Saturday, July 29, 2023

The Ghost Theatre (book)

Pengo's 2023 Summer Book Club

It is common knowledge that women were not allowed to perform on stage in public during that period when Shakespeare wrote his plays. Roles such as Juliet, Viola, Rosalind, Portia, even Lady Macbeth and Cleopatra, were all (likely) first performed by adolescent boys.

However, in the early years of the 17th Century, there were acting companies composed entirely of male children. It was a thing. They played not only the women’s roles, but the men’s roles, too. Not at the Globe, however. In fact, Shakespeare was so irritated by the practice that the First Folio edition of Hamlet, printed in 1623, includes an exchange in which even a Danish prince has opinions about a theatrical convention in England that had fallen out of favor years earlier.

Act II, Scene ii: Hamlet laments the fortunes which have befallen a beloved troupe of actors who have lost patronage and must travel to make their nut. The “late innovation” Rosencrantz alludes to are the companies of boy players.
HAMLET
What players are they?

ROSENCRANTZ
Even those you were wont to take such
delight in, the tragedians of the city.

HAMLET
How chances it they travel? Their residence,
both in reputation and profit, was better both ways.

ROSENCRANTZ
I think their inhibition comes by the
means of the late innovation.

HAMLET
Do they hold the same estimation they did
when I was in the city? Are they so followed?

ROSENCRANTZ
No, indeed are they not.

HAMLET
How comes it? Do they grow rusty?

ROSENCRANTZ
Nay, their endeavor keeps in the wonted
pace. But there is, sir, an aerie of children, little
eyases, that cry out on the top of question and are
most tyrannically clapped for ’t. These are now the
fashion and so berattle the common stages (so
they call them) that many wearing rapiers are afraid
of goose quills and dare scarce come thither.

HAMLET
What, are they children? Who maintains ’em?
How are they escoted? Will they pursue the quality
no longer than they can sing? Will they not say
afterwards, if they should grow themselves to common
players (as it is most like, if their means are
no better), their writers do them wrong to make
them exclaim against their own succession?

ROSENCRANTZ
Faith, there has been much to-do on
both sides, and the nation holds it no sin to tar
them to controversy. There was for a while no
money bid for argument unless the poet and the
player went to cuffs in the question.

HAMLET 
Is ’t possible?

GUILDENSTERN
Do the boys carry it away?

ROSENCRANTZ
Ay, that they do, my lord—Hercules
and his load too.
Wedding feast at the house
of Sir Henry Unton
(unknown, c. 1596)
The text in italics is not present in the Second Quarto (1604) which begs the question: Why was this exchange not part of the printed text when the subject was relevant, and added long after the fad had passed? I assume (and it is only my assumption) that some cheeky, possibly embittered adult performers first improvised this bit of topical humor, and it was later added to the prompt book from which the text of the First Folio was edited.

The “Children of the Blackfriars Theatre” are the inspiration for the novel The Ghost Theatre, a novel by Mat Osman, author and former bass player for the 90s Britpop band Suede. I need to expand my repertoire of reads, because I keep getting recommended and then falling into Shakespearean pastiches. Last summer it was Bedtrick, which I enjoyed, and then there’s Hamnet which I started more than once but keep losing interest in.

I seem to have just enough knowledge of what we do and do not know about Shakespeare the man that I have little patience with anything that smells fishy. What’s great about Ghost Theatre is that the Bard is mentioned once, in passing, and only then in regards to the aforementioned whinging from Hamlet.

The courtly theater of Blackfriars is a different beast than the Globe, in that it serves an audience of greater means, and as an indoor theater can play with light and stage effects in a manner that a daylight theater cannot. And in that, it is a very interesting read, a peek into a popular entertainment that doesn’t get the wide and varied historical fiction treatment that the Globe has received.

The story also delves into the murky world of a company made entirely of “underage” actors, taken from their parents (with permission from the Queen) to perform for the entertainment of adult audiences, with all of the perils that might suggest. 

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Minnesota Fringe Festival: Twenty Years On

Next week, I will have my first script bow at the BorderLight Fringe Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. I spent the first decade of the 21st Century paying attention to the fringe movement that was taking fire across the country, never imagining we would eventually have our own right here at home.

And yet, next week my play Step Nine will go up four times in the Snug at Parnell’s Pub in Playhouse Square. Better yet, it’s free. Check it out.

Red Eye Theatre, August 2003
Twenty years ago this week, however, I was in the Twin Cities for the tenth annual Minnesota Fringe Festival. This was the first time I had personally produced a show at any festival, and my learning curve was steep. 

The show was I Hate This (a play without the baby) and the things I learned there would serve me extremely well over the next decade. At that time, I started my first blog (I Hate This Blog) to record the experience.

Some lessons were hard: primarily, to plan for success and also to set your expectations very low. The home team, wherever you are producing, will have the advantage of family, friends, colleagues and a pre-existing audience. I learned to be happy with the attention I could attract, the audience I could engage.
Our (opening night) house was very, very small. It was a difficult show for me - I have never performed it without at least a few audience members who know who I am. No one laughed much, The tiny house contributed to this, I am sure, but I just couldn't tell if it was flying.

