact a play can have on its audience members. The work I did on the production impelled me to explore how dramaturgy can be used to create plays that will encourage good citizenship in college-age Americans. After all, if one of the major problems my generation faces is their own political indifference, why not use theatre, and college theatre in particular, as an opportunity to instigate student thought and dialogue about our predicament. In examining ways in which dramaturgy can be used to create theatre that encourages good citizenship, my research has dealt with: the meaning and nature of American citizenship, the political indifference of the younger generations of Americans, theories on civic education, theatre’s relationship to citizenship in history and in contemporary society, and how theatre studies, especially dramaturgy, can promote good citizenship. Investigating the role of dramaturgy in American theatre also led me to question how dramaturgs gauge their level of success at communicating ideas to their audiences; thus, I conducted interviews with three professional dramaturgs in the region who provided me with profound insights on the role of dramaturgy and of theatre as a whole in our society. 4 Susan Jones, ed, Dramaturgy in American Theater: A Source Book (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1997), 30. 7 My research, combined with the incredible experience of dramaturging A View from the Bridge (Fall Semester 2005), has reinforced my beliefs that live theatre is a fantastic medium for addressing the social and political concerns of Americans. I am additionally determined that dramaturgical work provides the key to successfully generating civic reflection and discussion in audiences of Generation Y college students. This thesis paper therefore details both my research on “Theatre Studies and American Citizenship” and my personal experiences with “Dramaturgy and Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge,” as well as some concluding thoughts on my future work in theatre. 8 Chapter Two Theatre Studies and American Citizenship During the rich history of theatre across the world, theatrical performances have often been used to instigate civic dialogue and to encourage social action. From Sophocles (circa 497-406 BCE) in ancient Greece to Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) in war-torn Germany to Arthur Miller in 1950s America, playwrights throughout time have written dramas that examine the causes of social ills and explore the possibilities for addressing them. Through public performances of their plays, such theatre practitioners also gave voice to individuals and groups within their communities that otherwise would not have been heard by the rest of society. This chapter discusses the democratic origins of theatre in ancient Greece, the differences between democratic citizenship in ancient Greece and in America, the way twentieth-century American theatre has dealt with (or ignored) social ideas, the efficacy of citizenship education in America, and how theatre studies can be an effective means to educate American youth about citizenship and democratic participation. Theatre’s Relationship to Citizenship “Theater can function as a tool for social change. But its interaction with and effect on social change is, in the U.S. at least, rarely a conscious one. That’s part of the problem.” 1 —Doug Paterson Ancient Greek Theatre: A Social Corrective In its most ancient form, theatre was aimed at improving democracy. According to Oscar G. Brockett’s History of the Theatre, the “connection between theatre and state is usually said to have begun in 534 BCE, at which time Athens apparently instituted a contest for the best tragedy presented at the City Dionysia, a major religious festival.”2 The occurrences of a tragic play are designed to arouse the audience’s pity for the tragic hero and fear of his tragic end, producing a purgation (catharsis) of these strong emotions, so that the members of the polis could experience the tragic consequences of human folly through live theatre, reflect rationally upon their own flaws and actions, and take care to avoid a tragic fate in their own lives and in the city-state as a whole.
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