| Friday, September 25, 1998 | ||||||||
I am so fortunate to be able to work with these actors — not only are they more than willing to get back to school before even the frosh arrive, they’re totally into exploration and discovery. We took our time with character development — creating detailed pasts and histories, as well as discovering what makes these people tick. What are the buttons we can push to get them to react? How do they feel about each other? About the main issues within the play? What do they want? I told the actors to tell me when we got too new-agey, but they were completely committed to lying on their backs and meditating while I conducted extensive character interrogations, probing into their character’s thoughts and dreams. I think it worked. We don’t see Cathy and Jay on stage — we see Cavale and Slim. Although Sam Shepard and Patti Smith wrote "Cowboy Mouth" about themselves while in the midst of a tumultuously lusty affair, we’re avoiding the temptation to play Sam and Patti. Instead, the characters we’ve developed are real. The most important facet to bring out of "Cowboy Mouth" is the joy. The joy, the fun, the excitement of the characters’ lives together. It’s the juxtaposition of their joy and their confusion that drives the play. We’ve created a world in which there is always room to try things out, to play and to explore. I hung a giant sheet of paper in my room. I’ve scribbled the main philosophy of this production on it, using a giant magic marker. "No fear," it says. "Take risks. Nothing is too chancy, nothing is too out there. Fun fun fun." "Offending the Audience" is about to make my theatrical dream come true. I do theater for several reasons. I want to change the world. And in order to effect change, I need to make people change the way they think. I need to shatter their preconceptions and make them question their convictions and assumptions. People are too complacent. Too apathetic. If I can shake one member of the audience out of a Wesleyan-induced complacency-coma, then the piece will succeed. I can’t believe how committed my actors are. They’re so willing to go where I need them to go — we’re breaking rules and shattering boundaries. I only hope they won’t throw me out of school. I have this recurring dream that the administration closes the show after one performance, and Tim Miller and Karen Finley (of the N.E.A.) decide to make me the new poster child of theatrical freedom. The N.E.A. Four and the Wesleyan One — fucking shit up at a theater near you. I love the entire production — my video designer, my sound designer, my light designer, my beloved stage manager — they’ve all been 300% committed to making this happen. I’ve asked them to do outlandish things and to put in ridiculous hours but they’ve come through. Ben has created an amazingly thorough physicality and sense of new self. Eve isn’t afraid to do anything — and her dad may even be in the audience! And then he might hurt me. A risk I’m willing to take. I’ve distilled the textual essence out of Handke’s play and adapted it for the Wesleyan stage. Working with the actors and the tech staff, we’ve created an adaptation that resonates on dozens of levels. The members of Professor Stowe’s Theory of Drama class should recognize several themes. Between "Cowboy Mouth" and "Offending the Audience," everything I want to do with theater happens. The entire team — actors, techies, everyone — has created a wonderful world on stage. The passion and beliefs behind "Cowboy Mouth," the risks of "OTA" — I’m so excited and so proud and so nervous. If this flies — if the people here get it — I’ll be a very happy camper. Becky Schwartz ’00 is a Theater-English double major What's really
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