Afterwards I just sat in the dressing room a few minutes, trying to pull it together. I mean, tonight's show was one of the hardest things I have ever done, ever. The lighting guy (for the venue) came in and told me how great the show was.

I told him how I felt about the audience not laughing ever and he said, "Oh, that's just a Minnesota thing, you don't laugh at someone else's problems.” — August 2, 2003
I also learned to see as many shows as I could. There are a number of reasons for this, not least of which to glom onto the zeitgeist, to know what’s going on, not just in the festival, but in the larger world. Getting out into the festival also gives you the opportunity to meet not only the artists but the support staff, for the venue, and the festival itself.
(My brother) had some friends over for dinner, and I found myself in the position of trying to describe the differences between the style of performance in my show and (Rik Reppe's) "Staggering Toward America." I play characters, but then so does Rik ... but he's not really acting, only, well, what are we doing when we impersonate someone else and tell something from their point of view, I mean, isn't that what acting is?

On the way home from seeing Amy Salloway in "Does This Monologue Make Me Look Fat?" I was struck by all of these deep thoughts about solo performance, and not just solo perf. but spoken word perf, and not just that, but the entire stripped-of-artifice thing — as can be illustrated by the work of the Neo-Futurists.

(We) saw three of them (Neo-Futurists) do a final dress of "Drinking & Writing" at the Bryant-Lake Bowl. They do the show in a bar, the three of them drink the entire time (well, the two guys do) and talk about drinking and its effect on writing and great American writers ... or (vice) versa.

I have been struck by a number of no-frills shows at this Fringe, shows that have a great deal of honesty and heart ... Shows that really communicate something, told by people who I am actually happy to listen to. I only hope I can count myself among those people.
August 6, 2003
Nick Koesters, Denny Hansen & Me
Volunteers for "Voice-In-Head"
Minneapolis Theater Garage, 2003
Self-promotion, while an end unto itself, is also helpful in teaching you how to think about your own work. This is from the first day:
I ran into some people outside (the venue). They asked what my show was, and I said, "I Hate This" and as they looked at my card one asked, "Oh? And what do you hate?" and I said, "oh ... uh, I, ah, my wife and I had a stillborn child, and, uh, this is about that." 

"Oh," he said, kindly.

I said, "Yeah, I really gotta work on the pitch." — August 1, 2003
Then, two days later:
I approached a number of people… One said, "I've heard good things about this," and another, "what is it about?" 

And I said, "Two years ago my wife and I had a child who was stillborn and this is about the year I spent coping with it. Now, whatever you think a show like that might be like, forget it." 

Then someone asked, "Is it a good show?" and I said, "It's a great show — your friend here already heard good things about it." — August 3, 2003
Looking forward, to the BorderLight Fringe, I hope to maintain some of the perspective that I gained from festivals I have attended in other cities. The Minnesota Fringe was, even twenty years ago, quite progressive in their implementation of social media. Facebook wouldn’t even exist for another year, Twitter even later, and yet in 2003 the MN Fringe had a message board ("Vox Fringe") for anyone to leave reviews and starred ratings.

The question then, as now, is what percentage of participants on their message boards were potential audiences, or other fringe artists.
Last night the Vox Fringe board greeted us with this cry in the wilderness: "Who Do I Have To Blow To Get A Mainstream Review?" 

Ah, yes. The question of the ages. This person went on to lament the fact that all the papers have covered the same dozen shows (this is not true) and goes along with the accusation of local critics ignoring the out-of-town acts (they haven't.) 
But there is something to be said for the media concentrating on established performers and writers and up-and-coming companies which have already made waves at previous Fringes. — August 7, 2003
Finally, during the frenzy of festival activity, it is good to reflect upon what it is you are offering, and how it fits into the larger picture of the event. The following year, when I brought my show to New York, I heard someone say, “I like my fringe funny.” Not surprisingly, they were not interested in seeing a show about stillbirth.
One of the two closing night parties was last night ... I only got to chat with a few people ... one conversation was with a Fringer artist … she was torn up about a review she received in the weekly paper, and I think I said all the right things for her to put it in perspective. I mean, the show isn't for the (local weekly paper’s) readership … 

"Your show isn't hip," I said. "My show isn't hip. You know people like your show, they've told you, and that's what matters, when you come down to it." — August 10, 2003
James Rankin & Nicholas Chokan
"Step Nine"
Give Me Your Keys, 2023
Very soon, artists will descend upon downtown Cleveland for the BorderLight Fringe. The festival is still in its infancy, and I am excited and apprehensive. Will people come? What will they say? Which shows will have what we called “buzz”, and which will not? 

You might think it would be very difficult, over the course of only three days, to generate buzz, so many of us are working ahead of time to get the word out there.

And who knows? Perhaps net weekend some young artist will be taking their first step on a lifelong journey.
I wonder how long I will be producing (“I Hate This.”) — August 8, 2003

Give Me Your Keys presents "Step Nine" by David Hansen, August 3 -5, 2023 at the Snug in Parnell's Pub in Playhouse Square as part of the BorderLight Fringe Festival. Admission is free. 

