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Knowing You by Heart

Posted by DCA Theater on January 28, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, Incubator Series: Prologue Theatre Company

Submitted by Margo Gray, Artistic Director for Prologue Theatre Co., currently working on I Carry Your Heart in the DCA Theater Incubator Series

Do you know any poems by heart? I knew a few when I was younger, and memorized some for school over the years, but there are few I could recite in their entirety. However, as we have characters in I Carry Your Heart who read and recite poetry, I’ve been reminded of how powerful words can feel when they have a rhythm to them that you can feel: something that goes beyond the literal meaning. An excerpt from one of recent poems of the day (we read one at the beginning of each rehearsal), articulates very well the joy that poetry can bring:

Prof of Profs
by Geoffrey Block

The prof, with the air of a priest at Latin mass,
told us that we could “make great poetry personal,”
could own it, since poetry we memorize sings
inside us always.

Tess (Lara Janson) struggles with her physical limitations while her son Josh (Conor Burke) and partner (Johanna Middleton) try to help. (photo by Paul Chakrin).

I Thought You’d Be Taller

Posted by DCA Theater on January 27, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, Incubator Series: Prologue Theatre Company

Submitted by Margo Gray, Artistic Director for Prologue Theatre Co., currently working on I Carry Your Heart in the DCA Theater Incubator Series

The playwright of I Carry Your Heart, Georgette Kelly, splits her time between New York and Chicago. She’s been attending most rehearsals via Skype, which means we’re all used to having Georgette present in electronic form. I think some of us were beginning to believe she was a tiny person who lived inside my iPad. However, she braved the snow to fly to Chicago last weekend, and we had the joy of having her attend rehearsal in person. As the actors walked in one by one, they each exclaimed, “Georgette!” and gave her a hug. Thanks to Skype, we were able to start rehearsals together as old friends. We look forward to having her back with us for the performance on January 30th.

PHOTO: Georgette Kelly watches Lara Janson, Johanna Middleton, and Conor Burke rehearse a scene from I Carry Your Heart (photo by Paul Chakrin).

Ghost Worlds Abound

Posted by DCA Theater on January 26, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, The Ghost is Here

Last night DCA Theater hosted a film screening and panel discussion in the Claudia Cassidy Theater (pictured here) on the second floor of the Chicago Cultural Center. In conjunction with Vitalist Theatre‘s U.S. premiere production of The Ghost is Here, we presented the film Pitfall, a movie written by the playwright of The Ghost is Here - Kōbō Abe.

This black & white film was originally released in 1962 and we presented it in Japanese with English subtitles. It covered a variety of themes including identity, labor conditions, unions, corruption, greed, and the uncertainty of the future. Referred to as a “documentary fantasy,” the film centers on miners and included some documentary footage of worker conditions in then, present-day Japan. Involving dead men who walk & talk again, a mysterious man in a white suit, a candy store owner, and a poker-faced little boy, the film travels down a path of traps and leaves the characters and audience alike mulling over major existential questions.

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Poems About Poems

Posted by DCA Theater on January 24, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, Incubator Series: Prologue Theatre Company

Submitted by Margo Gray, Artistic Director for Prologue Theatre Co., currently working on I Carry Your Heart in the DCA Theater Incubator Series

The power and beauty of language figures prominently in I Carry Your Heart. Characters struggle with finding the right words to express their ideas, and several characters find comfort in writing. One of the characters, Phoebe Wilder, is a poet. To help us transition from the rush of the day into the proper mindset, we begin each rehearsal by reading a poem.

Of course, we had to start with e.e. cumming’s i carry your heart, from which the title of our play comes, but after that, we started in on poems that spoke to some of the play’s themes. I’ve been keeping a running list. Here are the poems we’ve read so far, along with short excerpts from each.

A Poet’s Poem by Brenda Shaughnessy
If it takes me all day,
I will get the word freshened out of this poem.

Relax by Ellen Bass
Bad things are going to happen.
Your tomatoes will grow a fungus
and your cat will get run over.

Pocket Poem by Ted Kooser
Midnight says
the little gifts of loneliness come wrapped
by nervous fingers.

Decorum by Stephen Dunn
There was silence. The class turned
to me, their teacher, who they hoped
could clarify, perhaps ease things.

First Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay
My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night.

Post-Publication Blues by Ron Padgett
My first book of poems
has just been published.
It is over there on the table
lying there on the table, where
it is lying.

If these sound intriguing, I recommend looking them up. They’re all excellent reads. Do you have any favorite poems that remind you of plays you’ve worked on?

Remember to catch Prologue Theatre Company’s Incubator Showcase of I Carry Your Heart on Monday, January 30th at 7:30pm!

Don’t You Dare Read Ahead

Posted by DCA Theater on January 23, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, Incubator Series: Prologue Theatre Company

Submitted by Margo Gray, Artistic Director for Prologue Theatre Co., currently working on I Carry Your Heart in the DCA Theater Incubator Series

Last Tuesday we received the first draft of the ending of I Carry Your Heart. I printed off the new scripts, brought them to rehearsal with a big smile on my face, and handed them out with strict instructions: “Don’t you dare read ahead!” This is one of my favorite parts. We were about to share an experience we can never repeat: finding out what happens for the very first time, together. We opened our scripts to the first page, and the discoveries began even before the first scene.

“Hey,” said one of the actors. “I have a last name now! I’m somebody!”

[LEFT] Whitney Morse (as Phoebe) and Jovan King (as Blake) rehearse a scene.

We kept reading. Every few pages, I stopped the actors to ask questions. “What do we discover about the characters in this scene that we didn’t know before?” “Does this change any decision you’ve made about them so far?” “What do you think will happen next?” I suspected that the actors wanted to strangle me for making them answer questions before reading the ending.

In these unrepeatable moments, we are as close as we will ever be to the audience who will see this play for the first time on January 30th. We’re putting together clues. We’re speculating. We fear things will go wrong. We hope for a happy resolution. After we finish this reading, we’ll never have this experience again. So don’t rush this. Don’t read ahead.

[RIGHT] Whitney Morse (as Phoebe) and Jovan King (as Blake) rehearse a scene.