Photo by Sydonia Luccesi. David Sapiro (John, left) and Ben Parman (Carol, right) starred for a single night in David Mamet’s Oleanna at Alchemist Theatre. Photo taken for JS Online (www.jsonline.com)
DISCLAIMAGE: The opinions expressed here are mine. They are not the opinions of Alchemist Theatre, Aaron Kopec, Erica Case, Erin Eggers, or anyone else. I like to imagine David Mamet holds these opinions whilst staring vacantly into the void of his bathroom mirror, but he probably doesn’t.
JSOnline reported yesterday that Alchemist Theatre’s production of Oleanna (by David Mamet. Dur) has been cancelled after a single performance, due to a cease-and-desist order from Dramatists Playwright Services (who published the play way-back-when). Get the full story in the link above.
Director Erin Eggers cast a male actor (Ben Parman) in the role of Carol (a female character), which violates the contractual obligation of a producing theater to not alter the playwright’s work without permission. This casting was allegedly kept secret until opening night, when reviews (both good and bad) revealed the twist and the cease-and-decist was served.
I was immediately reminded of Asolo Rep’s controversial production of Philidelphia, Here I Come, by Brian Friel, wherein “auteur” director Tony Galati made massive changes to the script in order to bring his “vision” to life (That’s the last sarcastic-quote, I swear). Galati made huge violations to his contract, which required him to make no changes to Friel’s script without permission, which he did not bother to seek. This is all recounted and condemned beautifully in Melissa Hillman’s Bitter Gertrude blog, wherein she condemns the special privilege directors seem to have, allowing them to dictate, alter, and destroy everyone else’s creative work while enjoying virtual immunity themselves. The blog (which I strongly recommend you read… the link’s right up there) leans heavily on the legality of the issue: the contract says you cannot alter the script. It’s simple as black and white. It mentions several other extremely valid points regarding director-privilege, but legality is something of a lynch-pin of her argument.
It’s very true that Dramatists had the legal right to shut down Alchemist’s production. That was perfectly legal. Likewise, it’s perfectly legal for me to wave a fifty dollar bill in a panhandler’s face, then snatch it away at the last second and flip him off. I have the legal right to do that. Like many dirty liberals (and especially socialists), I become less enamored of the law when it protects the powerful from the powerless. But, there’s no disputing that Alchemist did not get permission for what they did, and Dramatists’ actions were perfectly legal.
I for one, would prefer Milwaukee audiences to see Oleanna as Mamet intended it: the paranoid, privileged, entitled whining of a self-important misogynist; a hack who’s fame (and subsequent fortune) was built off of then-controversial uses of the F Word (meaning “Fuck”), and our society’s sad proclivity for worshiping wealthy assholes (which I happily just blogged about). Oleanna was #NotAllMen in a time when women had even less power and even less of a voice than they do now. It’s Red Riding Hood victimizing the innocent Wolf; it’s the morally outraged gasp of the robber-baron, aghast that these peasants who made him rich demand that he acknowledge their humanity.
Okay, I may have gotten a little carried away on that last metaphor.
And yes, it’s a play about power and language, not just sexual harassment (or so says Mamet). And Django Unchained is a movie about freedom and revenge: that doesn’t change the fact that it’s racist both superficially and systemically. Doesn’t make it poorly-executed, but it’s still true.
Oh, hey, ya know, if you don’t know Oleanna… just… go Wikipedia it or something.
Right so, I’m a little torn here. As an actor, I’ve always said “If you don’t like what the playwright wrote, write your own damn play.” My dislike of Concept Shakespeare is well-known amongst my friends (with the exception of Romeo Vs Juliet, which was by its own admission a play about R&J). As a director (and as an actor), I am invigorated by the challenge of mining the meaning out of a line and finding personal and general truth in a play’s story arc. All the same, I’m guilty of exceptions myself, so who am I to talk?
As a writer… I… kinda don’t give a shit. I’m perfectly comfortable having little or no control over my creative agency, having spent about fifteen years of my life as an actor.
I think directors should have to make detailed notes of all the changes they make to a script, then include those details in the production’s program, or a similarly easily-accessible document that all audience members can see. I mean, if someone staged King Saul Part II and put a disco dance in there, I’d want it made very clear that this was the director’s brilliant idea, not mine; and presumably the director would want the credit for his or her ingenious innovation, yes?
I guess there’d be some statute of limitations on this. Oleanna is pretty well known. On the other hand, there are still people who haven’t seen Hamlet. Sooooo… yeah.
I’m not sure what we can do to help Alchemist, other than suggest superior scripts by superior writers. If you read Mamet’s humbly titled book Theater, you can really see what a pompous, entitled, disconnected, kinda-misogynistic, maybe-borderline homophobic ass-hat he is; but none of that alters the fact that he is a respected, successful, and extraordinarily pedestrian playwright, and an excellent example of the failings of the Free Market.
Perhaps they should re-stage the play with a female Carol. If they really want to push the point, they might try casting a transgender actor in the role, but that could prove something of a challenge here in Milwaukee, and of course that runs the risk of treating sex-and-gender as a commodity.
I suppose the only thing Aaron and Erica can do is cut their losses and move on to their next project, which I imagine is what they’re doing. They no doubt just made a killing financially and socially with their remounting of the opera Fortuna the Time Bender vs. the Schoolgirls of Doom, so I’m sure they can ride out this setback.
If I can get serious for a moment, I think what theaters like Alchemist need is more original writing, ideally resident playwrights (that’s how Shakespeare became the genius he was: residency). They’d pay far less than they pay companies like Dramatists, it’d be easier to collaborate and change scripts (specifically to suit the actors cast in the show), and they’d have a source of material who hopefully has a vested interest in the theater’s success.
Easily said, I know. All the same: any Milwaukee playwrights out there? You won’t make money, but you might make art.