Week 14 - The Trophy Wives of Venice

This week's play was partly inspired by a film I saw this week, The Help.  Although I think the film was definitely a sanitized, Hollywood version of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, it was entertaining and well-acted.  The scenes revolving around the characters played by Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard were particularly well-realized.  If you've spent any time in the South, even in the 21st century South, you can definitely recognize the passive aggression, the surface politeness, and casual cruelty of the "mean girls" in the movie.  I've definitely been on the receiving end of that sort of behavior so it was lovely to see the "mean girls" get their comeuppance in the end.

This week I was also the observer of a Facebook discussion on the merits (or lack thereof) of The Merchant of Venice.  The play is definitely not one of my favorites by Mr. Shakespeare (in my opinion, it should join Two Gentlemen of Verona and King John on the "let's never do these plays again" list.  Much of my problems with Merchant stem from my hatred of the "heroine," Portia.  It occurred to me this week that Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of the English language, wrote some of the most insufferable female characters in existence.  For every sparkling Beatrice, there seems to be a whiny Julia.  So, I decided to write about three of my least favorite Shakespearean women - Portia from Merchant, Julia from Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Helena from All's Well That Ends Well; as well as one of my favorite Shakespearean heroines, Viola from Twelfth Night.  This week's play, inspired by mean girls and Shakespeare, is The Trophy Wives of Venice.

NOTE:  I'm sure my listing of my favorites and least favorites will elicit comments like "But I love King John!" And "I've played Helena and she's awesome!"  And "Pericles is the worst play Shakespeare wrote. Why isn't it on your list?"  So, I'll just say that these are my opinions.  You may agree with me.  You may not.  But, as in politics, I'm not gonna change your mind and you're not gonna change my mind either. :)

Week 2: Wiseguys, Part 2: Henslowe's Diary

Hello everyone!  Well, I have completed my second play of the year a couple of hours before my deadline.  Although I'm happy with the way this one turned out, my goal for next week is to write a play that doesn't have anything to do with Shakespeare or Elizabethan theatre history.  Time to expand my horizons a bit and look for inspiration elsewhere...

The play is a sequel to one that I wrote for my final assignment in Playwriting.  I wrote my M.Litt thesis on the two most important Elizabethan clowns, Will Kempe and Robert Armin.  I argued in my thesis that both clowns could have worked for the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the same time, before Kempe beat it and decided to explore the profitable world of morris dancing (true story).  The play I wrote, Wiseguys, imagined the two as roommates in a sort of Oscar Madison (Kempe), Felix Unger (Armin) situation.  Wiseguys, Part 2 continues the story of this odd couple as they go for a drink at the Boar's Head Tavern and almost change the course of Elizabethan theatrical history...

Week 1 - The Shakespearean Actor's Nightmare

The first week, and I've made my deadline with a few hours to spare.  My first play of 2012 is The Shakespearean Actor's Nightmare.  As I alluded to in my first post, I am a graduate of the M.Litt/MFA program in Shakespeare at Mary Baldwin College, which is associated with the American Shakespeare Center.  You can find out more about the MBC / ASC here: http://www.americanshakespearecenter.com/v.php?pg=69.  


The ASC begins every year with a three month season called the Actors' Renaissance Season.  As the website explains “In the Actors’ Renaissance Season, the ASC goes even further than we normally do into the staging practices of the English Renaissance, cutting out the directors, designers, and the months of rehearsals that Shakespeare’s company never knew….all in productions mounted with very few rehearsals and with the actors making the production choices.   The special experimental season offers five productions running in rotating repertory.”  Interns from Mary Baldwin College’s graduate program in Shakespeare and Performance are often used as prompters during the season.  If an actor forgets their line, they are instructed to say “prithee” and the prompter will let them know the correct line. The ARS is one of my favorite things about the ASC - the productions are always exciting.  


My play is about what happens when a production of Richard III falls apart.  What would happen if an actor forgot their line and it was one of the most famous lines in the canon?  And what would happen if the prompter refused to give the actor the line?  Obviously, this has never happened at the ASC, but it was fun imagining what might happen and what the actor and the prompter would do, when a production's success is on the line.  


My intention is for this play to serve as a humorous, yet loving tribute to the actors of the ASC ARS and to the students in the M.Litt/MFA program, and it is therefore dedicated to them.