Who Killed Pinocchio?

Today in the TYA class at NYU, we will talk about one of my favorite moments in theatre history: the end of the Federal Theatre Project. The FTP, was a product of Roosevelt's New Deal that put visual and performing artists to work in a series of regional centers around the United States. The program included a series of performance units, as well, including the Children's Theatre Unit. The work produced in this unit was incredible. While the work included traditional adaptations of fairy tales, there were also some new works that explored news and issues of the day. It made the FTP an incubator for new work and new voices... which unfortunately was also the product of its demise in 1939.

The plays that seem to cause the most controversy were The Cradle Will Rock and Revolt of the Beavers, both produced in 1937. These plays explored the plight of workers and decried the greed and corruption that led to unfair working conditions in a steel town and fantasy world, respectively. This fueled anti-Communist sentiment within Congress who eventually defunded the entire Federal Theatre Project in 1939. Both plays are referenced in the 1999 movie, Cradle Will Rock, which serves as an excellent intro to the historic project through the lens of the production process for the titular play. Beavers is briefly mentioned in a scene where two actors dressed as beavers sing and dance for FTP director, Hallie Flannigan. Unfortunately, the movie makes light of the production, casting it off as a cute musical for kids, when in reality it may have been so upsetting to adults that it was the final nail in the coffin for the entire Federal Theatre Project (don't ever call theatre for young audiences "cute" again!).

To raise awareness of the program shutdown, the cast of the children's theatre unit production of Pinocchio in New York City, re-staged the final scene of the play on their closing night in December 1939. As I've heard the story told, the lights suddenly went out and a loud sound - a slam, a bang, or perhaps even a gunshot - rang out through the theatre followed by a funeral scene for the murdered Pinocchio. "Who killed Pinocchio?" the actors cry. In response, the cast reads a list of the names of Congress members who voted to defund the FTP. The cast then led the audience out into Times Square shouting "Save the Federal Theatre!" A Pinocchio puppet was left "dead" onstage in an icon image captured in Life magazine.

It's incredible to think of how widespread and influential the Federal Theatre Project was in its time. I'm also moved by how much a cute, little play for children was able to do. While the result wasn't positive, the incident serves as a strong example of just how power theatre for a child audience can be!

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Mentionable and Manageable

Two years ago, I shared this quote with the TYA class and it became a touchstone for students throughout the year. With Mr. Rogers as our guide, we began to feel more comfortable with the idea of exploring life questions with young people. I did not think to include it in class this past fall, but the sentiments permeated the course and the thoughts and projects generated by the students were similarly contemplative of what can be explored through children's theatre.

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Revise and Resubmit

"Revise and Resubmit" is not exactly the comment that a writer wants to receive after submitting a manuscript for publication. I've had my own experiences with this over the summer that I am still trying to parse out (thank you, Reviewer #2), but it helps me to remember that revision is a process of improvement. It is similar to the Stoics' reminder that "the obstacle is the way" and that every challenge, or difficulty, offers an opportunity for improvement. 

I've done a lot of curriculum writing and lesson plan revision this summer. Most of this is for the theatre classes in middle school and high school (some are new, but some is for the potential need to adapt to online learning again). This week, I have turned my attention to the TYA course that I teach for the Program in Educational Theatre. I've been teaching this class since 2014 when I inherited it from a long line of influential people in the field: Dr. Lowell Swortzell, Laurie Brooks, and Jonathan Shmidt Chapman. The course structure has evolved over time and I have continued that tradition by adapting Jonathan's syllabus and making adjustments and tweaks to the course every year since.

About two years ago, I incorporated the 25 year anniversary anthology from the New Visions/New Voices Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. New Visions/New Voices is one of three major new play development programs in the field of TYA currently in existence in the United States (along with Write Now and NYU's New Plays for Young Audiences Series). The anthology was a way to focus on current scripts while emphasizing the importance of new play development in the field. Perhaps most importantly, using the anthology reduced textbook costs for students. The NV/NV plays are serviceable and the last two classes have enjoyed them; however, one of the strongest suggestions received from the classes was a desire to delve into even more current and relevant scripts. I have made that my goal while preparing for the fall.

When constructing the syllabus, it is also important to recognize the variety of students on the class roster and their varied perspectives. The class is typically made of students from freshman to doctoral candidates, Educational Theatre majors to performance majors from Tisch, as well as students from outside the arts who are interested in exploring the world outside of their math and business majors. The students are, or plan to be, theatre praticioners, educators, and producers, or are simply interested in story from a teller and/or audience point of view. All of these perspectives inform my planning and I plan to balance the reading list with scripts that are of historical significance to the field and that are often produced in professional venues and schools. The EdTA 2020 Play Survey was helpful here. I am including some of the titles on these lists with those from the NV/NV anthology.

