Actor's Choice

This week, we have been working on running the show memorized. We have gotten to the end, but we are definitely not done. I learn more and more every time I run my scene. I realize that Haemon is trying to get his dad, Creon, to spare his fiance, but I wondered if Hameon was just trying to save his fiance, or if he really agreed with Antigone. He had just found out and came to argue with his dad. I asked Vivian, and she said it's actors choice.
Actors get choices like this. We think about the circumstances, and sometimes, when we don’t know what the tactic is, we have to make one up, but once we make that choice, we have to stick with it 100%. I had a little trouble with lines the first time I ran my scene memorized, but that was okay because we had Maria and Ben on book for us. Once I got the blocking put with the words, it went pretty easily.

We talk about it a little bit in the script that at a Greek tragedy, the audience is supposed to leave renewed. Like a good cry. It makes feel exhausted, but it's needed. I didn’t think much of that line until we ran my scene, and I argue with my father and have so clear objectives, and I left and I felt that exact thing. I felt so renewed. I love it when all the circumstances are clear and the have obvious objectives.  It makes the acting so; I want to say easy, but I think the word is driven. When the character is driven, you feel that as you are acting it. It just makes you happy as an actor.

Travis Cooper

Hameon/Eddie/Lead Set designer

Dramaturgy /ˈdraməˌtərjē,ˈdräməˌtərjē/

Our Antigone cast is roughly 1 month into blocking. That means, we’ve made a great deal of progress; the production is beginning to incorporate several aspects envisioned by our set, props and costumes departments. Not only are we accomplishing great amounts during rehearsal times, but during our Saturday morning workshops as well. One of the greatest aspects of teen shows at STC is that cast members design the set, props and costumes for the show all by themselves, the show is built by teens, for teens. However, one production team doesn’t take part in the physical aspects of the production, but rather the intellectual side… and that’s the dramaturgy team.

This is my third teen show being on the dramaturgy team, and each year I’m enthralled by the new things I learn and what we get to research. As the dramaturgs, it’s our job to study “the theory and practice of dramatic composition”. We dedicate ourselves to the analysis of the script, history, and language of the play. This year, we go all the way back to 440 B.C.E. when Sophocles first wrote Antigone. These past few weeks during workshops, our dramaturgy team has read, and interpreted the Oedipus Rex Series or the Theban plays, a trilogy written by Sophocles between 440 B.C.E., and 405 B.C.E. We’ve also read the story of The Seven Against Thebes written by Aeschylus in 467 B.C.E. In order, the plays goes like so: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, The Seven Against Thebes, and Antigone.

Antigone is last in the series, so it’s especially crucial for our cast to have information about their characters from the earlier plays. The best way for them to thoroughly understand their personal character development though, would be for them to read each of the plays. Sometimes, that’s not possible, and that is where the dramaturgy team comes in to help out. We provide a basis of knowledge about key plot points, and and summarize the series for our cast members. We are open to questions, and are happy to research. That right there, is what makes dramaturgy fun for me. We hope to extend our knowledge within the next month of workshops, and be prepared for another presentation soon into the future. Go Dramaturgs!!

“There is a point at which even justice does injury.” ~ Sophocles  

Jayna Wanamaker

Messenger/Tracy

Dramaturgy