Eclipsed will change the way you think about war…

As McCarter’s Director of High School Programs, I am responsible for writing the educational content for our audience resource guides, and I also facilitate many of the post-show discussions for the student matinees.  A significant focus in my approach to preparing educational materials and curricula, is deciding what our student audiences and their teachers might need to prepare them for the production and/or to enrich their experience of the play in performance.

After reading Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed and seeing a directed reading with actors, it was immediately clear to me that what our student audiences—and perhaps our general IN-Festival audience—might need to prepare themselves for this remarkable and moving play:

• knowledge about the plight of women in Liberian through what playwright Danai Gurira refers to as “twenty years of on again, off again wars”

• knowledge about the brutal treatment, torture, and demoralization of women and girls in Liberia, as well as in other conflict zones, past and present, across the globe;

• knowledge about what women and children (both girls and boys) are forced and coerced into doing to simply survive a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade, and beyond, in a country or region torn asunder by war.

To educate me about the backdrop for Eclipsed, my colleague, McCarter Literary Intern, and frequent McCarter blogger, Patrick McKelvey (in his capacity as assistant to Literary Manager and Eclipsed Dramaturg, Carrie Hughes), provided me with a stack of books on women, war, and sexual and gendered violence, including editor Anne Llewellyn Barstow’s War’s Dirty Secret:  Rape Prostitution, and Other Crimes Against Women and editors Meredith Turshen’s and Clotilde Twagiramariya’s What Women Do in Wartime:  Gender and Conflict in Africa.  Although neither of these books focus specifically on the plight of Liberian women, they present eye-opening research and scholarship on the nature and scope of the victimization of woman in armed conflict situations from World War II to the present day; on the crimes perpetrated upon women from Korea, China, Yugoslovia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Chad, Mozambique, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Haiti, etc.; and on atrocities committed by Japanese, Rwandans, Kenyans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, Yugoslavians, Serbians, Bosnians, Croats, as well as citizens of the United States, etc.

Barstow begins the introduction of her book with the sentence, “The purpose of this book is to change the way you think about war” (1). This simple quotation reminds me very much of the effect of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed on me; although Gurira may not have had this as her conscious intention when writing, this play will change the way you think about war.

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Director (and McCarter Artistic Director) Emily Mann and actress Suzanne Bertish recently went to the Princeton Public Library for a discussion about Mrs. Warren’s Profession.  The discussion was moderated by Princeton Professor Tamsen Wolff and these videos edited by Erin Breznitsky.  Enjoy.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Have you seen Mrs. Warren’s Profession? What did you think? Did you think it was the bee’s knees?  Do you agree with the newspaper reviews, or disagree? Favorite parts of the show? Things that weren’t to your taste? Post a “citizen response” or read what other people are saying by clicking on the “comments” link below. We can’t wait to hear what you think!

If you want to include your picture with your review, email it to me and I’ll make sure it gets attached.

Posted by Adam Immerwahr, Producing Associate at McCarter Theatre.

Danai Gurira in In the Continuum, photo by Craig Schwartz

Playwright Danai Gurira has been developing her newest play, Eclipsed at McCarter. She and Nikkole Salter read excerpts from the play in our first “IN-Festival,” and the play received its first reading at McCarter in last year’s IN-Festival.  This year, the play is the Spotlight Production for the IN-Festival, running from January 29-February 8.  For ticket information, click here.  In researching the play, which explores the effects of war on Liberian women, Danai traveled to Liberia through a TCG New Generations grant, which she applied for with McCarter Theatre. She came back with a journal of her experiences which we shared on the blog last year.  I thought it worth re-posting today, on the first day of rehearsals for the Spotlight Production of Eclipsed.

I arrived with a vague confidence that things were in place to accomplish my goals; transport was organized, contacts were aware of my arrival, accommodations were relatively in place. Mohammed who would be my trusty driver for my entire stay picked me up from the airport. The US embassy Public Affairs officer Meg had connected me to his boss. The US embassy officer in the same position in Pretoria South Africa who had brought us to perform In the Continuum there earlier that year connected me to her. I marvel at how constructively my web of connections in Liberia was weaved. I was connected and ready to go.

The city was frightful to the eye. I realized this was where Hollywood and popular media filmed their “Africa” footage, where things could not be more destroyed and dismal, services could not be more lacking, buildings could not be more decrepit, and people could not be poorer. The streets marveled me, they were so riddled with potholes navigating them completely disallowed one the ability to speed. I thought of my own country, Zimbabwe, and realized how advanced it was for an African nation, and lamented at how bad leadership could lead to what I saw before me. We are crumbling at the seams, and though it would take a great deal to get us to this point, we are descending dangerously. But Monrovia showed all the signs of a land recovering from the ravages of war. It was later described to me by Americans working on the ground as a shantytown and a refugee camp. It was designed for only one hundred thousand residents and now was the home to over a million. Much of this influx was due to war displacement and the process of urbanization, which has taken its course across the continent.

