DRAMATURGY
The Arsonists
For the production of The Arsonists at UW-La Crosse, I served as both the props designer and the dramaturg. Early on in the process, (a few months before rehearsals started) I met with the director and we established our ideas about the show and areas we wanted to focus on. We decided that our Major Dramatic Question would be one of the most important things to focus on. Our MDQ was this: How can the willful ignorance of individuals contribute to disaster?
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Though the spectacle and plot were two very exciting and important components of our production, thought would be the number one thing our audiences should absorb. This ended up being the main fuel for all of my research. I looked into background on the author, Max Frisch, as well as the context of the play. I also found information on our setting, the 1920s, and information on past productions. Researching these larger overarching areas was accompanied by finding even little bits of information such as, how to pronounce emmental.
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In the production process, my research was used to fuel the director and her ideas. I myself served as sort of a check and balance system in rehearsals and in production meetings to make sure that we kept our thought as a component in every decision. Rehearsals were something that I only went to occasionally, allowing me to give a fresh look to things as they developed. In addition to serving the production team, I also served the cast. I created a website instead of a physical actor packet for information relevant to the actors. You can find that at this link:
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In addition to the information I gave to the director, designers, and cast, I also was in charge of creating a program note and lobby display for the run of the show.
Here is the program note I wrote for the department's production of The Arsonists, this was printed in the program for every performance.
Below are the pillars that were a part of The Arsonists lobby display. I used fabrics from the costume shop that were used in the show, or were similar. I also yellowed and burned the edges of paper to use as backgrounds as well. One of the boards was an audience participation component that asked what they thought the show was about (they could tally their vote or write in their own). They also were asked to commit themselves to make a change and write it on a card.
These three PDFs have the content of the Pillar all about the playwright, Max Frisch.
These two PDFs have the content about the play's context- the Czech Revolution.
In January of 2019, I attendent the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival with UW-L. I submitted my dramaturgy to the competition part of the festival. For the submission, I created a file that showed my research, as well as a statement on the Breadth and Scope of the project, and a statement on the process. At the festival I made a display and gave a five minute presentation on my work. Below is the PDF file of my submission.
Above is an example of a poster I made for opening night. I created a snapchat lens that had firey glasses and "The Arsonists" on it. It was applied to the Center for the Arts building for five hours on opening night and it was viewed over 3400 times in that time frame.
The Cat in the Hat
For the Spring of 2019, I was the dramaturg for UW-La Crosse's children show: The Cat in the Hat. As the dramaturg, I did research on relevant topics such as the history of children's reading, and the life of Dr. Seuss. Several meetings prior to the start of rehearsals meant that me and the director could together digest in the information and its impact on our production. I created a website for the actor's to visit that gave the most relevant information to them. Early in the rehearsal process, I also walked them through the highlights and navigation of the site. The website can be found at
https://leximmitchell.wixsite.com/catinthehat
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Since the show is relatively short, even for a children's show (less than 25 minute run time) me and the director decided to create an activity before the actual performance where the actors would read a Dr. Seuss book to the audience. With the help of some scene shop staff, I designed, painted and decorated truffula trees, iconic from the story of The Lorax. Several Dr. Seuss books hung from these trees and the beginning of each show had an actor reading a book in front of them. Below are pictures of the truffula trees. Underneath is a slideshow of the lobby display.
Company
Dramaturgy Class
Here is a link to the dramaturgy website made for my dramaturgy class, it contains research for three shows: Execution of Justice, Much Ado About Nothing, and Rabbit Hole.
https://leximmitchell.wixsite.com/mysite
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Here is the program note written for Execution of Justice for the same Dramaturgy class
Here is the actor packet written for Execution of Justice for the same Dramaturgy class
Company
Below are a few examples of the lobby display I created for the musical Company at UW-La Crosse. I did the research necessary to put together sections on Stephen Sondheim, the history of the musical, costume designs, and information about the 1970s. Here you can see that for the section on the 1970s, I had a fun activity where audience members could take a guess on fun 1970s facts. Decorating the pillars was inspired by the scenic and costume design, and utilized the textiles used directly in the costumes.
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Horrible Harry
Horrible Harry in Room 2B is a children's show written by a group of students at UW-La Crosse. It was based off of the Horrible Harry book series. I was a cast member of the show, and essentially served as the dramaturg just for the purposes of the Lobby Display. For the middle of three cases in the hall of the theatre, I included information about the characters, the original book series, and the creation of the play by the students. Below is a slideshow of pictures from the lobby display.
