Luxury and continuance

My dear Anton Pavlovich,

For the past few rehearsals, we've been continuing to consider and discover what it means to talk. One of the exercises we've tried taking scenes from your play and improving our way through them, though the results have been mixed. The actors want so desperately to DO, and rightly so. Theatre is doing. But I think maybe that, in order to really delve deeply into your play, we've got to figure out just how to BE before we can DO. People who don't like your work often claim that nothing happens in them. Of course, you and I know the exact opposite to be true; a lot happens. Lots and lots. But it doesn't happen in a way we're accustomed to today. There aren't huge plot turns, or bits, or sitcom-inspired set pieces. And these are the things we're used to working with, so you challenge us to let those things go.

So, the other day, we improved through the scene in which Vershinin introduces himself. We had only our Vershinin and our sisters available. The scene that occurred was interesting, but only began to tap into actual life. One of the things that happened was that the sisters got... nervous is the only word I can think of. They were quite taken with this new man who appeared in their home, and wanted to entertain him. Olga kept disappearing to "get some cookies" and often Irina would go with her. We could hear them whispering and giggling behind the door. I'm not sure the Olga and Irina of your time and place would do such a thing, but I think it was a good way for the young modern actresses I work with to find a relationship with the situation. I'd like to play that scene again, maybe change the rules: maybe it's too rude to leave the room, maybe you have to stay.

Today at our rehearsal, I want to improv through a scene that's NOT in your play. I believe I want Andrei to bring Natasha home for dinner for the very first time, to introduce her to the family. We'll have Chebutykin with us, and we'll see what happens. Kris, my professor, has suggested that we have an actual dinner party, and I think this "scene" would be a perfect one to play with in that setting. I'd love to make it a real dinner. Have the sisters and the doctor show up 20 minutes before Natasha and Andrei. Doing it at a restaurant just wouldn't work; my home is too far away for my busy students to get to. Kris has offered his home, but since it's the end of the semester, everyone is so busy there's just no time to do it.

Speaking of the end of the semester, we've decided we won't do a performance per se this semester. The work we're doing is stimulating and (I think) remarkable, but it hasn't yet quite begun to lead to performance, though I know it will. We are going to have an "open rehearsal" next week for the faculty committee, and just show them what we've been doing. I know it may seem that we've just been playing and that we don't seem to be getting anywhere. But I think we really ARE getting somewhere. We're finding the place and the time and the themes of the play on a really physical level, and it takes time to work like this. We ARE playing. We're working, but it feels like play because we like the work so much. So the Project will continue into next semester, with a performance then. We've been granted the true luxury of being able to explore. Really explore, without trying to dictate where those explorations take us. Perhaps the major benefit I'll take from this project is an arsenal of rehearsal techniques I'll be able to use on projects which DO have a timeline and a performance objective.

The rehearsals also function as a class for some of the actors, and it's changed in practice from what I thought it would be. They were somewhat unfamiliar with the play when we started. I'd hoped that in our collaborations we'd find ways of staging and looking at things that would come together in a performance more "about" your play than "of" it. But it's really turned into sort of an acting class for them, which is fine with me. I say that's fine because the new ways we work on the acting do inform me as to what staging, etc, should be, and certainly helps me every day with my analysis and understanding of the play. As they explore the characters and situations, themes are brought into relief then fade, and other themes surface. I try to explore them thoroughly before we move on. Sometimes I'm able to, sometimes not. I suppose that's the nature of the beast.

The other day, Kris asked me to come into his Performance II class and talk about you and your work as they began their own explorations. He asked me why I wanted to work on your play. I thought you might like to know, too. I love Three Sisters for so many reasons, but primarily because I see myself so clearly in all of the characters. I KNOW these people. The burden of everyday-ness weighs upon them in a way that other playwrights just can't seem to give. Masha brushes her teeth. And it affects the rest of her life. These people have bills to pay, and carpets to put up, and trains to catch, and books to read, and work do to. They walk home exhausted from jobs they hate, and still have to deal with the people around them. They have ENCOMPASSING lives.

Sometimes I wonder what I could do if I just didn't have to deal with MAINTENANCE. With the brushing of the teeth, and the "I have to eat now, though I don't want to, because I won't have time to later," and the need to clip my fingernails and clean the toilet. All these things sometimes weigh on my SO HEAVILY. And these are the things that the characters in Three Sisters are weighted with. ALL of life. And that's why I love your play so much.

Yours
Curtis