Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

It’s my first time working with the ensemble at Steppenwolf, and I’m here as production dramaturg in rehearsals for Eric Simonson’s play Fake.

Dramaturgy is a mystery to a lot of people: the word itself sounds intimidating and kind of ugly. Working as a dramaturg can mean lots of different things - there are as many functions for a dramaturg as there are productions of plays, really, because it’s about meeting the needs of the artists in the room and contributing to a particular piece of theater.

In this case, Fake is a new play, so I’m talking a lot with Eric, who is both the play’s writer and director, about what themes he wants to be most clear to audiences, how the rhythm of the play feels on the page and as the actors begin to embody it, and about things that might be clarified.

Also it’s set in England in two time periods - 1914 and 1953 - which have required some research in order for the actors to be able to know about and create the worlds they inhabit. We’ve talked about the political climate in England on the verge of entering World War I, and details such as whether women would cross their legs in the earlier time period, or smoke, and what it would mean if they do, as well as details of the 1953 era and politics.

Last, the play is about a fascinating subject, a hoax that was pulled off in the history of science. It’s important that everyone in the rehearsal room understand what was exciting about the discovery of the faked skull called Piltdown Man, which is at the center of the play’s mystery. In order to understand it, we’ve investigated basic evolutionary science and learned something about the progression of human descent. We’ve talked about human curiosity about our origins and why people turn to science or religion; about the nature of faith, which is also at the heart of the play’s, and the world’s mystery.

During the first week of rehearsal, we sat at the table reading the script and discussing all of these subjects as they arose out of questions the actors had in response to the script. Now the company is discovering how the play moves in space, and I’ve taken a break from rehearsal. I’ll return every couple of days to act as a sounding board for Eric as he makes changes to the script, and to watch and share my observations about run-throughs and the rhythm and pace of the play as it evolves in time and space.

This is a pretty regular experience as a production dramaturg… except that what’s cool is it is asking me to combine skills of working on a new play with some things I normally would only have to do for a classic work, because of the time period.

What’s really extraordinary about this experience is the intelligence and curiosity of the ensemble in talking about the big issues and questions at the heart of this piece, which is itself about curiosity.

This entry was posted by Rebecca Rugg on Friday, August 21st, 2009 at 8:59 am and is filed under Fake. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.