Final Thoughts on Our Season Theme

First off, let me say thanks to all of you for participating in this conversation. I so enjoyed our time together last Saturday where we focused primarily on whether or not a season theme is really that useful to an audience. I heard a range of differing responses. Some of you find the theme a useful tool to provide another angle into experiencing the play on the stage. Others of you feel the theme is limiting to your own imaginative engagement with the play. You were skeptical of what you perceive as a marketing tool rather than a new point of entry into your engagement with the season. I was heartened by the impassioned public discourse in Saturday’s session. Our conversation was a wonderful example of civic dialogue around what theater means to a community.

In terms of landing on a season them, what I heard Saturday was similar to what I heard during the rehearsal process, but slightly more refined. There was general consensus that the idea of belonging is critical to all three plays. These are plays driven by characters searching for a community, seeking to find themselves in another. Though we went back and forth over the issue of personal identity as clearly the plays hover around this question as well. Julie is seeking to know herself better through religion, for example. What came out of Saturday’s conversation was that identity isn’t what I like to call an “I” proposition. That in the end we find ourselves through others and these are three plays where the journeys are about finding ourselves in community—learning to belong in a community.

It’s strange to me that this is where we landed. Because as I said to you on Saturday, I keep learning over and over that how I see myself and the world continues to unfold as a “we” proposition. Saturday started out for me in a complete state of “I.” I had so much to do. I could barely squeeze First Look 101 into my day. And then we started to talk together and through our conversation, my “I” came into clearer focus as “we” grappled together with why theater matters.

I hesitate to try and wordsmith a final theme. I’m not sure such an effort would be true to our journey. All I know at the end of this experience is that we’re in it together and for that I’m grateful.

Season Theme: Round 4

“There are empirical truths that we can say about a movie: it was shot in black and white or color, on film or digital, in widescreen or not, directed by this or that filmmaker. But beyond these absolutes there is only our thinking, opinions, ideologies, methodological approaches and moments in time. That isn’t to say that criticism is a postmodern anything goes; it is to admit that critics are historical actors and that our relationships with movies, as with everything in life, are contingent on those moments”. Manhola Dargis in The New York Times, talking about Pauline Kael.

It was fun to wake up this morning and read the article about Pauline Kael in the New York Times—to make connections between versions of her personality being articulated in the article and Bernard’s obsession with her in Oblivion. The very presence of the article helps us further contextualize our experience of the play. It takes us deeper into our understanding of Bernard. And it takes us deeper into our discussion of season theme. Our theme discussion has hovered around questions of identity and fitting in, around the search to shape our lives in more meaningful ways.

In the piece on Kael she is described in a multitude of conflicting ways—as “enthralling and infuriating” and as snob and “a champion of trashy pleasures.” Was she a genius or just a good self-promoter and who will be the judge? And the answer of course, like the long quote at the top suggests, will be contingent on the actors who define a particular historical moment. In other words as with art and its critics, values and meanings change. How we perceive a play today may be altered by historical events of tomorrow. Our job is to make meaning in the context of this historical moment about three plays in conversation. As Dorene points out in her response to my last post, “Over time, our ever-evolving sense of self is further challenged by the reflection we see in the eyes of others. But are the paradigms we use to think about and form identity ever adequate?”

Many of you have contributed to this discussion over the last few weeks and for that I’m so appreciative! In shaping our theme, your latest contributions are:

Identity: The search to bring the inside to the outside.
Seeking Refuge: How a search for tranquility in a turbulent world often reveals one’s true identity.
Seeking Refuge: How a search for calm in a turbulent world can reveal one’s true identity.
Fitting in to a group and/or fitting into ourselves.
The human search for refuge, for the place (tangible or otherwise) where she perceives that she belongs.
Do we ever fully resolve the “Mirror Stage”?
The solitude of the soul

I want to throw a few more thoughts into the mix as influenced by reading the article on Kael this morning. The article made me think about the shifting nature of identity. We know that identity isn’t static and that with all three of these plays, we see characters in a state of evolution. Where will Julie ultimately land on the question of religion? Will Bernard still idolize Kael after he reads this latest biography? Will there be a sequel about Bernard’s disillusionment?

