An Equation for a Great Show

Posted by Austin Savage, Observer for the Society of Directors & Choreographers for The Good Negro

Hello Goodman blog followers! The Good Negro has just completed its tech week and we are ready to start fine-tuning the show for our May 10th opening. Since the beginning of my participation in the show, I have observed a few interesting things that feel compelled to share with you:

1. Ever since the first day of rehearsal, director Chuck Smith has yet to remove what he calls his “working cap.” This ever-present cap has become integral to my image of Chuck. The equation is essentially: Thoughtful Director + Hat = Chuck Smith.

2. Tracey Scott Wilson is SUPER-photogenic. Her headshot on page 8 of the Goodman’s OnStage magazine is pretty cool. She writes even better than she photographs.

3. I find that I am able to identify with the vices of my heroes much more easily than I identify with their virtues. Their vices give me confidence that my virtues are as attainable to me as their virtues were to them. That gives me hope for not only for myself, but for humanity on a larger scale.

4. This cast can act. As my friend Russo would say, “They got some chops.”

5. The biggest difference between my previous theatrical experiences and this one is the amount of care that has been involved in this production. Every person I have encountered in this production cares. This is the first project in my burgeoning career in which the amount of sincerity and genuine passion for the piece is apparent in every aspect of the show, from the soles of the shoes to the powerful performances on stage. I hope you can all make it out to the show.

Hoping to one day see the top of Chuck’s head in person,
Austin Savage

“Partna” or “Partner”

Posted by Terrence Mosley (Assistant Director of The Good Negro)

Intimacy among men has always been a hot-button issue. Most don’t usually want to admit that we need each other. Most of us don’t want to admit that we need help—period.

“I don’t need directions…I know exactly where I’m going”…Right.

I’ve been thinking about this issue during The Good Negro rehearsal process. We were sitting around the table working on a scene that dealt with the deep relationship between two male characters, when our director Chuck Smith stopped the actors and proclaimed, “When I was growing up, I had Partna! He was the guy that had my back no matter what.”

I retorted, “Nowadays, people have partners.” The table laughed at my wit (at least that’s how I remember it), but Chuck’s comment got me thinking.

It seems that that the bond between men was more evident—and maybe even stronger—50 years ago. What has changed in the span of 50 years to make intimacy between men considered negative? I'm not saying that men ran around hugging each other. Maybe men did not put their feelings on display or express them publicly all the time, but when you look at the photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy, you could see true intimacy and trust between them. These men had a deep rapport…they were “partnas,” as Chuck Smith would say. They held each other up. They weren’t afraid to touch, to pray, to celebrate, to cry, to be with each other and to show the full extent of their friendship in public.

Now, men are forced to hide their intimacy in order to keep social order, sometimes even in their own lives. As more GBLT Americans come to the forefront and become part of the fabric of our everyday lives, straight men seem to be becoming more fearful of expressing intimacy—physical or otherwise.

I ask: “So what if two male friends hug? Does their hug mean anything other than that these two men have a strong bond? Does it mean that they are more than friends? And if they are more than friends, why does it matter if they’re partnas or partners?

I think The Good Negro does an excellent job of showing intimate moments between men…something we all need to become more comfortable with.

The Life-Changing Minute

Posted by Austin Savage, Observer for the Society of Directors & Choreographers for The Good Negro

I was sitting at home in El Paso, Texas, when a mysterious phone number flashed across my cell phone. I normally choose to avoid answering unknown numbers due to the fact that they tend to be solicitous calls for magazine subscriptions or automated voices relating to student loan payments. However, the prefix listed it as a Chicago number, and I decided to answer in the hope that it may have something to do with the fact that I had recently applied to be an Observer for the Society of Directors & Choreographers for the Goodman Theatre production of The Good Negro. The call went like this:

ME: (Shakily) Hello?

KINDLY VOICE: Hello? Is this Austin Savage?

ME: (Equally frightened/hopeful) Yes.

KINDLY VOICE: This is Chuck Smith.

ME: (Trying to play it cool after immediately recognizing the name thanks to online research leading up to my application essay, including this clip.) How are you doing, sir?

KINDLY VOICE: I’m doing fine. I was calling to see if you were still interested in working on The Good Negro. Are you still interested?

ME: (Scrooge-on-Christmas-morning-giddy) Yes, sir! Absolutely! Yes, very much, most interested. Definitely interested, sir. Uh...yes. Thank you, sir.