Saturday, July 15, 2023

Hand Clapping Games

River Bay Day Camp
That's me, second from left.
(August 1978)
The girls had secrets. This was understood. There were no girls in our house (mom wanted a girl, apparently that’s why they had me) so I remained ignorant of even the most basic facts of girlhood until I started dating one.

But as I was saying, girls had secrets. And they had mysteries. They could divine the future and probe the inner-most thoughts of their friends and others through the use of a cootie-catcher. 

They passed notes and looked at you and whispered (or in my case, they didn’t look at you and whispered) and they executed intricate hand-clapping games with bravely-recited, risqué lyrics.
Miss Suzy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Miss Suzy went to heaven
The steamboat went to …
HELLO operator
Give me number nine
If you disconnect me
I'll kick your big …
BEHIND the 'frigerator
There was a piece of glass
Miss Suzy fell upon it
And cut her big fat …
ASK me no more questions
Give me no more lies
The boys are in the restroom
zipping up their …
FLIES are in the meadow
The bees are in the park
Miss Suzy and her boyfriend
Are kissing in the D. A. R. K.
D. A. R. K. D. A. R. K.
Dark Dark Dark!!
When I was ten, the cool girls really liked to say the word “ass.” Like in that Blondie song, you know the one.

There was this oral tradition among children which goes back generations (see: Ben Is Dead) where songs like these were passed along without thought of where they came from or where they might lead. Do kids still recite "Miss Suzy" while clapping, or jumping rope?

Regardless, I am thinking of composing some verses for this thing I'm working on. I think it will be fun!

River Bay Day Camp, 1963
Cleveland Memory Project

Saturday, July 8, 2023

Forest Hill Park Footbridge

Under Construction, 1939-40
For better or for worse, I am a runner. There are a number of short routes which take me from my home in Cleveland Heights and through the neighborhood or the city, though many of those will include inclines which, depending on the day, can be welcome or not.

Some time ago I realized how close I was to Forest Hill Park, which spans both the Heights and East Cleveland. It’s almost exactly a mile there (and a mile back) and once there, I can take a few different paths to create a 5K, a four or even five miler. And the entire route is mostly flat.

Once upon a time, Forest Hill was the home of John D. Rockefeller. Featuring a bluff from which you could view the city of Cleveland, the estate was a summer retreat for the family until the mid-1910s. In 1939, J.D. Rockefeller Jr. donated the property to both cities for public recreational use. It was at that time that Works Progress Administration funds were employed to create a footbridge to span a 350-foot valley, through which runs Forest Hill Boulevard.

It’s a lovely bridge, built with a steel skeleton and faced with locally quarried Euclid bluestone. More recently, a cage-like addition was added to the middle section for safety. It has also kept the bridge free from tagging.

Photo: J. Mark Souther
I will often take the bridge from East Cleveland to Cleveland Heights and back on my runs, and once even incorporated the bridge into a script I wrote, a play which is intended to be performed live via cellphone, while running through the park.

Over recent years, the bridge at either end had been damaged, the stone walls knocked over, possibly by careless motor vehicles in the park, or in some cases, probably pushed over by mischievous hands.

A couple years ago, however, repair workers replaced and repaired the damage and now they look good again. I stopped in the middle of a run in October, 2021 to thank and compliment the guys who were employed for the project, for their work.

Sources:
Cleveland Historical

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Caledonia Memories

Chambers Elementary, 1980
East Cleveland City School District
Last Thursday, I met my friend Marcie at Parnell’s on Cedar Road to talk about East Cleveland. When she was a kid her family relocated to Cleveland Heights, when her father, a pastor, was assigned to a new church. However, the neighborhood where she lived at that time was part of the East Cleveland City School District, and she attended Caledonia Elementary School.

Those Heights neighborhoods are still served by the ECCSD, including a few houses at the end of my street. Caledonia Elementary is less than a mile from my house.

Marcie witnessed the rapid change in demographics that was happening at that time. In 1960, Black citizens only made up 2% of the population of East Cleveland. By the time her white family enrolled in the East Cleveland public schools, the population of the city was 67% Black, and by the time her father was relocated to a church in Akron in 1982, she was a member of EC’s 14% white minority. She recalls she was one of two white kids in her class.

Her memories of the school community, and the church community which played such a large part in her childhood, were that of “warmth and love, a tight community” in which kids were always outside, playing and riding their bikes. They played double-dutch and hand-clapping games and basketball – but the kids were forbidden to play in the ravine behind the elementary school. 

They did, of course. They were kids!

She did recall one time some girls wouldn’t let her play with them because, so they said, she was white. Deciding to try a word she had recently thought she heard, Marcie defended herself by saying, “I’m not white – I’m Carnation!”

But the prevailing mood was one of optimism. On of Marcie's fondest memories was the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, and singing The Mamas and The Papas song “There’s a New World Coming” with the school chorus.

Did you grow up in East Cleveland? Reach out in the comments!  

Sources: