>From ldm Tue Dec 12 18:43:27 2000 Return-Path: Delivered-To: cunctator(_at_)apartia(_dot_)ch Received: from home.ease.lsoft.com (home.ease.lsoft.com [209.119.1.31]) by delos.apartia.ch (Postfix) with ESMTP id 90935FF8E3 for ; Tue, 12 Dec 2000 10:35:22 -0600 (CST) Received: from home (home.ease.lsoft.com) by home.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <7(_dot_)FD4C1BB3(_at_)home(_dot_)ease(_dot_)lsoft(_dot_)com>; Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:32:41 -0500 Received: from HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM by HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 54208271 for ACTING-PRO(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM; Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:32:41 -0500 Received: from relay20.smtp.psi.net by home.ease.lsoft.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <5(_dot_)FFF89863(_at_)home(_dot_)ease(_dot_)lsoft(_dot_)com>; Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:32:41 -0500 Received: from ip1.bedford7.ma.pub-ip.psi.net ([38.32.77.1] helo=tiac.net) by relay20.smtp.psi.net with esmtp (Exim 3.13 #3) id 145sM4-0003GL-00 for ACTING-PRO(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM; Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:32:40 -0500 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.72 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <3A365398(_dot_)6B23F3FB(_at_)tiac(_dot_)net> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 11:34:32 -0500 Reply-To: professional actor's and director's list Sender: professional actor's and director's list From: Geralyn Horton Old-Subject: Re: [ACT-PRO] Spoon River Anthology To: ACTING-PRO(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM Subject: Re: Spoon River Anthology Status: RO Content-Length: 4565 Lines: 98 I've been in it twice, and directed it twice. I think simplicity and trust in the material work best. I've seen a couple of professional productions that didn't work because they were overproduced, or the actors were showing off and pushing and being "quaint". When I've directed it with amateurs, to a great extent I let the people cast themselves, all reading through the material and picking out the characters they "felt". My job was to arrange these into a clear and compelling whole. We talked quite a bit about the differences between now and then, and the material circumstances of the people's lives-- but we made no effort to "stage" any of this detail, but just used it to build our own sense of community and deepen our characterizations. Participants and audience were moved, and felt richer for it: preparing and performing this poetry is a spiritual experience, and the more of the dark side is integrated the more enlightenment seems to result. "Nicholas J. Coleman" wrote: > > on 12/11/00 10:44 PM, Kjela Smith at Kfrogsta(_at_)AOL(_dot_)COM wrote: > > > Any conceptual ideas out there regarding the direction of Spoon River > > Anthology? The production will utilize Spoon River as an educational vehicle > > to teach process-oriented acting and the beauty of theater to teenaged and > > local actors. Having tons of experience as a professional actress and a > > teacher, I can handle the educational end, but am less experienced in > > creating an overall concept for a play. Especially when it's all monologues > > and although I appreciate the power in simplicity, I also want to avoid the > > cliche presentation of this well known piece. > > I was in Spoon River in college, under the same circumstances even. There > is a picture at http://www.theatreanddance.smsu.edu/graphics978/spoon1.JPG > I'm the guy in the lower left with a blue shirt and vest. > > We approached it very minimalistically as well. The actors played all of > the music themselves, and the songs were treated as the monologues...that is > they were all motivated by something that occurred in the speech or song > previous to them. > > The costumes were a base costume that was fairly neutral, and clothing was > added or removed to change for each charactor (if needed). I remember using > the vest, a pocketwatch and a small prayerbook as well as rolling up my > sleeves. > > The set was just gray blocks and furniture that was free to change and move > (we didn't have any set blocking...another learning situation where we were > forced to make interesting pictures on our own...sometimes we were > effective...other times not :) > > We also started the show with stage lights and house lights up. The actors > came on in their neutral charactor and arranged themselves as though in some > kind of town meeting...we didn't ignore the audience, and if someone said > something to us, responded in kind. Then, a couple of us picked up our > guitars and started playing, the lights dimmed and the show started. > > It was a great experience...one of my favorites. > > -- > Nicholas J. Coleman > ncoleman(_at_)nyc(_dot_)rr(_dot_)com > njc596s(_at_)hotmail(_dot_)com > http://nicholas_j_coleman.tripod.com > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. > http://im.yahoo.com > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ACTING-PRO (1)Too much mail? Send the command SET ACTING-PRO DIGEST to > LISTSERV(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM and receive a daily digest. > 2)Or send the command SET ACTING-PRO NOMAIL You can always access our most > recent Archives at > http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/acting-pro.html. > Past archives can be found at www.escribe.com/art/acting-pro/index.html > 3)Sign off? Send SIGNOFF ACTING-PRO to LISTSERV(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Geralyn Horton, Playwright Newton, Mass. 02460 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTING-PRO (1)Too much mail? Send the command SET ACTING-PRO DIGEST to LISTSERV(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM and receive a daily digest. 2)Or send the command SET ACTING-PRO NOMAIL You can always access our most recent Archives at http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/acting-pro.html. Past archives can be found at www.escribe.com/art/acting-pro/index.html 3)Sign off? Send SIGNOFF ACTING-PRO to LISTSERV(_at_)HOME(_dot_)EASE(_dot_)LSOFT(_dot_)COM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------