One text that has not changed from my first courses at both Manhattanville College and NYU is Moses Goldberg's collection titled TYA: Essays on the Theatre for Young Audiences. This is an EXCELLENT book that I could not do without!

I am excited by this changes and look forward to exploring the works with a new group of students and to seeing and hearing their reactions and insights. There are still some areas of the field that I can't quite cover in the time provided for the class. I plan to ask students to explore those topics in their midterm project and see what may come out as the most important aspect to incorporate in the revision for next year.

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History & Theatre at 3rd & Chestnut

Had a great time Wednesday accompanying the 7th grade class on their field trip to the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia today. I am a big history nerd, especially when it comes to the American Revolution. That period has been an interest of mine ever since I learned as a kid that I shared a birthday with George Washington. I am also fascinated by museums and libraries - I could spend all day getting lost in them reading, learning, dreaming... of course that wouldn't do on this trip. It was my job as chaperone to keep an eye on a group of 17 students as they were led around the museum by one of the education tour guides. It was the perfect opportunity to do what I ask my students in the TYA class at NYU to do: watch how the youth in the audience react to what is being presented and the students did not disappoint.

The museum uses a few techniques to gauge audience interest. The layout meanders through the second story of the building much like the snake depicted in the "Join or Die" drawing featured prominently on the wall in one of the first rooms on the tour. Each of the rooms is dimly lit - no doubt this is to protect the artifacts within, but it also serves to help illuminate the items, statues, and stories most important to the narrative of the museum. The students and I also received character cards that included the name and some basic background information about a real person who lived at the time of the Revolution. We were told by the guide that at the end it would be revealed whether or not the person on our card survived the war. It was a technique reminiscent of the passport given to visitors at the United States Holocaust Museum when I went many years ago.

There was at least one statue, or tableaux, present in the museum rooms depicting important steps on the road from Stamp Act to the Treaty of Paris. These seemed to capture the students' attention most, as did the various interactive touch screens in other locations. The figures were so close and so lifelike that I found that if I imagined enough, it almost seemed as if I was there in the moment. The most engaging part of the trip for the students seemed to come at two separate moments. First, we boarded a replica of the bow of a privateer's sloop where seven students were pressed into service to load and fire a cannon. They took the work seriously and were deeply engaged in the moment. It was unfortunate, however, that the rest of the tour group was disengaged. With four cannons on the ship, I wonder what it might take to get everyone involved in that activity. The second most engaging moment came at the end of the tour when students came face to face with photographs of the people listed on our cards (everybody's character survived). It was fascinating to watch as they eagerly sought out the picture with a name plate that matched the name on their card. Many were surprised by how the person looked in the portrait; the photographs were of the people in old age. The students also touched the photos as if to have a more personal connection through touch.

The final message from the tour guide was that the spirit of the Revolution continues on in America today as we constantly strive for a better life and society. It was a great message that was alluded to at least once or twice along the way. I find it empowering to leave an audience with a big question to think about after an experience like this; that is one of the great powers of theatre. Did it work in the museum setting? It did for me. How well it resonated with the students is something I would need to follow up on with them. We quickly left the gallery for lunch (an hour later than we typically eat at school), so thoughts quickly shifted from the revolution to our stomachs, I'm sure. That only emphasized the importance of a follow up event like a post-show discussion, or something else along those lines. My TYA class at NYU often advocates for these although I am often skeptical of how well they work.

Elizabeth "Mum Bett" Freeman

One other thing I enjoyed was that our tour guide took a moment to tell one of her favorite stories from the museum: that of Mum Bett, an enslaved woman from Massachusetts who successfully sued for her freedom under the Massachusetts Constitution in 1781. It set a prescident that allowed for other slaves to sue for their freedom and eventually led Massachusetts to become the first state to abolish slavery. Mum Bett, or Elizabeth Freeman as she was later known, was a topic of discussion during the TYA class at NYU yesterday as we discuss the play, The Judgement of Bett by R.N. Sandberg along with Harriet Jacobs a dramatization of Harriet Jacob's slave narrative adapted by Lydia R. Diamond. I love tying together theatre and history and was happy to have this connection on the tour. Looking forward to considering it again in class tomorrow; perhaps it is something that I can bring - at least in part - to the 7th graders, as well.

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Looking Back at My Earliest Projects

Receiving wisdom from Lowell Swortzell
Rehearsals for Lucky Peter's Journey
February 2000

A few months ago, I was cleaning out an old filing cabinet in the education office at Writers Theatre. In one drawer was a series of teaching artist files and resumes from actors/directors with whom we've worked in the last 20 years. One of the last folders in there was mine, which contained my original letter of application and resume. It was remarkable to look back at some of my earliest work in the graduate program at NYU, particularly two TYA directing projects: a staged reading of Lucky Peter's Journey adapted by my mentor, Lowell Swortzell, and a devised, collaborative piece called The Greenwich Village Project.