My contribution: Seeking Ourselves: Three stories about the evolutionary nature of identity and meaning.

Our job when we meet on Saturday will be to spend an hour shaping the most coherent theme we can. I look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Round 3: Our Season Theme Conversation Goes Deeper

The conversation about theme continues to hover around questions of identity as Jacob rightly points out in his post. The characters by in large in all of the plays are seeking a clearer sense of self, a more intense connection to another or to God. And I think Shannon makes a very important point—there is a connection between this idea of identity or being and longing (be/longing as Shannon puts it). Richard takes it another step, by introducing the idea of refuge, characters looking for a safe haven an escape from the pressures of the outside world. And in reading your responses I wondered if the word “searching” isn’t useful to our discussion. Inherent in any conversation of belonging is the sense that we’re looking for or seeking refuge.

And Lorna asks some provocative questions and introduces another important word to our theme—perception. “How do we perceive ourselves? Who do we depend on to re-enforce that perception? How do we choose to be perceived by others?” And finally Caley introduces another word “outsider”–as we think about how we’re perceived, we often wonder if we’re on the outside looking in. In seeking our sense of identity we are faced with choices about whether to fit in or stand apart. And sometimes we don’t get to choose, as our ability to belong is predetermined by how our identities are perceived within the framework of cultural norms. A transsexual like Bernice may desire to fit in, but may never get to choose.

So word that are spinning about now:

Belonging
Refuge
Identity
Being
Longing
Searching
Perception
Outsider

Choose from the above list of words to begin to construct a season theme that makes sense for all three plays. In this phase don’t get too caught up on the wordsmith problem but rather focus on the sentiment you hope to convey. Can you get these sentences up on the sight by Friday, October 14?

An editorial aside: To you season theme doubters (Richard!) –sure the plays the thing. The better the play, the better the art, the more inspired we are to care to talk about the ideas and emotions that emerge from our experience of it. But this theme conversation has already allowed me to think more deeply about the plays and hence about life. The more we talk, the more I’m haunted by Paul Pare’s sense of connection to women, his perverse notion of “comfort.” How are my own desires to connect and belong perhaps not as perverse as Paul’s but rooted in my own insecurities, my own lack of feeling like an insider? And Julie makes me harken back to my own basketball playing days in high school and instantly I feel the discomfort of those days, my awkwardness and outsider status in social settings, my own quest to make sense of a strict Catholic upbringing. And finally, Want, reminds me of a self-help book phase I went through in my twenties—again searching for a deeper connection to myself, my identity. And in writing the above the words—belong, outsider, searching, and identity—emerge and shape my own history. And so by having a season theme discussion our conversation deepens my self-understanding. Yes, the play is the thing and hopefully we include in that all the conversation and insight that comes out of our belonging to a community of people that loves talking about theater.

Round 2: Our Season Theme Conversation Continues

Why a season theme? Some of you have asked that question in your posts, and it’s a good one. If the play’s good, who needs a theme? We all agree that a theme without good plays, excellence in production, and a truly engaging event, will just be camouflage for what the artists and the theater company fail to accomplish.

But in the context of a satisfying experience with the play and the production can a theme take us deeper? Can it provide context and conversation that will inspire us to see more plays, read another book, or change how we perceive ourselves in relationship to our work and family.

And can a theme tether us to art and life?

And so the idea of a theme as a grounding force intersects with some of what’s happening in the plays. As you point out, the characters in all three plays are looking for what tethers them, connects them to something deeper, more intense, more meaningful. Julie is looking for God. Paul Pare seeks some strange notion of caring, of loving to death. The entire group in Want craves community even if some of their motives are duplicitous.

