The Journey Begins

by Lola Danielson, dramaturg Welcome to the magical world of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale. This fairytale is set in China during a time of emperors, generals and witches. It is a tale of friendship, overcoming pride and discovering what truly matters in life. My name is Lola Danielson, the dramaturg for The Nightingale, and I will be your guide as we navigate through the production process for the show. The directors for The Nightingale, Julia Ashworth and Kori Wakamatsu, wanted to create a unique experience for this Theatre for Young Audience production – a combination of East meets West. So, over the next few weeks, I will be sharing information with you about China and not only how it has influenced the world as we know it today, but also how China has been changed by the rest of the world. We will embark on a journey to discover more about the author, Hans Christian Andersen, and take a look at the actors’ and directors’ experiences when they traveled to China. Some of the actors will share pictures and stories from their trip, so keep following the posts for The Nightingale! It is my hope that as you embark on this journey through China with us that we can bring some of the wonderful and mysterious history of China to you, as well as some of those special feelings that only come when you encounter something new, rare and beautiful. Please join us as we take the winding journey on the wide and majestic Yangtze River, climb the Great Wall of China and embark into the fairytale land of Han’s Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale.

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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!

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The Journey Begins

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