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Context in “…Young and Unafraid”

The hardest part for me about researching context was deciding what was important enough to include and what was not. My previous projects that were adjudicated at KCACTF got feedback that they were very wordy, and that I had probably written more than I needed to about some topics. My final package for “As You Like It” was around 80 pages, so I understand where they were coming from. However, with “When We Were Young and Unafraid,” I’m finding it so difficult to pick and choose because the topic is so timely. Every day it seems like there’s more bad news related to abortion, rape, and domestic violence. I feel like I had to leave so much out for the sake of not writing a whole book. Like for example, what about the fact that the left is currently fighting to defund the police, and almost half of all cops have had some form of domestic violence complaint filed against them. Those same cops are the ones who intimidate victims of rape into not pressing charges. Despite those topics being so relevant, I felt like it would be difficult to include that in my research without going off on a tangent and never coming back. The Black Lives Matter movement is also an extremely prominent topic with links to abortion. Black and minority communities are significantly more likely to be impacted negatively by lack of access to abortions, and they are also more likely to die from abortions whether performed legally or illegally. I did mention in my research how minority and low income communities are affected by lack of access to abortion, but I thought that bringing Black Lives Matter into it would again throw me down a tangent that would take a long time to come back from.

Overall, I focused on the differences between the time period the play takes place and today. Sadly there really aren’t that many. I looked at two different things: domestic violence and abortion. We’ve definitely made a lot of really great steps forward in stopping domestic violence since the 70s. Back then there literally wasn’t even data on domestic violence because first of all, it wasn’t illegal to rape your wife, and second of all, people just wanted to pretend that domestic violence didn’t exist. Luckily we do have data today, but the data is not great. About 1 in 4 women over the age of 18 have been the victim of severe violence by an intimate partner and 1 in 3 women have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Now there are many more systems in place to help women escape domestic violence than there used to be, but it continues to be a major issue in America. As for abortion, it almost seems like things are going back in time since the 70’s. Since Donald Trump’s election, abortion has been an extremely hot topic. His election has allowed republican law makers to pass the strictest abortion laws we’ve seen since before Roe v. Wade. His Supreme Court picks have set their sights on overturning Roe v. Wade altogether. Overall, I think this play has never been more timely, and stories about the importance of a woman’s right to choose have never been more important. Even though Mary Anne chooses to keep the baby in the play, it is clear to see why an abortion would have helped her escape domestic violence and gain financial independence without the help of any man. Audiences to the play can see that it is clear she had to make her choice out of fear for repercussions, and an inability to live as a single woman in a time period where women could not even get a loan or apply for a credit card.

Playwright Biography – Sarah Treem

When I started researching biography for the playwright of “When We Were Young and Unafraid,” one of the things that I knew I wanted to do was draw from her experiences that are relevant to the play. When I entered one of my previous dramaturgy projects in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region 5, some of the primary feedback I got was that if I was going to do a playwright biography it had to be more focused on specifically when or why the playwright wrote this play. For Sarah Treem, this was no easy task, as most biographies written about her included just the basic information, like education, early career, and what she’s doing now. Where I was able to find the best information was actually through articles that Sarah Treem had written herself.

“When We Were Young an Unafraid” was published in 2014, and prior to this there is very little information available about Treem’s personal life. However, in 2017, Treem wrote an article for the inaugural issue of Variety Magazine. The issue featured many short essays from prominent feminist writers about their feelings regarding the 2016 election of Donald Trump. As most people know, Trump has been an enemy to feminism from the very beginning, and has made criminalizing abortion a major part of his platform. Treem wrote openly about her experience with abortion, how it helped her escape an abusive relationship as well as go on to have the career she now has. In the article she expresses her fears that due to the Trump administration, her daughter may grow up less free than she did. I took a lot of information from this article to include in my biography, and I also posted the entirety of the article on my website for the project, which can be found here. I felt this was an important part of Treem’s life to include in her biography, as one of the women in her play is faced with the difficult decision of choosing to carry the child of her abuser.

I also found a lot of information about Treem’s life from an article she wrote in 2019 titled “The Truth About Being A Working Mother.” This article went semi-viral for her brutally honest take about how difficult it is to be a woman and “have it all.” It’s already difficult enough to make it as a woman in the writing and producing industry, but attempting to raise a family at the same time provides a severe challenge. I imagine that Treem likely drew from these struggles when writing the character of Agnes, a woman who does her best to balance motherhood while being the sole owner of a bed and breakfast.

