SETTING THE STAGE: CRAIG JOSEPH

Whenever I direct a play, I write a one page conceptual statement about my “take” on the script, in an effort to get everyone - actors, designers, marketing folk, etc - on the same page. I usually do this weeks before our first rehearsal or design meetings.

This time has been a bit different. I held off on doing this until AFTER our first six months of exploring the play together. This was frustrating for some of the team at times because “what we were working toward” was a bit amorphous, but I can honestly say that what I’v written is miles away from what I would have written without the insights I’ve gathered from watching all of these individuals play over the past six months. My work as a director has been made richer and fuller because of them. So here’s where things are at as we move forward:

What gives your play beauty?

THE WAY IT CHAMPIONS THEATRE: There’s a lot not to like about our industry at moments - and especially in this season - and I love the way that OCG is a bit of a hymn to the transformative power of art. The play is a testimony to how the theatre - and the collaboration that happens between actors, director, and audience - can transform us for the better.

ITS MALLEABILITY / FLEXIBILITY: I love the opportunity OCG gives actors to stretch: to play different roles, differentiate these characters, and find the common threads between them. The script offers very little specificity in terms of design, which allows us to play unfettered. Being a play about a play, the script supports a certain level of meta-theatricality that will enable us to effectively address contemporary issues that weren’t at the forefront when it was written.

ITS COMPLEXITY: Nothing about this play is easy - its subject matter, staging it, the process by which we’ve chosen to come at it. And it’s pretty unflinching about its characters, who all have both light and dark aspects to them. In this, there’s a great opportunity for presenting an honest, “full” production that will ask lots of questions, suggests some answers, but also allow the play to reverberate as it will in different individuals.


What kind of play is it?

HISTORICAL PARABLE: “Historical” in that it takes as its starting point some real people and events that help us anchor ourselves. “Parabolic” in that it “curves” these actualities to make a point, teach some lessons, pose some questions, and more. In that, we responsibly determine when we must accent the historical “syllables” and when we must put emphasis on the playwright’s (or production’s) purposeful fictions.

AGIT-PROP: Content and form both feel to me a bit like the works that the Federal Theatre Project would produce during the Great Depression. It’s obviously making some points about reformation within the penal system, the dangers of colonialism, etc - and it also seems to be doing so in a way that is cognizant of the audience, mildly confrontational, and allows the “machinery” of the production to be seen in full view.


What is it about?

The possibility of CHANGE / TRANSFORMATION / REDEMPTION - ways to achieve it

The problematic nature of POWER / DOMINATION / SUBJUGATION / VIOLENCE

The role of IMAGINATION / FANCY / CREATIVITY in building a better world

The tensions between INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS and COMMUNAL RESPONSIBILITY, especially as it plays out in the conflicts between men and women, officers and convicts

GUILT and INNOCENCE - and how we’re all an odd mixture of both


Why is it necessary?

Our world feels like it’s teetering on the edge of a precipice - and it might find its footing on solid ground again, or it might just as easily tumble to its demise. The play captures how others navigated a similar crossroads moment, presenting two ways forward. We can hold fast to how things have always been done, practicing domination, hierarchy, violence, and retribution, changing the world through force. Or we can embrace the possibility of a new way, championing mercy, grace, reconciliation, and our “better angels,” changing the world through truth, beauty, and goodness. Which way will we go?


What universal truths does it demonstrate?

  • Change is possible, but doesn’t come without a cost. And sometimes change is not welcomed, needed, or beneficial.

  • Our communal world / nation / colony is what our individual decisions make it.

  • Good art is transformative.

  • The colonizing impulse is everywhere in human nature - and come in many forms.

    What excites you as an artist about the work?

    • I love ensemble pieces - and this is a great one. Also one of the larger casts in SotP.
    • Of course, this whole process has been exciting to me - challenging as hell, but still worth it.
    • I’m seeing the results of how this way of working is changing my process; I think I’m seeing it bring different things out of each actor; I’m curious how this will morph the design work.
    • I can’t wait to see how audiences react to this play; I think it’s a crowd pleaser.

    What moves you as a person about the play?

  • This was one of my favorite roles (Sideway) and I love the chance to come back to it from the other side of the equation - with about 20 more years of life experience on me.

  • What it says about theater feels very necessary for my own soul at the moment.

  • It’s one of those rare plays that keeps opening itself up with new revelations each time I read it - and especially since I’ve been reading it with all of you in community.

  • I’m moved and touched by the moments when individual characters start to “get it” and how that correspondingly then affects the whole community.

    Governing Images / Metaphors

    • The Exquisite Corpse
    • Colorforms
    • A Traveling Sideshow
    • Transitions

Craig Joseph