MOVING TO EXCITEMENT, BY ROLAND MOORE
It’s our first rehearsal for Seat of the Pants’ production of Elephant’s Graveyard. We sit in a circle of folding metal chairs and are told to introduce ourselves by saying our names and something about us that has nothing to do with the play, nor even with theatre generally. “For example,” says our Director, “my name is Craig and I’m an animal lover.” Then he adds that (it just so happens) he is fostering a really sweet dog who is looking for a new home. We meet her at the next rehearsal and she really is a sweetie. At some point later that evening, he asks us to consider this question: “What moves you as a person, and what excites you as an artist, about this play?”
When I first read the script, I was profoundly moved. I hadn’t wanted to read it, nor even to audition for the show. It sounded bizarre and the list of characters even more bizarre. Sure enough, at first, I didn’t like it. It’s a demanding script, requiring the reader to vigorously exercise their imagination. Continuing to read, tears welled up until I cried. Hard! It was ugly. I was moved to a place of both deep-seated grief and violent rage – all from reading this bizarre little script.
As an animal lover myself, I cried for Mary, abused with an elephant hook by her rookie red-haired rider, and then tortured by her executioners, albeit unintentionally. I cried for all animals who suffer at the hands of human cruelty and neglect. My rage is for them. I thought of all the victims of roadkill and hunting for “sport,” those used and killed in medical experiments, and even those caged up in zoos (and to be honest, circuses) for our education and “entertainment.” And I cried for all the dearly beloved pets whose lives I have ended with euthanasia. The most recent, Sugarfoot, is pictured above. I was moved, finally, to audition for the show. I was moved to excitement.
What excites me as an artist about this play, first of all, is to rise to the demands of the script. It’s going to be a challenge to play the Marshal, someone I pictured at first as a bully, a proud boy, who keeps the peace by pushing others around, uneducated, cocksure of himself and his mission, convinced that winning is everything and everyone else, especially losers, are wrong and need to leave this country. As an artist, I will need to exercise my imagination vigorously in order to tell the story from the Marshal’s perspective.
Through just four rehearsals, with the help of the ensemble and the exercises we have used, I’m already discovering things about the Marshal that weren’t evident on first reading. For example, where do bullies come from? Often, they were bullied themselves and being laughed at just triggers those memories. They express their pain by inflicting it on others. Also, he really does love his community and his country. He is proud to be an American and wants to help it make the impossible possible.
Eight years ago, I left the world of work to pursue my passion. My passion has always been to move people through telling compelling stories on the stage. I started college (way back in the 1970s) as a theatre major, but life took my vocation down a different path. My avocation, though, has remained acting in community theatres. When I left my job, I looked for training opportunities to tune up my artistic skills and found the Great Lakes Michael Chekhov Consortium (GLMCC). It’s where I met Craig and Scott and others connected with SotP.
It excites me to be able to use the artistic tools and techniques I’ve learned with an ensemble of other artists who speak the same vocabulary, who know what those tools are and how they work. As an audience member for many SotP productions, I have often been profoundly moved by what I’ve seen. I hope audiences of Elephant’s Graveyard are likewise moved. Now, as an artist, I am excited to be working with Seat of the Pants. They are an extraordinary company!