“Choke” Dramaturgy Reflection

This production was my first experience doing new play dramaturgy. The production was also unique because it was produced completely over audio. This made the experience a bit different than what I imagine doing work on a new play that was physically staged would be like. There were no opportunities to give feedback on things such as set or costume design, but I did get to have almost complete control over the way the production would be aesthetically perceived. The primary thing that I worked on as a dramaturg was a PowerPoint that would be available for the audience to watch as a compliment to the audio production. I did my best to create the PowerPoint in the aesthetic that I imagined the play should have. I included lots of imagery that I felt fit the tone and mood of the play. Overall, the aesthetic was very dark and spooky, with some vintage vibes. I think the PowerPoint does a good job of setting the tone of the show for those who listen to it over podcast.

Since the play is only over audio, I anticipated that it might be more challenging to get audiences excited about it when compared to a physically staged play. I wanted my dramaturgy to focus on something fun that people generally find interesting. Personally, I think that local ghost stories are really intriguing. I looked at ghost stories in the area that the play is set, which is Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. The area has a lot of caves, so it wasn’t that surprising that there were a few ghost stories associated with the area. However, none of the stories were related to a bridge, like the story that is told in the play. I decided to look into haunted bridges in Kansas, since I already knew of one, and I figured the majority of the audience listening to the podcast would be from Kansas.

One of the bridges that I found that was supposedly haunted had very little information about it, but I really wanted to have multiple bridges to include in the PowerPoint, so this is where I had to do a bit of deeper digging. I would consider this to be one of the victories in my project. Coon Creek Bridge in Barnes, KS is reported to be haunted by a ghostly little girl, but I found no sources that could tell me who she was or how she died. However, on a website about haunted places in Kansas, someone claiming to be a local had posted in a comment board that the girl could possibly be “the Bolejack girl who drowned in the creek.” Using the last name, I was able to find death certificates for Betty and Padget Bolejack, two girls who drowned in the pond near Coon Creek Bridge in 1971. Betty was 18 and Padget was only 6. I thought this was really interesting, and it was exciting to feel like I found this piece of information all on my own.

I think one of the main things that made this project different from a physically staged play is that I had very little conference with the director. He didn’t really have any questions for me, so my project was done almost completely for the audience’s benefit. I think this was still a very good learning experience for me, though, because I am very interested in public relations. To me, this felt like my role as a dramaturg on this project was to create a relationship with the audience. I enjoyed the project, and I think it will give me something good to show as an example of my work for both public relations and dramaturgy. However, in the future, I think I would be challenged more as a dramaturg if I were able to take on a project that had more collaboration with the director or the playwright.

Listening to the show was a really interesting experience. The sound effects were really impressive. The sounds of the rain against the windows and the hum of the car driving sounded so realistic. I also loved the knocking on the window, and the way the man’s voice was muted when he was speaking through it. There was also a kind of echo effect on the mother’s voice on her line after Mary finally asks for her help that was really cool and made her sound super ghostly. Some of the sound effects during the struggle between Mary and the man were so effective that they made me actually cringe.

As someone who also has an interest in directing, it was difficult to listen to the play without having an overly critical ear. One part that I would have liked to hear a little bit differently was the preacher’s voice through the radio. The static radio effect was really interesting, but it was just a little bit too much in my opinion because it made it a bit difficult to actually understand what the preacher was saying. If it had been dialed back just a tiny bit it probably would have been great. I think it’s important that the audience can clearly hear those lines because the preacher talks about the flames of hell both at the beginning and the end, so it makes it feel like the play is coming full circle and it also supports the idea that the events in this play have happened many times before and will happen again. In my own head I had been imaging the preacher as more of a “fire and brimstone” type, so I also would have liked to hear the actor take more inspiration from that style of intense preaching. I also felt that the play came off as a bit slow-paced until the struggle was happening. However, I know from experience that it is so hard to get the pacing for audio only performance. Overall, I wish that I would have had the opportunity to sit in on some rehearsals and see more of the process of how the play came together.

Finalizing Dramaturgy for “Choke”

My primary goal with dramaturgy for Choke was to create something that would be engaging for the audience. Visuals were an important part of that since the show is being performed as a podcast. I ended up creating a PowerPoint that will be available on the Kansas Theatre Works Podcast website for audiences to view. The PowerPoint has one slide that is specifically dedicated to images that I felt captured the mood of the show, but there are many interesting images throughout the rest of the slides as well. I included a slide over the theme of the show, which has a QR code that will link audiences to my post on this blog about themes in “Choke.” However, most of the PowerPoint is dedicated to spooky locations near the setting of the play, and spooky bridges in Kansas.