My work began with phone calls, once settled in the Cape Hotel, recommended by Meg as safe and sufficient, and very close to the US embassy (for whatever that was worth). My first meeting was set up with Juli, a Liberian woman of steel in my present estimation, she became my most important contact, she was connected to me once again by Meg, described as one of those phenomenal Liberian women who just make it happen despite it all. The description was an underrating; this woman was a true tour de force. She had fought for peace in the midst of a vicious war, risking her life on several occasions, returning to a war zone when the US government evacuated her (she has American born children) and negotiating with armed rebel fighters to disarm by promising to send them back to school. She presently heads her own non-profit: Crusaders for Peace, which functions in a multidimensional way to bring about needed development in the country. We met at the Royal Hotel and had a meal; she listened to my spiel, more specifics on who I was and what my hopes and goals were. She was blunt, telling me, ‘you sound white do you know that? I was sure I was coming to meet a white girl. When you approached me I thought you were just someone who knew me from somewhere else.” I made a quick mental note to self to blacken up my English tone, whatever that meant exactly I would figure out later. She was glad to hear what my mission was, but had one final concern, “How old are you?” I assured her I was older than I looked and when I stated I was on the verge of thirty her face relaxed with relief. From that moment on, we became colleagues. She was very keen to maximize my dramatic arts expertise, she utilized much theater for development in her various developmental campaigns and was horrified with the performances and created works of her dramatic team. “They need help. I can’t stand to look at the stuff they come up with.” She said she would bring in other aspiring artists and I could conduct a weeklong workshop. She then offered to set up interviews with women who survived the war, both in and outside of the capital. I later learned that Juli was also the Liberian Cultural Ambassador; meaning she represented Liberia globally on any cultural activity. She had just returned from South Africa where she attended Lucky Dube’s funeral (the African Bob Marley, gunned down in Johannesburg recently). She shared her struggle to gain financial backing to create a home for children, complete with a school and a community of a church, stores and other facilities. She invited me to come to her census workshop the next morning. I readily accepted. Her organization had won the government bid to spear head communications and education on the national census - happening in 2008, the first one since 1984 - before the country went into twenty years of on again, off again wars.

Things were off to a good start, Juli was going to organize interviews, I was going to conduct workshops and I would work with other contacts to find more potential interviews.

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Mrs. Warren’s Profession

So apparently the literary office and rehearsal room at McCarter aren’t the only places where prostitution is a hot topic.  In recent months, sex work has been the subject of much Parliamentary debate in the United Kingdom, where, although various restrictions occur, prostitution is legal.

Recently proposed legislation seeks to criminalize not the prostitutes themselves, but those who procure the services of prostitutes under the control of pimps.  Intended to protect women and prevent men from profiting from women’s sexual labor, the legislation has been divisive, even among feminists.

What about women whose livelihoods depend on her relationship to a pimp?

How is a john supposed to determine whether or not the prostitute he procures is being “controlled for another’s gain”?

How does the illegal trafficking of sex workers enter the mix?

There are nearly as many news articles addressing the issue as there are individual viewpoints, but the following links should offer a sound introduction to the debates, and, I hope, when placed in conversation with our upcoming production of Mrs. Warren’s Profession, help us think critically about the working conditions and opportunities for contemporary women.

Here’s Some Video Footage from the Parliamentary Debates:

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/VideoPlayer.aspx?meetingId=2685&st=11:32:43

An article addressing some of the key questions about freedom, choice, and control as they relate to prostitution

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/sex-industry/sex-for-sale-the-truth-about-prostitution-in-britain-1035038.html

An article from the Times which argues against the new legislation:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_ marrin/article5213486.ece

A smart blog entry:

http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/20/pandora-legal-prostitution-oped-cx_ee_1121eaves.html

Posted by Patrick McKelvey, Literary Intern at McCarter Theatre.

Were you hoping to get some culture in your life this year?  Had you been wondering how you could get the inside scoop on how some of the nation’s top theater-makers work?  Wanna learn more about Twelfth Night or The Brother/Sister Plays before you go to see them?  Well now’s your chance.

Today marked the first day of registration for classes at the Princeton Adult School, a local non-profit that offers classes for adult residents of Princeton and its neighboring communities.  One of the neatest courses they are offering is “Curtain Calls: Theatre Now,” a behind the scenes lecture/discussion series (Thursdays from 8-9pm, beginning February 19) that covers a wide variety of intriguing topics.  Below is the list of speakers and topics:

Feb. 19: The Twelfth Night Variations: Shakespeare on the Contemporary Stage
MICHAEL CADDEN, Director of the Program in Theater and Dance, Princeton University

Feb. 26: 21st-Century Gilbert and Sullivan: The Momentum of Parody
CAROLYN WILLIAMS, Victorian specialist and Director of Writers House at Rutgers University

March 5: Making Musicals: Creating, Developing and Producing New Musical Theater
MARA ISAACS, Producing Director at McCarter Theater
TAMSEN WOLFF, specialist in modern and contemporary drama, English Department, Princeton University

March 12: Women and Theater, Politics and Pleasure
JILL DOLAN, Professor of English, also Theater & Dance in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University
STACY WOLF, Associate Professor of Theater & Dance in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University

March 19: A Conversation with Emily Mann and Tarell Alvin McCraney
EMILY MANN, Artistic Director, McCarter Theater, and playwright.
TARELL ALVIN McCRANEY, Hodder Fellow at Princeton University and playwright-in-residence at McCarter Theater, which is staging his new work, The Brother/Sister Plays

March 26: New Plays: Creating, Developing and Producing New Drama
TAMSEN WOLFF and MARA ISAACS - (see above, March 5)

April 2: NO LECTURE

April 9: NO LECTURE

April 16: Theatrical Costume Design
ANITA YAVICH, costume designer, Metropolitan Opera and the New York Shakespeare Festival, OBIE award 2006