WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?

What the heck is this Our Country’s Good project all about?

Well, the pandemic afforded everyone some time to reflect and - in the season of contemplation - one of my creative dreams rose to the forefront. A hallmark of Seat of the Pants’ work is that we engage in longer rehearsal processes, allowing actors and designers to live with a play for a bit more than is traditional, in the hopes of telling a more authentic, lived-in, fully realized tale. I wondered: “What if - instead of planning and executing a traditional four show season - we picked one play and worked on it for a whole year, having an opportunity to experiment, play, learn new technique as we go along, and more fully integrate designers into the rehearsal process?” My intriguing proposal seemed to resonate with several artists who were thinking about doing theatre in a new way - and so the Our Country’s Good project was born. 

Our Country’s Good is Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play, based on true events, about the founding of Australia as a penal colony in the late 18th century. Conditions on the new continent were difficult, the British Marines were at odds with the indigenous people living there, and the convicts - pickpockets, thieves, prostitutes, brawlers, and more - were living in chaos. A bright idea was proposed: what about putting on a play with the convicts? Would this cultural project have an ennobling and civilizing effect on them? Would the introduction of theatre begin to coalesce some sort of society in the new world? Might the arts be transformative and rehabilitative? The play, with 10 actors playing 22 characters, tells the story.

Since October, we’ve been rehearsing twice a month for four hours at a time. Sometimes, the designers join us. We also have the good fortune of a partnership with the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC) (www.greatlakesmichaelchekhovconsortium.com); several teachers from the group have led workshops with our cast to undergird all of our work with specific technique. We’ve engaged our imaginations, played up on our feet, shared visual research and inspiration, and more - all with the goal of marinating in this world for a long while before sharing it with the public. We’ll continue to work twice a month through May, will then spend a week in residence with GLMCC, and begin a more traditional rehearsal process this summer, presenting our final product August 5th-21st.

As part of this project, we’ve been chronicling our work in short form on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/seatofthepants) and we’ve just launched this blog for some longer reflections and sharing. We encourage you to keep up and follow along as we develop this work over the next few months!