There is no location specified in “Choke,” but Mary mentions Hocking River Bridge, and later asks the stranger if he is travelling to Chillicothe. This suggests that the play must take place near Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. I was unable to find any evidence of reportedly haunted bridges in Hocking Hills State Park, but there are a few locations within the park that are rumored to be haunted. There are two haunted caves: Ash Cave and Old Man’s Cave. At Ash Cave, visitors have reported seeing a ghostly woman who appears to be wearing clothing from around the 1920s or 30s. Old Man’s Cave gets it’s name from the elderly man who supposedly haunts it. His name is rumored to be Retzler, and he and his dog, Harper, have haunted the cave for over one hundred years.

I thought it would also be fun to include bridges in Kansas that are rumored to be haunted. I already knew of one, known as Theorosa’s Bridge or The Bridge of Theorosa’s Revenge. I had heard many different stories of this bridge because it is actually located only about an hour from where I grew up. I remember when I was in high school it was a common activity for kids to drive to the bridge at night and try to see the ghost. Everyone who went claimed that they could feel her energy. The bridge, which is near Valley Center, has several different stories attached to it. The most common seems to be that Theorosa was a Native American woman who had a child with a white settler and drowned the baby in the river to hide her shame. She was then overwhelmed by grief and jumped into the water after her baby, resulting in both their deaths. Strange events reported at the bridge include sightings of a ghostly woman, cold breezes, mournful sobbing, and the sound of a baby crying. Several drivers have also reported their cars randomly stalling in the middle of the bridge.

Another haunted bridge I found in Kansas is the Coon Creek Bridge in Barnes. There is very little information on what may have occurred in the past to cause the haunting of this bridge, but visitors to the bridge have reported that a ghostly little girl can be seen walking through the woods near the bridge. Sightings of the apparition are most common around sunrise. Since there was almost no information about why the bridge may be haunted, I almost didn’t include it in the PowerPoint. However, I managed to find a comment on a website dedicated to haunted sites in Kansas that came from a local woman in Barnes. She claimed that the child haunting the bridge was most likely the Bolejack girl who drowned there. Once I had a last name I was able to look up more information. Upon further research, death certificates can be found for Betty and Padget Bolejack, two girls who drowned in the pond near Coon Creek Bridge in 1971. Betty was 18 and Padget was only 6.

The final haunted bridge that I included in my PowerPoint is probably the most interesting one. The Rocky Ford Bridge, aka Bird Bridge, in Emporia, Kansas is so famous that a documentary was actually made about it. In 1983, Reverend Tom Bird was accused of drugging his wife, Sandy, with the help of his mistress Lorna. The two then made it appear as if Sandy Bird accidentally ran her car over the edge of Rocky Ford Bridge. No foul play was suspected in the incident until the husband of the Reverend’s mistress turned up dead as well. An investigation was then launched, resulting in the conviction of both Tom and Lorna in the death of Lorna’s husband. Tom was not convicted in his wife’s death until a year and a half later. A true crime documentary titled “Murder Ordained” was made about the events surrounding Rocky Ford Bridge. Many have reported hearing a woman’s screams on the bridge late at night. It is believed to be the ghost of Sandy Bird. I actually found a website for a team of paranormal investigators who claim to have attempted to make contact with Sandy Bird at the bridge. They say that they did not find the spirit of Sandy Bird, but they did come into contact with another spirit with a “negative energy.” They say that they believe that spirit spends time at the bridge because it enjoys scaring people who come trying see the ghost of Sandy Bird.

Themes in “Choke”

The very first line in “Choke” is a warning from an Evangelist preacher, “…the true nature of man. Friends, I’m here to tell ya, startin’ with Adam and Eve, mankind screwed the pooch.” Right away this tells us that religion will be a major theme in the play, specifically as it relates to sin. The mother, referred to only as Mother, and daughter, Mary, spend most of the play quarrelling over their own different understandings of religion. Mother believes that all men are born evil, stating that it says so in the Bible. Mary believes mankind is much more complex than that, and that sometimes people do good and sometimes people do evil. Clearly evil is another major theme of the play. The play seeks to explore whether or not people will commit evil deeds if given the clear opportunity. In the case of this play, the answer is yes. Not only does the audience bear witness to the evil of the hitchhiking man that is picked up by the mother/daughter pair, but the ending of the play suggests that similar events have transpired many times before.

