A Changing World

One of my favorite themes with Dog in a Manger is how one deals with a changing world. Often the changes in life are beyond our control and we adjust out of necessity. But every now and again, a new, positive path opens up to us and we instinctively resist even that. Why? Because it's new. It breaks our cycle. Like getting a new job and realizing, five years later, that you have stopped remembering what the neighborhoods you drove through to get home look like. Your automated senses are thrown and your comfort realm has to shift. You have to grow.

Selfishly, I must admit that I probably cling to this theme because I am the newest company member of Red Tape. I have been given the opportunity to express my artistic vision and contribute to the company's atheistic and message. Now I have to figure out what that means, exactly. How do I fit into this group that has lasted without me for five years? How do I help define RTC? How can RTC define me?

DIM is a perfect show to come into with these questions. The avant-grade nature of the work along with it being adapted by another company member means that I get to grow alongside of the production itself. All of the discoveries made by the director and designers, the cast and crew, I will make along with them. I will see how our patrons respond to the themes and images presented and become entrenched in their thoughts, concerns, beliefs, and joys.

Throughout the workshop process of the play alone, I have already started to see a way for me aid the theatre. And in turn, being a part of Red Tape has helped me understand why it is I am a dramatic addict and why it is my favorite form of communication.

A. Zell Williams
Artistic Associate

For more information on Dog in a Manger click here:http://www.redtapetheatre.org/.

Hearts, Wings and Exposition

We’re two weeks and four drafts into our workshop of The Dog in the Manger. The plays title is taken from a fable by Aesop. It is briefly explained in the play and in a previous blog. However another fable, or myth, is also referenced in the play: the story of Icarus. One actor in our workshop suggested we cut the retelling of the myth saying that our audience would already be familiar with it. Another responded that she’d not heard the myth till reading our script. (I myself have known the story for some time, but was introduced to it in 1986 by the Nintendo game Kid Icarus which took… liberties.)

This discussion led to the larger issue of exposition. The conventions of de Vega’s time allowed for a great deal. Our adaptation has attempted to streamline this, looking for opportunities to show rather than tell. James, our playwright, has begun to explore a visual language for the piece including a giant heart, a crucifix and other moving set pieces that become associated with particular characters. As the workshop progresses the visual elements have taken on a larger role as the dialogue continues to pare down. How we’ll realize these in performance is yet to be determined though Red Tape has had some positive experiences with video projections.

James quote of the week: “I never thought I’d find an excuse to write the stage direction 'the heart breaks.'”

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

For more information on The Dog in the Manger please visit http://www.redtapetheatre.org/.

Workshop Report: The First Readthrough

And we're off! On Saturday we heard a group of actors read through our adaptation of The Dog in the Manger. These folks have generously agreed to join us over three weekends, some switching between multiple roles, as we workshop and tweak the fledgling script. It ran 90 minutes, a manageable length, and told a story in the process. The foundation is there.

Now it's time to build up. The discovery that a key character has only "half an arc," and that a second character disappeared midway through, segued into a discussion of the plays ending. Lope de Vega's play ends abruptly and our draft follows suit. While a certain level of ambiguity can be useful, some decisions will need to be made. Will our leads romance end on a note of hope or cynicism? Will their exes be left to rage like Shakespeare's Malvolio, or will their rage be soothed? And what of the Spanish inquisition? How much danger is everyone in now that our Ricardo is an inquisitor? The consensus around the table was that, while no one wanted a strictly "happy ending," we would like to see what happens when we tie up some loose ends.

Now we'll begin table work, focusing on Teodoro's relationships with his loves and his servant. By the time we reach our second read-through we'll have a different set of scenes and a different combination of actors to read them. The possibilities are exhilarating.

Paul G. Miller
Season Dramaturge

Auditions will be held July 23 and 24, 2008. For more information on auditions and performances of The Dog in the Manger please visit http://www.redtapetheatre.org/.