Theatre of Disruption

There has been a change of plan. I went to the first meeting with the Seagull cast(s) tonight and learned that because of extenuating circumstances the original schedule for Lamb Lays with Lion Vs. Katie Mitchell's The Seagull has changed. Before, we were going to do a preview of the show at The Southern Theater's New Breed Festival followed by a full run of the entire show at the Fallout Center. When we were all gathered in a circle at the Fallout Center, Jeremy Catterton told us that he has made the decision to cancel the Fallout presentation and focus totally on what we are going to do at The Southern.

I honestly am happy with his decision. I feel that this gives us a narrower focus and an opportunity to really push the limits of what we can do with the piece. Jeremey said that in his conversation with Jon Ferguson, he asked "Do I have a right to spill blood onstage?" and Jon replied "Yes." (Note: I don't think we actually are going to be spilling blood onstage."

Jeremey said that he wasn't sure which sections of the script we are going to do yet in the 30-45 minutes we're allotted, but he knows definitely we'll be doing Nina's soliloquy, the play within the play, and the Horse scene. He said we could email him if their were certain moments that we really wanted to be kept in the new cut, but i don't think I'll do that. I haven't been with the project long enough to be married to any one line. I'm really happy to be part of something that is really groundbreaking as opposed to focused on my individual role. I mean, sure, I love the character of Masha, and I will work very hard to create a full and nuanced characterization within the context of Jeremey's concept.

We talked a little bit in the meeting about how things are actually going to work, which may change as we work through the process. The actors will be playing their characters and also themselves as actors. So there is a dual superobjective for each character/performer. The actor has a through-line in terms of the play's text, but meanwhile the character has a through-line in terms of the competition between the two casts. The way Jeremey demonstrated it, it seemed as if we might actually physically step in and out of the character and actor roles.

Some of the other techniques we'll be playing with are synchronicity and repetition. Nina's soliloquy may be delivered twice, for example, or the two casts may speak the same lines at the same time.

There also may be some interaction between the two casts. For example, if an actor is playing a scene, and is missing a prop, he may steal one from the other cast.

Because the actor from the Katie Mitchell cast has dropped out, Jeremy has decided not to recast him and instead his absence might actually be remarked upon and maybe the Katie Mitchell cast might even need to steal an actor from the Lamb Lays with Lion cast. This all will need to be worked out as we rehearse it.

Jeremey said that he didn't believe that ultimately there would be a "winner" in terms of the competition between the two casts. "I love all my children equally," he said. He added: "I want to stack the deck so that as much shit can go wrong as possible."

Huzzah. This is going to be fun.