The question of whether humans are inherently good or inherently evil is one that has plagued philosophers for centuries. This is one of the major questions that my director has asked me to look into as a dramaturg. If you are inclined to believe the Biblical answer like Mother, then yes, all men are inherently evil. Especially in Catholicism or Evangelism, the concept of original sin is heavily stressed. They believe that all humans are born with the guilt of Adam and Eve’s first sin, and this has created a lack of fear and trust in God, therefore making sin something that comes naturally to us. Evangelicals in particular believe that original sin is so radical that it has caused us to lose all righteousness and connection with God. In fact, 44% of Evangelicals disagreed with the statement, “humans are basically good.”

Attached here is one of the most helpful articles I found while researching how Evangelicals view mankind in terms of good and evil. It explains their view on original sin and what they believe one must do to reach salvation.

https://www.1517.org/articles/original-sin-what-does-this-mean

Beginning Dramaturgy for “Choke”

I am starting on dramaturgy for a new short play called Choke. This play will be produced as a podcast for Kansas Theatre Works. The play focuses on a young woman and her mother arguing in the car as they are driving. They come across a man in need of a ride, and the young woman decides to pick him up despite her mother’s warnings against it. The play has a spooky and unexpected ending. I was interested in this play because I’ve always been drawn to local ghost/horror stories, and that’s one of the avenues I’d like to go down while doing research for this play. I thought it could be very engaging for the audience if I found other local legends similar to the one in the play, or found ghost stories from all over Kansas and put together the most interesting ones. The play is in the range of 10-15 minutes long, so there is really not much research that needs to be done for it. My plan is to focus on putting together material that will really get the audience engaged in the production.

I’m still waiting to hear back from the director of this play on what other things he may want me to look into or what he might like me to communicate with the playwright about. I have never worked as a dramaturg for a new work before, so I am excited to see how this process is different from what I have done in the past and how it will help me grow as a dramaturg. For now I have been starting a Pinterest board with imagery that I feel captures the play. It has a lot of spooky looking bridges, as well as some dilapidated looking cars. I have a picture of the actual car that is mentioned in the play, a Ford Galaxy ’77, but I have been unable to find one that had the rustic look I’d like to see. Here’s the link to the board:

https://www.pinterest.com/meghanm000/choke-imagery/

World of The Play in “…Young and Unafraid”

When We Were Young and Unafraid takes place in 1972, in the midst of the Women’s Right’s Movement. Women’s rights activists in the 60’s through the 70’s were considered to be part of the “second wave” of feminism. However, this wave has hardly reached the coasts of Whidbey Island, a small island off the coast of Washington state with a bay too shallow for ships to pass through. This is where Agnes runs her bed and breakfast. What appears to be a cozy getaway to tourists also moonlights as a shelter for battered women. Despite having devoted her entire life to helping women, Agnes does not view herself as a feminist. On this small island, and throughout most of the country, feminist is still a dirty word.

Aside from Agnes, who has never had time for a man in her life, all of the women in this play struggle to view themselves outside of the context of men. Penny is the young and impressionable teen daughter of Agnes. Although she is intrigued by the women’s lib movement and wants to go to Yale, a college that became co-ed only four years prior, she still desperately wants to understand boys. Mary Anne enters the scene and teaches Penny how to win the attention of the captain of the football team. Penny is all too quick to throw her ambition out the window in the hopes of impressing a man. The lessons that Mary Anne teaches reflect the way women are expected to behave in this time period. She tells Penny that a man will never want her unless he thinks she needs him. She can’t be stronger or smarter than him. The only way to appear attractive is by appearing helpless.

Mary Anne comes with her own brand of internalized misogyny. She cannot imagine her life without a man to take care of her. This was the reality for many women in this time period. They had very few opportunities to make their own money or own their own property, and most women did not even realize they could be anything other than a housewife. After escaping her abusive relationship, she quickly attaches herself to the next available man. Paul is a guest at the bed and breakfast, taking some time away after being left by his wife. He claims that all he wants is the love of a good woman, but no matter how kind Paul may appear, he still shows just how pervasive toxic masculinity was in the 70s. Paul is your typical “nice guy.” He cannot imagine that he played any role in the falling apart of his marriage. Behind his façade of being kind-hearted and charming, he still feels that he is entitled to a relationship with Mary Anne, and shows his darker side when she does not immediately reciprocate his advances. Mary Anne gives in, later telling Agnes, “What else could I do?” In this world, consent is not something that is taught. Men do not assume they need to ask for consent, and women have never been told that they have the power to give it or take it away.

