The Fox's Findings

In an ideal world, docu-dramas and documentaries would simply present the facts and let the audience decide for themselves. However, I believe this is an impossible aim. As Mike pointed out in class: even in a documentary, there is a director shaping what you see and don’t see. The “dark matter” of the story points left out of a documentary says almost as much about the story being told as those deemed important enough to be included.             Docu-dramas and verbatim theatre fail to succeed in remaining impartial (in my eyes) for the same reason: the playwright chooses what to include and what to leave out. They choose the format in which the story is laid out. They choose how to present each detail to the audience. It is the playwright, rather than the subject, that has the control. But there is an added layer of distance in theatre: the actors. I don’t care how good of an actor you are, you are still inher...

First :  50% of Marriages End in Divorce A Twitter Play by Me hashtag follow me Then : In 2011 I sat in the audience of the Music Box Theatre and watched something magical. It was my last semester at NYU and I had somehow made it through my whole acting career without ever hearing the name Mark Rylance. Yet because of a happy accident I found myself witnessing what I consider to be one of the greatest performances of all time.             Now I suppose there’s nothing special about a three-hour play. Hell, Arcadia skated in just under that mark. But something about Jerusalem , and specifically Mark Rylance’s performance in Jerusalem , makes it so those three hours will be forever cemented in my brain. I’ve always struggled to describe the experience to people: What made it so special?  It’s hard to put into words.  Was it his acting?  Well sure, but I’ve been fortunate en...

Eurydice , Second Stage Theater, 2007 The play that immediately jumped into my head after reading Mark’s prompt is Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice . I was first introduced to Eurydice  when I saw it performed at Curious Theatre Company in Denver in 2009. I remember being completely transported by the production. It was the first time I’d ever seen a Sarah Ruhl play. It was the first time I’d really heard of the Orpheus myth. And it was the first time I’d seen water used onstage in a way that wasn’t merely decorative (I saw Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses  years later and was equally blown away- maybe it’s a water thing). So many of Sarah Ruhl’s plays already contain a shimmering, other-worldly quality that almost makes them seem impossible to fully bring to life within the confines of a traditional theatre. The set description for Eurydice – if one could really even call it that – is as follows:            ...