A Director's Vision: Stephanie Breinholt Imagines Sevant of Two Masters
October 29, 2012 12:00 AM
Janine Sobeck
by Janine Sobeck, dramaturg
If you've ever had the opportunity to see a Stephanie Breinholt show at BYU, then you know that she loves to take classical texts and bring them to life with big, bold choices. Her upcoming production of The Servant of Two Masters is no different.
One of Stephanie's favorite classical texts, Servant is full of crazy characters, zany antics and extreme situations. Stephanie wants to emphasize the cartoon aspects of the script, creating a modern interpretation that is bright, colorful and hilarious.
In Stephanie's original pitch for the show, she described the following:
"I would like the piece to feel like a 3-D version of a cartoon...The feel of the show that I’m currently looking for can best be described through the following clip from Strictly Ballroom:
The elements that strike me about the clip are broad strokes of character that are matched in design elements, extreme non-realistic lighting when appropriate, larger than life costume and makeup choices and movement, and the theatricality of the environment."
As you can imagine, the design team is pretty excited about this. Check back to see how they are using Stephanie's vision to create our crazy comical Servant world.
The debate over whether The Cherry Orchard is a comedy or a tragedy began with Chekhov himself and his director (and sometimes friend) Konstantin Stanislavsky.
The creative team began working on this production a little more than a year ago. In my role as production dramaturg, I was happy to create a website of resources first for the creative team, and then when we went into rehearsals, for the cast. And now that we are opening the show, the resources offer valuable perspectives to our audiences as well.
After months of rehearsing on a taped cement floor with acting blocks in place of benches and frames in place of doors, the company finally moves to the theatre space, to a stage with levels and furniture, working doors and chairs out in the audience. The beloved cherry orchard feels so much more real now.