Hannah is the exact opposite of Mary Anne, and she is representative of the views of “radical feminists” of this time period. Despite being attracted to men, Hannah calls herself a lesbian. She explains that to be a true feminist one must be a political lesbian, or a lesbian in practice, even if they are not really attracted to women. Hannah is seeking an all female colony of other radical feminists, which she refers to as the Gorgons. However, their brand of feminism does not seem to be too concerned with the helping of other women. Hannah views Mary Anne as a weak character, even going so far as to say that she got herself into her situation, essentially victim-blaming. Hannah believes the only way for women to be liberated is to cut all ties with men. However, after spending some time with the Gorgons, she realizes that they are not actually doing anything to help anyone. While she once judged Agnes for taking in “weak” women, she comes to realize that what Agnes is doing is making actual change and helping real women, and that is what feminism should be about.

Glossary for “…Young and Unafraid”

To start off my work on When We Were Young And Unafraid, I have re-read the play and picked out some words to include in a glossary. The play is written in modern language, so there weren’t really too many words that I felt needed to be included. A few of these are references to places or things that are common to where the play takes place. Most are just large words that most people don’t use in every day life. Some have a specific meaning in relation to the play. One of the words is said in the play as parthogenic. As of right now I’m assuming that this is meant to be a mispronunciation parthogenetic.

Ozone

Co-ed

Bourgeois 

Patriarchal

Summer Solstice

Useless Bay

Salish (Indians)

Sacagawea

Entropy

Thermodynamics

Gorgons

Ti-Grace Atkinson

Minotour

Labyrinth 

Parthenogenic (Parthenogenetic?)

Artemis

When We Were Young and Unafraid

I’m currently working on dramaturgy for the Sarah Treem play, When We Were Young and Unafraid. The world premeire of this play was produced Off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center – Stage I. The play was directed by Pam MacKinnon and featured the cast of Cherise Boothe, Patch Darragh, Cherry Jones, Zoe Kazan, and Morgan Saylor.

I first discovered this work when I was researching plays that I would potentially propose to direct at my university. I knew I wanted to direct a play that I felt connected to, so I began searching for plays related to causes that I was passionate about. While browsing through articles about feminist plays, I first read the synopsis to When We Were Young and Unafraid. It was one of several plays that grabbed my attention, so I found a friend who had a pdf copy of it and read through it for the first time. The play quickly made it into the final round of plays that I was considering for proposing. I was moved by how the play was a brutally honest look at the difficult issues that women faced in the 70’s, many of which we are unfortunately still facing today. The female roles in the play would provide a challenge both for actresses, and for me as a director. I was also very excited to potentially team up with feminist and anti-sexual violence organizations on campus to spread awareness about the issues raised in the play. I proposed the show to the theatre faculty at my university, and was invited to direct a staged reading of the show in Spring 2021. Unfortunately, due to coronavirus, our live season has been cancelled and replaced with a podcast season. Although I will no longer have the opportunity to direct this play for the foreseeable future, I am very excited to dive into the script more with an in-depth dramaturgy of the play.

Through the research I have done already, I’ve discovered that this play was work-shopped at the Sundance Theatre Lab prior to it’s Off-Broadway production. I had actually never heard of the Sundance Theatre Lab before this, so I would like to learn more about that process, specifically as it was used with this play. I would also like to look more into how domestic violence is portrayed on-stage, both how it is experienced by actors and how it is received by audiences. I think this is something that will be extremely important for me to learn more about as an aspiring director, especially since I am particularly attracted to plays that focus on women’s issues.

This play was published fairly recently, so there has not yet been much research done specifically for it. This will give me an opportunity to really create my own path with this dramaturgy. For right now I’m going to continue to focus on researching the women’s issues of the time period. I’d also like to find ways to get involved with the anti-sexual violence organization on my campus, and see what I can learn from them. It may be a difficult issue to navigate, but I think it is important to gather information about the response victims of domestic violence have to this play. I personally believe the character of Mary Anne would be extremely difficult to navigate as an actress or director, and it’s very important the she be portrayed in a way that is accurate and not offensive to the experience of victims. The psychology behind her character is something that I would like to especially focus on.

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