KINDLY VOICE: You don’t have to call me “sir.” Just call me Chuck.

ME: (Afraid of already blowing it) Sorry, sir...Chuck! Sorry Chuck.

KINDLY VOICE: Alright, I’ll let them know and we’ll get all the arrangements taken care of. You should get your contract soon and I look forward to meeting to you.

ME: (Officially catatonic) Me too.

KINDLY VOICE: Take care.

ME: Me too.

That was it. In less than one minute I was going to be working at the Goodman. (I had actually interviewed for an internship at the Goodman this past fall. I got the call about the interview while working at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and I flew back home, then hopped into a rental car with my girlfriend the next day to make the 24-hour drive to the Goodman for the interview. I didn’t get that gig, but karma and work ethic eventually get you where you want to go!)

Unfortunately, there was no one around to immediately share the good news with, so I just jumped around the room like Tommy Lasorda after Gibby’s homer in ’88 (for those of you who don’t know or have forgotten, check out the 9:15 mark).

We are nearly two weeks in to our rehearsal process, but that abundant enthusiasm has still not left me—I’m at one of the greatest theaters in the world with an incredible director, talented cast and incredibly talented playwright! As required by the SD&C I am “observing this process in order to further develop myself as an emerging young professional.” So far, Goodman Theatre has held true to its claim that it is “what great theater should be.” It’s hard not to be continually excited when you find yourself surrounded by intelligence, inspiration and artistic sincerity on a daily basis, and it is my hope that I can take these lessons learned here and apply them to my own start up theater company back home.

I am thankful for the opportunity provided to me through The Good Negro and I hope to share the journey with you in further posts.

Take care!
Austin Savage

The Echoes of Our Past

Posted by Terrence Mosley (Assistant Director of The Good Negro)

I was Chuck Smith's Assistant Director on a play called First Words by Aaron Carter at MPAACT, and I was honored when he asked me to be his assistant for this important and relevant play by Tracey Scott Wilson.

We have been in rehearsal for about a week now, and it has been an incredible experience. It's pure electricity in the room, and all of the actors in the cast are bringing their A-game to Tracey’s amazing and challenging piece.

The strides that King and his contemporaries made in the 1960s have allowed me, as an African American, many basic freedoms. His work has made the playing ground more equal for all.

King's dreams echo in the dreams of President Barack Obama, whose bipartisanship and innovative ideas are reminiscent of King’s. I don't think President Obama's openness would be possible without leaders like King who, at the risk of losing a whole people's shot at equality and dignity, had to constantly be the "Good Negro.” Leaders like King were just men, however. They were not saints or saviors; they were just men with thoughts, fears and faults.

The Good Negro reminds me how much of our past echoes in our present, and I hope that people will remember what it took to get here, and decide to continue to press forward.

Why The Good Negro?

Posted by Artistic Director Robert Falls

For many of us, the great civil rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s lives in our minds through indelible images: the solemn faces of black children being taunted by white picketers as they enter a newly integrated school; silent masses of sit-down strikers at a Woolworth’s lunch counter; the ruins of a bombed-out church, a tomb for four innocent girls; the unforgettable face of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he addresses tens of thousands on the Washington National Mall. These snapshots (and scores of others like them) captured the tumultuous battles of the civil rights movement and transmitted them to the world, battles which have taken on the mythology of legend in the half-century since they were fought.

But what is the truth behind this mythology? In her fascinating new play The Good Negro, Tracey Scott Wilson explores the challenges facing the leaders of one potentially virulent battle in the civil rights war in an unnamed city in Alabama in the watershed year of 1962. Though the incidents in The Good Negro are fictionalized, the obstacles faced by the characters are based in reality: the difficulties in mobilizing a populace cowed by centuries of oppression, the in-fighting among the movement’s organizers about the best ways in which to wage the battle, the constant surveillance of the group’s activities by an FBI team determined to quash the unrest. And there are other, thornier obstacles: the tensions between the needs of the movement itself and the needs, both personal and political, of the people propelling the movement. With unflinching honesty and unerring theatricality, Wilson shows us a part of the movement that is not revealed by those iconic photographs: the private torments the organizers endured to create the public face—the face of what would be considered a “good” leader in the civil rights movement.

