ARTISTIC VISION STATEEMENTS

Claire Wong

IN ALL MY YEARS AT CASTILLEJA, I’VE NEVER QUITE SEEN A PRODUCTION LIKE FAILURE: A LOVE STORY IT’S A TALE OF LOVE & LOSS THAT INCITES LAUGHTER, TEARS, AND LAUGHTER THROUGH TEARS ALL AT THE SAME TIME I HOPE YOU BROUGHT SOME TISSUES

WITH THE HEAVILY NARRATION-BASED SCRIPT, WE WANTED TO TAKE A DIFFERENT ROUTE FROM CASTILLEJA’S PREVIOUS DIALOGUE-CENTRIC PLAYS BY DIRECTING UNDER A STYLE OF THEATRE LESS FAMILIAR TO THE CASTILLEJA COMMUNITY: PHYSICAL THEATRE PHYSICAL THEATRE INVOLVES A DANCE-LIKE ELEMENT THAT, ALTHOUGH APPEARING SMOOTH AND NATURAL, REQUIRES COORDINATION AND RHYTHMIC PROWESS AS YOU WILL SOON SEE, OUR ACTORS HAVE EXECUTED THIS BEAUTIFULLY.

ANOTHER UNIQUE ASPECT ABOUT FAILURE IS ITS UNIQUE STAGE CONFIGURATION THIS PLAY IS IN A STYLE OF STAGE KNOWN AS THE ROUND, WHERE AUDIENCE MEMBERS ARE SEATED ON ALL SIDES OF THE STAGE, MIMICKING THE TRADITIONAL CAMPFIRE-STYLE STORYTELLING FORMAT IN THE ROUND, THERE IS NO FOURTH WALL, MAKING THE AUDIENCE’S PRESENCE, ENERGY, AND ATTENTION A CRUCIAL PART OF THE STORY

I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT WHAT MAKES THIS PRODUCTION SPECIAL TO ME, BUT I BELIEVE THE MOST STANDOUT PART OF FAILURE: A LOVE STORY IS ITS POIGNANT MESSAGE AS WE’VE SEEN WITH CURRENT EVENTS AFTER CURRENT EVENTS DETAILING YET ANOTHER MASS SHOOTING OR RACIALLY MOTIVATED MURDER, LOSS MAY COME WHEN AND WHERE YOU LEAST EXPECT IT SUCH IS THE STORY OF THE PLAY, YET IT ALSO PORTRAYS THE JOURNEY OF FINDING LOVE AGAIN AFTER LOSS WE’VE ALL LOST SOMETHING PRECIOUS TO US, WHETHER IT BE AN OPPORTUNITY OR A LOVED ONE THIS PLAY TEACHES US THAT IT IS OKAY TO BE AFFECTED BY LOSS, AND IT IS OKAY TO BE ANGRY AND HURT BY THAT LOSS. NEVERTHELESS, IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE TO MOVE PAST YOUR HURT AND FIND YOUR LIGHT AGAIN.

AFTER ALL, THE PLAY’S NAME ITSELF CONTAINS THE WORD “FAILURE,” BUT ALSO THE WORD “LOVE ”

Ash Ehrenpreis

FOR MY AT CAPSTONE PROJECT, I HAVE PARED DOWN SOPHIE TREADWELL’S PLAY, MACHINAL, TO EXPLORE BRECHTIAN THEATRICAL CRITIQUE MACHINAL REIMAGINES THE REAL STORY OF RUTH SNYDER THROUGH THE LENS OF HELEN (THE MAIN PROTAGONIST OF THE PLAY) THE PLAY IS COMMENTARY ON THE RELENTLESS MACHINE OF CAPITALIST SOCIETY AND THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN AMIDST INDUSTRIALIZATION BERTOLT BRECHT (1898 – 1956), WAS A GERMAN THEATRE PRACTITIONER LARGELY INFLUENCED BY THE RISE OF FACISM IN GERMANY AND HIS IMMINENT EXILE AFTER PUBLICLY OPPOSING THE GERMAN REGIME. BRECHT’S WORKS CONSIDER THEATRE AS A POLITICAL VEHICLE, EXPOSING AUDIENCES TO DIVISIVE, OFTEN UNCOMFORTABLE, POINTS OF VIEW

I HAVE KEPT THE OVERALL ARCH OF THE SHOW INTACT AND USED MY SHORTENED VERSION TO EXPERIMENT WITH BERTOLT BRECHT’S THEATRICAL FRAMEWORKS AND THEORIES I USED BRECHT’S BOOK, BRECHT ON THEATRE (TRANSLATED BY JOHN WILLETT), TO COMPLETE CLOSE-READING ANALYSES FOR EACH SECTION I READ I COMPILED MY FINDINGS INTO TWO SHORT BRECHTIAN GUIDES TO ACTING AND DIRECTING, RESPECTIVELY. THESE SIMPLIFIED GUIDES AIM AT MAKING THE WORK I DO ACCESSIBLE & USEFUL REGARDLESS OF THE LEVEL AND EXPERIENCE OF THE ACTOR

DIRECTING MACHINAL, I HAVE BEEN FACED WITH AN ESSENTIAL CONCEPT RAISED BY BRECHT: WILL ONE LET THEMSELF BE CHANGED BY THE MACHINE, OR WILL THEY CHANGE THE MACHINE THEMSELF? I HOPE TO USE BRECHT’S TECHNIQUES TO BRIDGE THE CASTILLEJA COMMUNITY AND WITH THE STORY OF MACHINAL, ILLUMINATE THE ONGOING ISSUES RELEVANT IN BOTH THE 1920S AND TODAY.