A EXPERIMET IN O EN THEATRE THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTEh OF ARTS By Mildred A. Peveto, B. A. Denton, Texas August, 1972 ?evetb, Mildred A., A.n Experiment in Open Theatre. Master of Arts (Speech and Drama), August, 1972, 390 pp., bibliography, 43 titles. The purpose of this experiment has been to complete a challenging thesis production in the style and technique of Open Theatre, utilizing imaginative production effects. The purpose was also to provide a valuable experience for those actors and technicians involved, meeting the standards and requirements of educational theatre. The experiment evolved from adapting, designing, directing, and producing a twelve- scene cutting from Megan Terry's Viet Rock and twelve epi- sodes from Jean-Claude van Italliets The Serpent., This study is divided into four chapters and an appen- dix. Chapter I relates the historical evaluation of the Open Theatre and the background of the two playwrights dealt with in the experiment. This includes a discussion of the general development of the Open Theatre and its techniques, and a critical view of Megan Terry, her play Viet Rock, and of Jean-Claude van Itallie and his selection The Serpent. Chapter II treats upon the meaning and dramatic development of the adapted selections, and it also includes a discussion of the director's approach to the experiment. Chapter III is a record of the directing and producing of the experiment. It discusses policies for .the formation of the Company and a description of rehearsal procedures, such as exercises, improTisations, and an approach to the idea of transformations. 2 Also, technical aspects of the productions, including the designing of costumes and scenery, music, sound, and light plans, are presented in this chapter. Chapter IV is an evaluation of the production based on the opinions of the director and members of the Company as well as professors, teachers, and audience members who attended the performance on August 10, 1971. The Appendix contains a copy of the scripts with blocking, a copy of the program, a financial statement, a copy of the music used in Viet Rock, photo- graphs, and publicity items of the experiment. The study was culminated with a one-evening performance of The serpent and Viet Rock on August 10, 1971. The style and technique of Open Theatre seemed to be well accepted and fulfilled the requirements which the script demanded. The reaction of the audience seemed to indicate that the response sought by the Comp any was accomplished. The conclusion may also be drawn that this experimental production was success- ful not only as art, but also as an evening of entertainment. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE . .* . iii Chapter I. A HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF THE OPEN THEATRE AND THE PLAYWRIGHTS UTILIZED IN THIS EXPERIMENT .0 . 1 II. THE DIRECTOR'S ANALYSIS ADAPROACH . .. * . * * . 26 III. DIRECTING AID PRODUCING AN EXPERIMENT IN OPEN THEATRE * * 0 * . t4L9 IV. EVALUATION OF AI EXPERIMENT IN OPF THEATR~ . .~ . * . 77 APPENDICES * * . * . * * . * 00 " 0 90 Appendix A: Adapted Scripts and Blocking Appendix B: Original Scripts with Cuts Appendix C: Program and Publicity Materials Appendix D: Original and Adapted Music Scores of Viet Rock Appendix E: Light Plot, Floor Plan, Working Drawings, and Costume Designs Appendix F: Photographs of Set and Final Rehearsals Appendix G: Financial Statement BIBLIOGRA HY * . 0 0 . 0 . 0 0 0 * *.. .... 00 0 388 PREFACE On August 10, 1971, An TEhpriment in Open Theatre was presented in the Studio Theatre at North Texas State Uni- versity. The director hoped to complete a challenging thesis production which would be in the realm of experi- mentation utilizing imaginative production effects, and would provide a valuable experience for those participating in acting, costuming, lighting, and those in many artistic capacities otherwise involved in the production. The style and technique of Open Theatre seemed to offer the best op- portunity for fulfilling these desires. Thus, the experi- ment evolved from adapting, designing, directing, and pro- ducing a twelve-scene cutting from Megan Terry's Viet Rock and twelve episodes from Jean-Claude van Itallie 's The Serpent. The director wished the selections to be performed by student actors from high school and early college. Re- hearsals were held in Arlington, Texas, on a thrust stage at Sam Houston High School; then the production was trans- ported to North Texas State University for final rehearsals and performance. The director wanted to learn from this project and she concluded that the knowledge and experiences gained from this thesis were varied and will prove beneficial throughout her career. The following work is intended to recount the prepara- tion, performance and audience response ts this experiment in Open Theatre. Chapter I relates the historical evalua- tion of the Open Theatre and the background of the two play- wrights dealt with in the experiment. This includes a dis- cussion of the general development of the Open Theatre and its techniques, and a critical view of Megan Terry, her play Viet Rock, and of Jean-Claude van Itallie and his selection The Serpent. Chapter II treats upon the meaning and dramatic development of the adapted selections and a discussion of the director's approach to the experiment. Chapter III is a record of the directing and producing of the experiment. It discusses policies for the formation of the Company. and a description of rehearsal procedures, such as exercises, improvisations, and an approach to the idea of transforma- tions. Also, technical aspects of the production, including the designing of costumes and scenery, music, sound, and light plcns, are presented in this chapter. Chapter IV is an evaluation of the production based on the opinions of the director and members of the Company as well as professors, teachers, and audience members who attended the performance on August 10, 1971. The Appendix contains a copy of the scripts with blocking, a copy of the program, a financial statement, a copy of the music used in Viet Rock, photo- graphs, and publicity items of the experiment. CHAPTER I A HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF THE OPEN 2HE.TRE AND THE PLAYWlRIGHTS UTILIZED IN THIS EXPERIMENT In September of 1963, a group of actors and directors and playwrights in New York found themselves at the same point in their professional development: they were tired of conventional New York theatrical expression and disgusted with the nearly total lack of outlets available for experi- mental work. This group, founded by Joseph Chaikin, became known as the Open Theatre. Chaikin, born in Brooklyn of Russian parents and edu- cated at Drake University in Iowa, was for several years the central actor of the Living Theatre. During that time he won several off-Broadway "Obies," including one for his per- formance in Brecht's Man Is Man (20, p. 56). The Open Theatre's goals as defined by Chaikin are "to redefine the limits of the stage experience, or unfix them. To find ways of reaching each other and the audience" (19, p. 9). Since its founding, the group has continued in its views about That is worth expressing in the theatre and how t express it. The group has remained deliberately non- commercial. The rent on their rehearsal loft, on Spring Street in Manhattan's East Village, is paid by membership 2 dues. There they work regularly on the exercises that have molded them into an ensemble with unusual physical rapport and expressiveness, for it is Chaikin's belief that the more abstract contemporary plays call for more use of the actor's body than do traditional plays. Therefore, the Company does voice and movement exercises designed to develop fuller and freer, expression in ensemble playing (8, p. 3). The pen Theatre has received a few grants: $10,000 from the New York State Council of the Arts, $7,500 from The National Edowment for the Arts in 19 68 (7, p. 128) and, in 1971, $20,000 from the National ELdowment for the Arts (15, p. 28). This support has enabled the Company to per- form one or two-night programs of short plays and improvisa- tions in nearly every off and off-off Broadway house (20, p. 56). In a statement giving political alignment to the Open Theatre, Martin Gottfried, in his book A Theatre Divided (4, p. 4.) states: Whatever part of off-Broadway still looks for the artistic, the non-comxer- cial, the off beat is left wing. The left wing must be antagonistic to the norm. It pushes for change. By nature it resists popularity. If its ideas were accepted it would become part of the right wing. .(4, p.4.). What of the ."right wing"? One might label the "right wing" in the American Theatre as the establishbent; the successful, expensive, professional, and essentially Broadway theatre. But even more than Broadway, today's "right wing" is any 3 theatre that is accepted by the public, the government, the powers that be. Its performances are usually conventional in style, in intellectual-moral attitude and in staging concepts (4, p. 4-5). Gottfried's classification emphasizes that the founding of the Open Theatre in 1963 simply continued the evolvement in "left wing" ideas. Changes from the traditional have been evident in the American Theatre since World War II. The artistic changes that the "left wing" presents are usu- ally in style, and the intellectual changes are in content. But the most difficult of ideas for the "right winger" to understand is the existence of theatre for its own sake. Basic in the evolvement of the various "left wing" theories are the ideas of the existentialists and the surrealists.