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Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Theses Theses and Dissertations 8-1-2018 THE DEVELOPMENT OF 800 DAYS OF SOLITUDE: A CONJURING: A PLAYWRITING THESIS David Dudley Southern Illinois University Carbondale, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses Recommended Citation Dudley, David, "THE DEVELOPMENT OF 800 DAYS OF SOLITUDE: A CONJURING: A PLAYWRITING THESIS" (2018). Theses. 2412. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/2412 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DEVELOPMENT OF 800 DAYS OF SOLITUDE: A CONJURING: A PLAYWRITING THESIS by David Dudley B.F.A., DePaul University, 2013 M.F.A., Southern Illinois University, 2018 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Playwriting Department of Theater in the Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale May 2018 THESIS APPROVAL THE DEVELOPMENT OF 800 DAYS OF SOLITUDE: A CONJURING: A PLAYWRITING THESIS By David Dudley A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts in the field of Playwriting Approved by: Jacob Juntunen, Chair Segun Ojewuyi Mark Varns Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale May 8, 2018 AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF David Dudley, for the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Theater/ Playwriting, presented on April 4, 2018, at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. TITLE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF 800 DAYS OF SOLITUDE: A CONJURING: A PLAYWRITING THESIS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jacob Juntunen This thesis document is a presentation of the process and production of my play, 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, which was presented in the Moe Theater Lab March 22 through 25 2018. This play endeavored to tell the story of a young man who was wrongfully imprisoned, and then forced into solitary confinement. Chapter 1 contains a detailed account of the pre-writing process, including early inspirations, impressions of what the play might be, and character bios. Chapter 2 is a narrative account of the writing of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, along with key inspirations and how I used them to shape the text. Chapter 3 recounts the pre-production process, including production meetings with the director and design team, the process of auditions, and rehearsals. Chapter 4 discusses the production of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring. Chapter 5 is the Conclusion, wherein I reflect on my time before SIU, as well as my time here. I then revisit my goals and weigh in on whether I achieved them. Then I speculate on what the future may bring. This is followed by the Works Cited. Appendix A contains the production script of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, followed by a gloss of terms. Appendix B contains an early draft of 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring. i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………….i CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1 – Pre-Writing ………………………...…………………………….............1 CHAPTER 2 – Writing ..…………………………………………………………...........12 CHAPTER 3 – Pre-production ….……………………………………………................22 CHAPTER 4 – Production …………………………………………………………........40 CHAPTER 5 – Conclusion ……………………………….…………………..................50 WORKS CITED ………………………………………………………………………………...62 APPENDICES Appendix A: Production Script and Gloss ………………………………………………64 Appendix B: Early Draft ...……………………………………………………………..107 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………176 ii 1 CHAPTER 1 PRE-WRITING The idea for this play came to me as I read about Kalief Browder – specifically, the rage I felt at the injustices this young man suffered while in custody of the purveyors of justice. The idea that an endless chain of loopholes created the conditions in which a teenager languished for three years on Rikers Island, 800 days of which were spent in solitary confinement awaiting trial for a misdemeanor, is incomprehensible. Having spent time in juvenile, I am painfully aware of the “community” in which Browder found himself, and the difficulties he faced while adapting to its rules. These rules are enforced by two separate groups: the guards, and the inmates. The guards set extremely rigid limits on what an inmate can and can’t do, and they mercilessly enforce those rules with harsh penalties. Likewise, Browder’s fellow inmates enforced their own rules (don’t sit on the bench in front of the TV, face the wall while in the shower, get our permission before using the phones, etc.). Thus, it should be common sense that this is no place for a young man to find his way in the world – i.e., how to become an integral member of the community, how to make positive contributions to society as well as one’s family, how to behave appropriately in various settings. In short, the young men and women who are incarcerated have a much rougher time adjusting to society than their free peers. And yet these incarcerated young people are already struggling to adapt to society and its rules. So, why lock them up in the first place, when more effective solutions must exist? Instead, through the abuse by people who wield an arbitrary power, those like Browder are never given the space and the support they require to become anything other than what their 2 oppressors wish them to become. Not only is this oppression destructive for the individual, but it’s counterproductive for society as well: It creates throngs of ill-adjusted young people who become threats to themselves as well as others. As numerous studies, including the Stanford Prison Experiment1, show, prison brings out the worst in us. And, in extreme cases, such as Browder’s, we may never be able to get back to our better selves. Goals Should we, as theatre artists, place ourselves in the roles of traditionally oppressed peoples? My process in writing this play will experiment with strategies for liberating performers from this troubling dichotomy, opening possibilities for low-/ no-budget productions, and remaining true to the play’s content. In doing so, my goals at the time I began are as follows: 1) To create a piece of theatre that dispenses with the protagonist (and thus a performer assuming they are “better” than their fellow performers due to the status of the lead), thereby creating a democratic mode of theatre, without sacrificing forward motion in the narrative. 2) To confront the audience with the story of a prisoner in order to compel them to act, or at least think, on the crimes committed by the criminal justice system. On Style Playwrights are often faced with impossible decisions regarding setting and casting. University productions especially struggle to find age-appropriate material, and budgets for building big, extravagant sets are lacking. Do we do anyone a service when we attempt to convince an audience of educated people that the 21-year-old junior playing King Lear is really in his 60s? No, we do not. We are building a wall between performers and audience. We are 1 The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted at Stanford University, by Professor Philip Zombardo. It was meant to show the effects of perceived power when students were separated into two groups: prisoners and guards. As it happened, the guards became masochistic, while the prisoners lost all hope. ( http://www.prisonexp.org/ ) 3 testing their credulity in a negative way, seeking their acceptance for something unnecessary. Then, when a production entity builds an expensive set, is it really serving the drama (drama being what people do with, to, and for people), or does it simply distract from the drama? Thus, Brecht’s approach to theatre, as described in the Street Scene, wherein performers describe actions and events, is not only the most efficient means to present such material, but it is also the most just. To go a step further, in my own play, 800 Days of Solitude: A Conjuring, I do not ask any actor to portray the person upon whom the play is based. Rather, I allow the ensemble to paint a portrait of this character through their words. One of my goals, as stated above, was to move through time in a non-linear fashion. If the play concludes with the protagonist’s death, it will likely give audiences the wrong impression: He’s dead, so we can move on with our lives. Instead, I wanted to place his death somewhere nearer to the center of the play, so that we can end on a high note (perhaps when his journals are released, and thus the conditions in which he lived, and the abominations of justice that occurred are brought to light). Thus, I created monologues that may stand alone, so that I can then shift them about to find the order that best revealed the varying levels of complexity of this story. I also wanted to play with the way the story is presented to the audience. I considered, for instance, not assigning lines to specific actors, but instead, writing scenes that are delivered directly to the audience, incorporating audience participation, and trying to find a way to confront the audience in a more direct way, à la Brecht, Piscator, The Living Theatre, and Bread & Puppet Theater Company. 4 Genre The piece should be a tragedy, wherein the character based upon Browder, from hereon called Troy, will be given the chance to admit his guilt, and thus be released from juvenile. Yet he can’t bring himself to do this, because, in his mind, he is innocent. I don’t believe I should show him to be innocent in the play. Perhaps I should suggest this while allowing this aspect to be cloaked in ambiguity. As mentioned, my primary challenge would be finding a way to present this tragedy that doesn’t end on a note of finality.

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