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Lost Wisdom Found

Clearing out some old filing cabinets in my office at the theatre today and found many articles, reviews, and folders with quotes that sparked my first thinking about the direction of the eventual dissertation. Here's one from the late Dorothy Heathcote that will bring some new energy to my theatre classes in the year ahead:

"You can do things because you self-consciously feel a fool. But in the theatre, you do things because you are conscious of self for the audience. You GIVE to the audience. You don't take from the play."

There is a notation that this statement came from a master class given by Heathcote to students at NYU. I believe the comment was recorded either in an account of the event by Cecily O'Neill (not sure if it is this book, or in other writing), a video of the workshop, or Theatre for Change by Landy & Montgomery. I can't source it to any of those at the moment, but I imagine you can find it - and similar wisdom - in any of those locations.

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I know what I'm doing

Directing Meeka Rising by Carol Korty
NYU New Plays for Young Audiences, 2013

My life in theatre began at age 11 when I spent my first summer working backstage with the summer stock company led by two of my uncles. This introduction came at an integral time in my life and gave me direction toward the place where I am today.

That means I have spent 30 years in the theatre - 20 of them working professionally as an actor, director, dramaturg, and teacher (not necessarily in that order or in those capacities all of the time). Sometimes it is important to reflect on the past to understand how far you've come.

This also gives me the confidence to say that I know what I'm doing and know that I do it well.

Finding Fairy Tales

Since teaching my first TYA course about four years ago, I've been reading more about the history and critique of fairy tales and their influence on 20th century theatre for young audiences. My two oldest children have also learned to read during this time (the third is getting started) and in a family that enjoys all things Disney, it has brought about some interesting reading and discussion.

Little Red Riding Hood
from
Children's Hour with Red Riding Hood and Other Stories
Edited by Watty Piper (1922)
Retrieved from Project Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11592/11592-h/11592-h.htm

This summer I am revising my curriculum ahead of the TYA course I will teach at NYU in the fall. There was a bit of time between gigs yesterday, so I took a quick spin through the local library to see what I could find by Maria Tatar, Marina Warner, and Jack Zipes (among others). The catalog search (I almost wrote "card catalog") returned a wealth of resources, but only a few at that branch. I made some reserve requests and walked over to the shelves.

As I searched the shelf I noticed something interesting. Fairy tales (at 398 in the Dewey Decimal system) are preceded by books about rituals (holidays, etiquette, and weddings) and followed by books about language. That's a logic location for fairy tales, which I hadn't noticed before. As I get better footing in the world of fairy tales and folklore, I would be curious to learn more about the ways in which these areas relate. And the next time I am in the university library, I will see what precedes and follows fairy tales in the Library of Congress system.

Defining TYA

It can be difficult to discuss a topic when there is little consensus on the definition of the topic(s) being discussed. I've recently been involved in dialogue in which words that seem to have a concrete meaning, but really identify a more general area that allows for multiple interpretations dependent upon individual contexts and experiences that each discussion participant has with the term. One term that often falls into this realm is "theatre for young audiences" or "TYA", which typically defines those performances intended for "young" people. But what exactly does that mean? How young is "young"?

Last year, I was a member of the planning committee for a Forum on TYA (theatre for young audiences) at NYU and considered this topic in the Forum blog ahead of the weekend sessions (link here). The question I still have is "What is TYA?", or as the Forum sought to explore it, "Which way TYA?" The Forum sessions and workshops addressed these questions with a variety of examples of the direction and form that many productions for young audiences can take; however, I am still curious about the definition of the term.

During our planning, a colleague posed the the following questions to the group: "Does the category of 'Theatre for Young Audiences' create more problems than solutions for us? Does it carry a stigma? Are we too separate from the rest of the theatre movement?  In Germany, they talk about Young Theatre - a spirit that pervades young work, young performers, and a young/less conventional attitude to making theatre. This allows repertory theatres and main houses as well as what we would call more traditional TYA to share the same umbrella. And it means that there are fewer preconceptions."

I like this idea of defining the spirit of a theatre movement as opposed to the tangible qualities of the work. It also speaks toward the similarities among the various definitions of TYA as opposed to highlighting the differences. Whether we call it "Theatre for Young Audiences" or "Young Theatre" or some other incarnation of that phrase, what similarities exist among our work? Can we come to a consensus definition? Should we?

These are questions that are likely not new to your work. What similarities do you see in theatre that is labeled as "TYA"? What is your definition?