First produced last season in a collaboration between the Dallas Theater Center and the Public Theater in New York, The Good Negro highlights the enormous complexities that are inevitably part of every political struggle. As in her previous play The Story (produced at the Goodman in 2005 in a powerful rendering by Resident Director Chuck Smith, who is staging The Good Negro), Wilson honors the drive for racial equality in America without avoiding the difficult questions that confront that drive, the unavoidable clash between private ethics and public good. The Good Negro is an insightful, eloquent and at times painfully human view of what is inarguably the most important social and political movement of our country’s history. It is a view that demands to be seen—and one that I know you will find compelling.

Robert Falls
Artistic Director

We hope you are as excited as we are about The Good Negro! Please share your questions and comments with us, below.

The Stuff Actors Dream Of

Posted by Janet Ulrich Brooks (Mrs. Lippincott, Lithuanian Woman, Clara
Barton, Actress)

A True History of the Johnstown Flood hits the stage today in technical rehearsals! This is the most exciting time in the rehearsal process, as the work of every artist on the project comes together for the first time. During this time in the process, I stand back and am dazzled by just how many people it takes to make a play—and not many of them will be getting much sleep this week. :)

Until now, all of the people involved in creating the many elements of this show have been working in their own shops, rooms and studios. Actors are especially anxious to enter the world of the play with props, costumes, lights and sound…and this particular play is so rich in design. I’m writing this as I watch the clock tick—another hour before I leave for the theater—and I just can’t wait to get there! We are getting closer and closer to sharing this amazing story with audiences.

The process to this point has been very deep and rewarding. Working on a brand-new play is always exciting, but working on a brand-new Rebecca Gilman play under the direction of Bob Falls is the stuff actors dream of. It is thrilling to be a part of this collaboration, and I can’t wait to see it all realized.

Goodman Theatre has been so welcoming and generous with its resources. Having a crack literary team in on the process has been invaluable. Their dramaturgical information has deepened the rehearsal process, and will in turn deepen every audience member’s experience of the show.

Also, I wish everyone could follow the stage management team around for even just a day. This is not a job for the weak! They are the conduit through which ALL information is organized and disseminated. It’s staggering to witness their skills, without which we would all not be able to function. :) Imagine being responsible to—and for—so many people. Alden Vasquez and Jamie Wolfe should get a Parents of the Year Award!

Time to go...

Looking forward to seeing you at the theater!

—Janet Ulrich Brooks

Why A True History of the Johnstown Flood?

Posted by Artistic Director Robert Falls

In the late afternoon of May 31, 1889, the thriving industrial town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was inundated with the waters of Lake Conemaugh, situated high above the town in the Allegheny Mountains. A torrential rainstorm the day before caused the dam containing the man-made lake to burst, sending 20 million tons of water through the Conemaugh Valley, where it swept away homes, factories and nearly everything else in its path. More than 2,200 residents of the valley perished in the deluge, at the time the highest loss of civilian life in a single incident that the United States had known—and the Johnstown Flood became an instant part of American folklore.

Today, few people know much about this storied disaster beyond the horrifying facts.
But the forces that led to the flood—a lake resort built for the entertainment of the town’s wealthy elite, a construction executed with too little regard for engineering sense and safety—presaged such other legendary disasters as the sinking of the Titanic and, more recently, the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Each has become a metaphor for class inequality in America: out of the hubristic dreams of the wealthy comes a disaster that disproportionately affects the poor.

In her extraordinary new play, A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Rebecca Gilman explores in vivid detail the social and economic forces that inexorably led to the flood. Much of the play is told through the experiences of a traveling theater company brought to Johnstown to entertain the wealthy clientele of the Lake Conemaugh resort with the melodramas that were the staple of American theater in the 1880s. It is this device which, I think, makes Rebecca’s play so timely. Should art reflect the values and sympathies of its primary patrons? Or should it strive for a greater truth, a more honest analysis of society as it truly exists, spotlighting the inequities and underlying forces that threaten to rip apart its delicate fabric? By 1889 these questions were already being argued by such European playwrights as Henrik Ibsen, Gerhart Hauptmann and August Strindberg, and they would soon be embraced by a new generation of American writers.

A True History of the Johnstown Flood is one of the most challenging plays I have directed at the Goodman, and is certainly one of Rebecca’s most ambitious works to date. Panoramic in its ideas as well as its theatricality, this compelling play asks us to re-examine one of the most terrifying events in our history through the lens of circumstances that continue to plague us today, too often with equally disastrous results. It has been a remarkable experience for all of us, and one that I am very proud to bring to you.

Robert Falls
Artistic Director

We hope you are as excited as we are about A True History of the Johnstown Flood! Please share your questions and comments with us, below.