In the Blood - "Perfecting Imperfection: In Defense of Student Theatre"

By: Daniel Jones, B.A. Theatre Studies: Dramaturgy/WLP '13

Being on a campus like Emerson, student theatre seems inescapable. With five running student theatre organizations (RareWorks, Mercutio Troupe, Musical Theatre Society, Kidding Around, and Shakespeare Society) in addition to at least two independent student-ran companies I can think of (Atomic Age Theatre and Paradise Lost) and countless independent projects (on the horizon: Almost, Maine, Extremities, and Nocturne), there is no bottom to this well of creations.

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I find it interesting, then, that many students here reach a point where they say: “No more! I’m done with student theatre!” To which I respond: “Um, why?” People who say this are usually either being dominated by Emerson Stage assignments (legitimate), think they’ve gone completely professional (unlikely), or think they’re too good for these projects (really?). I think it is a gross error for people to ignore the safety net that is student theatre while we have it at our disposal. If I’m going to fail in this career (which, at least on some small level, I inevitably will), I hope it’s on a project that I love with people I love in an environment with little at stake.
 

Having just wrapped up directing In the Blood with RareWorks, I’ve been thinking a lot about Emerson’s theatre community. This was my first “baby” I’ve had at this school. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work on an array of fantastic projects over the last several years, but this was the first I felt a sizeable amount of ownership over. Regardless of what the EmCritics have to say about this, I consider this project a success. Why is that not an arrogant statement to make? Because we are self-aware of what we’re up to here. There was a simple mission: create theatre with beautiful people, have a good time doing it, and see the world a little differently on the other side. So here we are on the other side, and I’m happy to report: mission accomplished.
 

Do I think this is the best piece of theatre to have ever been created? Clearly not. Do I think I should be getting paid the big bucks to direct all future projects? Not even close. Did I find some incredible people who I want to work with and live life with in the future? Absolutely. Was this a perfect experience? In no way. It was imperfect. But it was perfectly imperfect.
 

This means that I made some imperfect decisions throughout the process. There were days I failed in rehearsal. There were days that we collectively soared to new heights. There were times when I stressed out about things that didn’t need to be stressed about. There were times I didn’t pay attention to the thing I should have been paying attention to.
 

And the list goes on… The point is that we are in a learning environment here, [hopefully] surrounded by people we love. Who knows when we will get this kind of environment again? I would count this first directing experience for me as being equally transformative as the time I spent studying abroad at the Castle in the Netherlands, except this was several thousand dollars cheaper.  I learned to trust other people in ways I hadn’t had to before. I learned the importance of language and of love in the act of creation. I learned how to share ideas and responsibilities and not be such a control freak all of the time. My sensibility of the world broadened as I got the chance to dig deeper and deeper into a truly gorgeous script with the cast, assistant director, and stage managers. This is where I stop and say: my goodness, isn’t it amazing that all of this came out of some little student theatre?!
 

All this to say that I think there is incredible value with creating student theatre. I know I will interact differently in my career and in my life in general because of the experience I had with In the Blood and the dozen or so other projects I have been blessed to be a part of at Emerson. And as I round out my senior year with a few last works here at the College, I approach the process with a new goal: to create a piece that beautiful because it is perfectly imperfect.

 

In the Blood ran from October 23-24th, 2012 in the Greene Theater.