In reading through your responses, I have identified three ideas that overlap in all three plays.

1. The question of faith. This emerges most directly in Oblivion. But figuring out what to believe also drives the characters in both Want and Man in Love. The characters in want have eschewed the traditional AA recovery model, putting their faith in each other rather than a higher power. The Great Depression embodies a cultural moment of a crisis of faith. When the economy collapses, what does one hold onto? Darlynn, Bernice, and Paul hold onto each other. Walker and Leigh search desperately for love.

2. A variation on this question of faith is that of belonging. Where and how do we fit in? And in the process of fitting in, how is our life meaningful? What tethers us? In Oblivion, Julie, Pam, Dixon, and Bernard are all looking to belong, to find the profession or the passion that defines them. In Man in Love the need to belong is profound. Bernice seeks acceptance and community, much of the play takes place outside as characters seem disconnected from a sense of place. In Want Henry smiles a lot to please. They all endure these “therapy sessions” for some sense of connection.

3.  Finally as you also point out these plays are about transformation. How do we transform ourselves into someone more powerful, more relevant, more admired, more loved? And within this idea of transformation is the idea that we aren’t just one self.  Paul Pare appears one way to his friends and another way to the women he kills. All of the characters in Want are hiding truths about themselves. In Oblivion Pam and Dixon’s righteousness masks their uncertainties.

RESPOND TO:

Which of the three ideas that I have presented resonates most for you? Can you add some additional thoughts about why?

Should the theme we decide on feel more positive? Should it be a neutral question? Should it be posed as a problem? I’m just curious given that at Steppenwolf last year there was the thought that a theme about war would be too depressing.

Thanks Everyone!

Season Theme: The Inside Story by Linda Garrison

The most frequently asked question by Steppenwolf audiences is, hands down: when is Malkovich coming back?  The second most asked question is: where does season theme come from? I don’t know a thing about Mr. Malkovich’s future plans but I can share what it’s like to be a part of the team that works on crafting theme language.  I’ll tell you up front it’s not a tidy process.  Officially, it’s described as “fluid” and “non-linear.”  But the truth is that the experience of theme building is more like falling down a rabbit hole.  A very heady rabbit hole.

Theme talk begins before the season’s plays have been set, although much discussion and thought about play selection is happening all around the building.  In the very, very beginning, it’s a kernel of an idea inside Martha’s head.  Braided together from observations on how we live our lives and connect to the world. Gleaned from news, pop culture, commerce, technology, politics, books, plays, art, the ensemble and audiences. Equal parts fact, insight, intuition, conversation and consultation.

At any given time, you can count on Martha to have more than one kernel of a theme floating around in her head.  And the time it takes for one of them to germinate into a real live option is greatly influenced by ensemble support, anticipated audience enthusiasm and play availability. This season, theme first emerged in internal conversations as the artistic staff was homing in on three particular plays and negotiating the merits of other possible candidates for the season. Theme discussions swirled around questions of what was it that was drawing us to these stories? What thematic thread did they all share?

Initially, discussion zoomed in on the idea of home. Home as an ideal, elusive in its definition. Home as a feeling that lives in nostalgia or dreams. Home brought to life by every day figures on the peripheries of grand narratives. Ordinary people inside epic stories. But as accurate as these characterizations were, in our early discussions there was concern that “home” didn’t offer enough specificity as a theme and risked coming off as cliché.

New questions are posed: why is home important to talk about and why is it important to talk about it now?  New thoughts bubble up:  home’s significance is most salient when juxtaposed against conflict or exile. When it is a contested space. When it’s lost to us.

Now the team is feeling some traction, making a connection to something happening right now in the real world, rattling our own sense of home. Passages from relevant literature are circulated. A paragraph from The Great Gatsby. Dialogue from Penelope. An excerpt from Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. From Chris Hedges’ War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning. The geek factor soars. A good sign.

