by Rick Curtiss Dramaturg

ox·y·mo·ron

/ˌäksəˈmôrˌän/

noun

a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g., faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

I learned about this word (I assume in the same way everyone did) from a scene in the 1994 movie Renaissance Man where Danny DeVito’s character explains it to a group of students. I don’t remember anything else about the movie, but the oxymoron scene is etched so deep in my memory that I can still here Danny DeVito say "girly man" over the crackly drive-in speaker.

It was the first time I realized that watching a movie and learning something new could happen simultaneously, which was a revelation to my eleven-year-old mind. Two seemingly opposite things could both be true, education and entertainment, fun and serious,

happy and sadness

happysadness is both an oxymoron and the title of a new play by Chandra Lloyd. Last year it was workshopped in WDA, and this year it is the show performing for the Microburst Theatre Festival--a full production directed by Taylor Hatch and almost entirely created by students and alumni. It is performing in the Nelke this February 23-25. As the dramaturg for happysadness, I would sum up the show as personal and wide reaching / or fictional biography / or simply complicated.

The contrasting title serves it well.

Oxymorons challenge the notion that categorizing is easy; that objects, emotions, experiences and people can be ranked; and that choices are either good or bad. When seeing opposites together, the viewer must make consideration. “Girly man” puts into question what it means to be a girl and to be a man. Jumbo shrimp allows for different descriptions depending on the viewpoint, and happysadness states that some of the greatest moments happen during the hardest times.

happysadness approaches difficult personal issues while never feeling sorry for itself. It digs deep and is deeply funny. It is rooted in reality and explored through fantasy. It is an oxymoron that demands consideration. I invite you to meet those demands and join us February 23-25. I guarantee that it is better than Renaissance Man.

Also, there are puppets.

http://arts.byu.edu/event/happy-sadness/all/

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by Amelia Johnson, Dramaturg Creating a show is a process. Though the run of the show is over, there was a lot more that went into the show than what was seen in those few weeks. Months before the run, the production team began meetings. They discussed the director’s vision for the show and began planning designs. Everything was approved of and discussed before lights were set, sets, were built, and the costume and makeup designs were implemented. This year, the costume and makeup designers drew inspiration from the local artist, James Christensen. Having passed away earlier this year, director Dallyn Bayles thought it would be nice to pay tribute to him in this way. Costume designer Dennis Wright was thrilled to base his designs of Christensen's style. He said, “What I really love about Christensen’s work is the whimsy that he incorporates into his characters. His distinctive use of patterns, layers and silhouette is really fun and distinctive. I wanted to be sure to capture that in the costume designs for this production. “I love this show, and the concept and design choices our team has made. I am excited to share it with our audience. As a big James Christensen fan, my one regret is that I didn’t actually get to meet the artist in person. I just returned to Utah last year and sadly, missed my chance. I am very grateful to be able to pay tribute to him in this small way”. Makeup and hair designer Sarah Bult also shared some of her thoughts. “After reading the script I looked through as many James Christensen paintings as I could find. I picked out textures, colors, broke it all down and paired certain characters with those elements. His artwork influenced everything from the shape and colors of hair down to the detail on the bead work of the hairpins. I loved that I could draw my inspiration from his work and create something that really embodied his artwork." Bult continued, “One thing I didn’t expect to be a challenge was that not many Christensen pieces have hair showing. This created a very unique and fun challenge for me. I had to look many different paintings, combine textures and colors, and use my own design style to come up with fun fairy tale hair and makeup styles that were reminiscent of Christensen’s artwork. I am very excited to see how all of the elements come together”. Join us on the 4th Wall next time to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes!

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Simple is Best [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Indeed.[/caption] by Adam White, dramaturg I write this blog post on the day of final dress rehearsal, on the eve of opening night! Everyone involved in this production of A Man for All Seasons has done marvelous work; the set and costuming and make up are all beautiful, and the cast is eager to put their performance in front of a live audience. I guess one could wonder if a dramaturg would give anything but a glowing report of their play that's about to go up, but quite truthfully: I'm eager for you to see this play! On the subject of wanting you to see our production of A Man For All Seasons, I want to relay to you an interesting experience I had just two day ago. Every BYUarts theatre production gets a promotional video, and I was asked by the video makers in charge of the promotional video to be interviewed for the piece on A Man for All Seasons. I accepted, and when I was in the interview, they had two questions for me: 1.) What is A Man for All Seasons about? 2.) Why should people go see A Man for All Seasons? As a dramaturg, I had a great answer for number one. Summarizing the events of this play in an interesting way was no problem. But that second question? That question gave me the hardest time! In the interview moment I was so flustered by my lack of an a concise answer. I quickly babbled out some gibberish to the camera man, after which I apologized and told him if he needed something more intelligible he shouldn't hesitate to call me back. Needless to say I was pretty embarrassed after the experience. Here's the thing: I'm the dramaturgy for this show. I should have some insight as to why people should go see this play (and I do). As I've thought about this experience and about my work as a dramaturg, I've come to the realize that in this situation what I needed was simplicity. Simple is best. See, during that brief interview with the promotional video guys, I was trying to make up a reason for people to see this show that sounded meaningful, or at least scholarly. That wasn't the right attitude for me at all because it meant that I was reaching beyond the play, maybe for selfish reasons, to lend what I deemed to be credibility to a piece of art that, maybe, doesn't need to be legitimized at all. I was being long-winded and downright silly. What the play really needed was for me to speak its simple 'truth.' To redeem myself a little bit and to put my new motto for dramaturgy into practice, I will tell you why I think people should see A Man for All Seasons. I firmly believe, in the words of Oscar Wilde, that "Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life." This play, this conflict between Thomas More, his family, and King Henry VIII, informs our understanding of what it means to have a conscience. Bolt challenges us to explore what it means to have an integrity and what having integrity means in our most intimate relationships. Also revealed in this play is the corrupting influence of political power. I think that every person grapples with these themes, experiences, and issues.A Man for All Seasons is an important play for people to see. The promotional video guys didn't end up using my interview for the promotional video. Frankly, I feel so relieved; it was awful. May you forego the trappings of intelligent-sounding language the next time you are in an interview. Enjoy the show!

Oxymoron

ox·y·mo·ron

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