The (edward) Hopper Project
THE (EDWARD) HOPPER PROJECT: Post Your Review
January 15 - February 21
Storefront Theater
WNEP Theater brings to life a mosaic of characters inspired by the paintings of American realist artist Edward Hopper. In a series of vignettes and short moments written by WNEP company members, a dozen actors follow Hopper’s New York from dawn to dark and thrust the audience into the quiet desperation and dark comedy of the city.
View photos by John W. Sisson, Jr.
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Sunlight on Brownstones
Written by Merrie Greenfield, actress and co-author of The (edward) Hopper Project , playing January 15-February 21 at the Storefront Theater.
This was first written in 2007, one of the more frustrating pieces for me. At the time, Jen Ellison, who conceived of the show, had us choose a painting from print-outs on a table. I realized I’d never seen this work in my Hopper research. The dichotomy of the image itself presented an interesting problem. On one side, the brownstones, which immediately remind me of my grandparents’ and father’s home in New York around this time period. Then the indications of city life disappear and drop off into nature without warning. Just across an empty street we see nothing but blue sky, a hint of clouds, green trees, the suggestion of rocky hills.
Edward Hopper, Sunlight on Brownstones (1956)
I imagined it as Brooklyn, or what I know/remember of it…particularly how it might have been in 1956. Even the subjects seemed at odds in a subtle way. The man is relaxed, leaning against the door frame holding a cigarette, either confident or successfully pretending. The woman is casually sitting on the stone railing, but her arms and her stiff back suggest tension, almost as if it’s an act. They’re both staring off into…something. Maybe they had just been simultaneously hoping/dreading they would see the other person. Perhaps both hiding what they really wanted to say to the other. One or both wanting to make a move but also terrified of doing it. I pictured the attraction and frustration of someone who knows you extremely well - so well, they get under your skin. Those people know what pleases you, but also which buttons will drive you from zero to furious in under a minute. Once someone knows where those buttons are, it’s usually far too tempting to avoid pressing them.
Hotel Room
Written by Merrie Greenfield, actress and co-author of The (edward) Hopper Project , playing January 15-February 21 at the Storefront Theater.
Some changes to the script left the writers to submit an additional scene, fairly late in the process. I found it my easiest scene to write. It’s one of the few written with another scene/characters in mind (and the only one I wrote based off of other, existing scenes). For most of the script, characters and scenes, sometimes written by different authors, were merged and connected. Having a set of guidelines made it easier: use these characters from other scenes, give the male a lot to do and say, achieve an expressed tone, return it in a week. We even knew who had been cast already. I was on the bus on the way home, and thought of this painting. I came up with a likely scenario for the established characters. In addition to the painting, I thought of “The English Patient.” I could not get the image out of my mind - a man walking across miles of desert for someone he loved. I wrote it all out on the 22 Clark Northbound, moving through the city alone, late one night.
Edward Hopper, Hotel Room (1931)
At a rehearsal, the director called the male characters’ flowery descriptions something like “bad romance novel writing.” I suppose. When I heard the character saying these words in my mind, they were in earnest. Actually, it’s what I feel for the person I love.
(Taken to a bit of an extreme, of course.) But I would walk across the bottom of the ocean with no breathing apparatus to reach him if I had to do so. I wouldn’t think twice. Who hasn’t felt as if they could walk for miles, days to reach someone they loved? Grand, impossible gestures seem logical. Describing these gestures, however can tip the scales from romance to unabashed cheesiness with an ounce. I guess the balance comes in intent.
Automat
Written by Merrie Greenfield, actress and co-author of The (edward) Hopper Project , playing January 15-February 21 at the Storefront Theater.
The assignment for a circa 2007 Write Club meeting had the writers randomly drawing envelopes. Inside each envelope was a postcard-sized picture of a different Edward Hopper painting. Out of this assignment grew the concept for The (edward) Hopper Project.
I drew “Automat.” I got butterflies.
Edward Hopper, Automat (1927)
I recognized the image. I’ve since figured out it’s the cover of a book I own, a small collection of Dorothy Parker stories. I both loved the painting and hated it. I loved its simplicity, its quiet beauty, the story it suggested. I hated it because I related to it. It seemed a reminder to moments from my past, and moments sure to happen in my future. It wasn’t so much a painting as a somewhat cruel mirror for regrets and fears.
I avoided the female subject almost altogether in my first crack at it. I wrote about two guys, driving from a shoot-out, drenched in blood. Driving to New Jersey, they discussed the female decoy. They related how she didn’t flinch when the guns popped and the criminal was plugged. She just walked across the street to the Automat and calmly drank a cup of joe.
Interesting concept. And the scene never worked. I wound up scrapping it in disgust.
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