Seniors Exploring Unconventional Theater
Theater of the Absurd comes to Miller Audtorium this Thursday
Timothy Mackie
Issue date: 12/10/09 Section: Entertainment
Most of us stereotype theater as highbrow Shakespearean drama, elaborate Broadway musicals, or gritty Modernist realism. While those are the most common genres encountered on the stage of Miller auditorium, senior theater majors Jordan Swisher, Richard Chagnon, and Bryant Vance will invite their audience this weekend to abandon everything they thought they knew about theater. This troupe will introduce the campus to one of the twentieth century's greatest theatrical innovations: Theater of the Absurd.
Theater of the Absurd, or Absurdist Theater, eschews traditional concerns of plot, character development, and moral themes, in favor of artistic craft. "If traditional theater is prose, Theater of the Absurd is poetry," says Chagnon.
Stemming from such diverse influences as silent film, vaudeville, surrealist art, and existential philosophy, Theater of the Absurd explores individuality, relationships, and communication through elaborate wordplay and intentional meaninglessness. As such, it tends to place higher demands on its actors than traditional theater. "It's not to be understood, it's a reflection on how absurd life can be," says Vance.
Although the most well known Absurdist play is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, examples of Absurdist technique in the medium of cinema are cinema director Michel Gondry's films The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Swisher, a theater major with a directing emphasis, is directing Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. This highly unique piece derives many of its themes from French existentialism and enjoys the same status as a theatrical staple in France that Our Town and Death of a Salesman have in the United States. According to Swisher, the play explores themes of communication, language, and individuality through the playful but macabre medium of Absurdist spectacle. Swisher's directorial vision for the play is to tie Absurdism with parallel movements in the visual arts instigated by artists such as Salvador Dali.
Chagnon and Vance, both theater majors with acting emphases, are performing the two-man show A Zoo Story, by the American Absurdist playwright Edward Albee. Chagnon and Vance say they want the production to showcase the skills they have learned during their three and a half years at Messiah College. They have adapted what Chagnon calls a "no-concept concept" meaning that they will perform on a stripped down stage with no elaborate lighting, costumes, or lighting. Vance says that they wanted something that would challenge them professionally as much as the play challenges their audience emotionally.
Chagnon and Vance, who have been close friends since their first year at Messiah College, knew they wanted to do a two-man show as their senior project. When browsing through plays suggested by their advisor, they came upon A Zoo Story. "We liked it, but we think it scared us" says Chagnon.
The actors will use a black-box format, putting the audience in very close quarters with the action. Chagnon says that this format combined with the inherent quirkiness of Absurdist theater provides a unique opportunity for people to form a connection with the art of theater.
Both plays will be presented Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm in Miller Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.
Theater of the Absurd, or Absurdist Theater, eschews traditional concerns of plot, character development, and moral themes, in favor of artistic craft. "If traditional theater is prose, Theater of the Absurd is poetry," says Chagnon.
Stemming from such diverse influences as silent film, vaudeville, surrealist art, and existential philosophy, Theater of the Absurd explores individuality, relationships, and communication through elaborate wordplay and intentional meaninglessness. As such, it tends to place higher demands on its actors than traditional theater. "It's not to be understood, it's a reflection on how absurd life can be," says Vance.
Although the most well known Absurdist play is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, examples of Absurdist technique in the medium of cinema are cinema director Michel Gondry's films The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Swisher, a theater major with a directing emphasis, is directing Eugène Ionesco's The Bald Soprano. This highly unique piece derives many of its themes from French existentialism and enjoys the same status as a theatrical staple in France that Our Town and Death of a Salesman have in the United States. According to Swisher, the play explores themes of communication, language, and individuality through the playful but macabre medium of Absurdist spectacle. Swisher's directorial vision for the play is to tie Absurdism with parallel movements in the visual arts instigated by artists such as Salvador Dali.
Chagnon and Vance, both theater majors with acting emphases, are performing the two-man show A Zoo Story, by the American Absurdist playwright Edward Albee. Chagnon and Vance say they want the production to showcase the skills they have learned during their three and a half years at Messiah College. They have adapted what Chagnon calls a "no-concept concept" meaning that they will perform on a stripped down stage with no elaborate lighting, costumes, or lighting. Vance says that they wanted something that would challenge them professionally as much as the play challenges their audience emotionally.
Chagnon and Vance, who have been close friends since their first year at Messiah College, knew they wanted to do a two-man show as their senior project. When browsing through plays suggested by their advisor, they came upon A Zoo Story. "We liked it, but we think it scared us" says Chagnon.
The actors will use a black-box format, putting the audience in very close quarters with the action. Chagnon says that this format combined with the inherent quirkiness of Absurdist theater provides a unique opportunity for people to form a connection with the art of theater.
Both plays will be presented Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm in Miller Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.
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