Angles into theme language multiply like crazy as the group pushes to get to the real idea of the season and to the best language with which to express it. Although there were many, many iterations of theme title and theme description, some of the areas negotiated as the idea evolved are:

“War. We are not a species who live alone. Yet war is an ancient human impulse.” Discarded. Too dark and what happened to the idea of home?

“Civil/War. Five stories that lay bare the fragile distinction between home front and battlefield.” Discarded. We spent an inordinate amount of time explaining to ourselves what the slash between civil and war might mean. Too obtuse.

“War at Home. After the war, we all go home. How struggle defines us.” Discarded. Now we’ve introduced the idea of struggle. Off topic.

“Dispatches from the Frontlines. Five stories about casualties and survivors. Five stories about the journey home.” Discarded. Liked the first part. Liked the third part. Hated the middle.

It goes on like this for some time. And then, a breakthrough.  Someone suggests changing a word from an earlier phrase. Another adds a thought in amplification. Someone else connects the two in a way that echoes some of the very first excitement about the season.  More noodling.  More editing.  And, finally, four sentences that everyone agrees are what we want to say.

“Dispatches from the Homefront. When everyday lives are touched by war. Five stories about winning and losing. Five stories about coming home.”

Linda Garrison is Steppenwolf’s Director of Marketing and Communications

Kicking Off Our Season Theme Conversation!

First Look 101 Post #1

It was great seeing you today at the First Look 101 kickoff. Everything was as I remember it from last year–super smart and engaged people talking about great plays and making theater. I’m so glad to be working on this project with all of you!

So to kick things off with, let’s continue brainstorming for a while longer and as we go, I’ll write some posts to try and make the brainstorming cohere. Let the brainstorming take the form most comfortable for you. If you want to link to a photo,  a video, or another website to spur conversation please feel free. If you find writing in sentences constraining, then write in verse instead. And as I said today, let this initial moment of brainstorming be unfettered by a compulsion for clarity or cleverness.

Please respond to the following:

Let’s get opinions on the table. Talk about which play you like the best and why? Be as specific as you can be. The idea here is to tap into what makes you excited about a play as ultimately this may help you think about a theme that resonates for you.

The second task is to create a one or two sentence theme for each play. Much like what we did today but with a little more shape. Again, if sentences feel constraining in this early phase use images or verse or whatever.

In the meantime, I’m including in this post all that we brainstormed in our meeting in case it’s helpful.

Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday and I will do a brief report at our gathering on what we accomplish in the next few days!

From Today

OBLIVION:
the relationships between parents and children/spouses/Judaism/religion
relationships to faith
trying to find an anchor
identity
oblivion/oblivious
the nature of truth vs. lies
communication
the quest for meaning in a post-ironic world
connection/belonging to a group
the need for a hero/mentor/guide
loneliness
naiveté
dependence
disappointment
reassurance and validation
Does your God have to be a religious god?
What’s happening to PBS?
acceptance
expectations–unexpressed expectations
connections to Franzen’s Freedom–sense of zeigeist
perspective
respect/disrespect
from “me” to “we”

WANT:
self-absorption
hypocrisy
addiction
human frailty
over-therapization of America
denial

happiness
inability to engage with larger world
cunning
truth and lies
searching
trust
recovery
secretiveness
ego
how arbitrary rules and morality can be
disingenuousness
sexuality
Nietzsche
who is the god you want to worship?
horrors of groupthink (extending to Communism), critique of AA
“self-help” (in an ironic sense)
boundaries
privacy
seduction of power

MAN IN LOVE
attractiveness
care
identity
no one is who we think they are
power vs. impotence
belonging
intimacy
games
is it Chinese checkers?
each man for himself
survival
deception
salvation
the Depression
desperation
work/profession
strategy
the external world vs. interior psyche
race
gender/transgender
dehumanization
loss
loneliness
creation of network in place of family
affliction–can’t leave the house, born a man but a woman, etc.
finding your place (a place to be safe, to work, etc.)