Lunch with Daniel Fish
Posted by Michael Rabinowitz on August 22nd, 2007So here I was – a former accountant that was accustomed to meetings about financial statements, debits and credits, going to a brown bag lunch meeting with the director of Tartuffe, Daniel Fish, in which he described his concept for the play to the McCarter staff.
Since most meetings or lunches that I attended were pretty boring and dull, I had no idea what to expect out of this one. I ran in just in time with my brown bag lunch and sheepishly took a seat in the back table (which I was really happy about considering my soda bottle usually explodes when I open it). As all former lunch meetings (in the corporate world) went, we had someone introduce someone of importance and then my head dropped down towards my notepad awaiting the first sentence so I could begin to take my usual notes.
My pen did not start to write and my head slowly began to rise! Instead of “Black and white” information being fed to me, I was part of the most colorful meeting I have ever experienced. This information was just as important for me to take notes on, but this time the information was actually interesting, exciting and somewhat moving. Having just read Tartuffe a few days before, I was eager to hear how someone else - better yet the freakin’ DIRECTOR – had interpreted the play: What parts of the play jumped out at him? What was his approach to the current production? Did I miss something when I read it? Did he miss something when he read it?
I was transported into the mind of an artist and I began to take notes out of pure inspiration. The costume sketches went around the room and his ideas started to come to life. My heart was pounding so hard being that there were a million different questions and thoughts that I wanted to share (but being that I was in middle of my chicken sandwich – also very important – I didn’t think it was a great idea to talk too much). Finally, I realized that I wasn’t just at an interesting meeting or a lunch “fluke” that was actually enjoyable… this was my world now. These people are my colleagues and this fabulous director is working on a production that I am somewhat a part of!
I did, in fact, end up taking notes but this time my head was up the entire time.
Posted by Michael Rabinowitz, Casting Intern at McCarter Theatre
3 Responses to “Lunch with Daniel Fish”
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Nice post, Michael! One of the neat things about bringing in a whole class of new interns every year is that they all come from such different perspectives, and often allow the rest of the staff at the theater to broaden our horizons. It was really exciting to hear this response to the Brown Bag Lunch.
I found it a really revelatory meeting as well. I was excited about hearing Daniel talk about the blend of danger and humor that he finds in the play. He described it as “riding the line between terrifying and extreme.” I was also really into the way Daniel is thinking about the contemporary parallels in this play. It made me really think about the contemporary political situations in our lives that create hypocrisy and open the door to manipulation and deception. One of the neat things about hearing Daniel’s interpretation of the play was how closely that interpretation will be tied to the production that he has in mind. For me, the production he was describing is so logical and clear, now that I understand where it is coming from. Very cool. Got me totally jazzed about Tartuffe. And the cast is gonna be AWESOME.
August 22nd, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Welcome to the wonderful world of theater, Michael! We’re glad to have you! I, too, attended–and was incredibly excited and inspired by–the Brown Bag lunch with Daniel Fish. And I, too, took copious notes out of fascination with Daniel’s vision of the show. I was especially intrigued by the way he pinpointed the script’s resonance with modern issues of power and submission. I’m looking forward to watching the ways Daniel’s production examines the effects of pervasive fear on people’s willingness to submit themselves to more powerful individuals. I’m also very interested in Daniel’s self-described obsession with the 1660s, in all their seductive repulsiveness, and in his exploration of the way we fetishize history through the culture of museums. There seems to be a common thread of voyeurism, observation, and paranoia which I think will electrify this production and bring out the intermingled energy, wit, and danger in Moliere’s writing. I’m definitely excited to get started–although we’ve got enough to do before first rehearsal here in the literary/dramaturgy world that I don’t mind waiting a few weeks until we actually dive in.
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