The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Nine times out of ten, when I tell someone that I'm studying to be a dramaturg, the first question I'm asked is, "what's that?" And then, after I begin my explanation with, "Well, it's kind of like historical research for theatre..." I usually get the follow up question of, "oh, so are you one of those people who hates it when movies or plays aren't historically accurate? What do you think about _____, is that one accurate?" And usually that's where the conversation ends as I usually respond, "I don't know, I don't know that much about that time period..." And the other person goes, "Oh, yeah, okay."
Another conversation surrounding my intended profession usually happens when people find out that my favorite is A Knight's Tale. I usually get the shocked response, "But I thought you like historical accuracy, isn't that what you're studying?"
To answer this question, I'm going to tell a story that another historian recently told me. For starters, if you ever get a chance to hear one of Charles Troy's presentations, I highly recommend you do so. He is a delightful man who is very smart and well researched in the field of musical theatre. He does presentations on the making of popular musicals, but like any good historians he goes beyond the nuts and bolts of making and explains what it meant for the time. He uses video, photographs, and music, and even sometimes uses local actors to do scenes from the show. I saw him earlier this week at Woodstock Opera House doing his presentation on the making of Fiddler on the Roof. He'll be back at the opera house next month doing one on The Wizard of Oz, and the following month doing one on West Side Story, so if you're in the Woodstock area, I highly recommend. But I digress...
In his presentation, Troy talked about how, at the table meetings during the writing of Fiddler on the Roof, director Jerome Robbins kept asking the writers, Bock and Harnick, "What is it about?" And they kept saying, "It's about a Jewish milkman and his three daughters." And he kept saying, "Well, that's boring. Why would anyone want to watch that?" Finally Bock and Harnick came up with a suitable answer, "It's about modern children, and disillusionment with tradition." That, Robbins decided, was much more interesting than a story about a milkman and his daughters.
Every good piece of theatre has makers, writers, directors, designers, cast members, who ask "what is this show about?" and who go beyond the obvious answer. But these people ask the same question in different ways and for different reasons. As a dramaturg, it is my job to ask the same question important question, "what is this show about?" But, how my job and approach differs from the others on a creative team is that I look for connections between the text and its historical context for clues. I ask questions about the playwright, and the year it was written, and the place it was written, and I figure out what that says about what the play is about.
So, let's take Fiddler on the Roof, since that has already been our primary example. We already have an example of what the playwright said it was about, modern children and disillusionment with tradition. The play hit the Broadway stage September 1964, meaning that the majority of the writing process took place in a 1963 world. What was going on in that year in America, where the play was written?
1. JFK was assassinated.
2. The Vietnam War was going on, and the Gulf Tonkin Resolution had just been passed, giving Lyndon B. Johnson permission to increase the number of troops in Vietnam.
3. The Civil Right's Movement was in full swing, and Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during the Birmingham campaign.
4. Beatlemania began and The Beatles became a huge part of teen culture.
5. Speaking of teenagers, the Baby Boomers were in high school.
6. NASA was working hard to get a man on the moon.
7. The Feminine Mystique is published and credited with beginning second wave feminism.
Looking at what was going on in the US at the time of writing, we can begin to make connections with themes in the musical. The US is a place of political unrest, and no one really trusts the government. People have an increased awareness of racism and sexism, and people are being arrested for doing nothing more than standing up for what they believe. The young generation is being noticed, as it is the largest generation, and people are seeing a new world coming, one in which touching the stars is not unthinkable. When you compare that to the world of Fiddler, you see a lot of similarities. Fiddler on the Roof is the story of a country in political unrest. It is a story of people being kicked out of their home because of racism. It is a story of women asking to make their own decisions. It is story in which a young man is sent off to Siberia for standing up for his beliefs. It's a story of young people. It's a story of a new world on the horizon. In short, Fiddler is a story of the 60s.
So then, my next step is to take the connections I've made and connect them to the present for a modern audience. And it's not hard to do. We also live in a country of political unrest, one that is experiencing increased awareness of racism and sexism. Our young generation is also our largest generation and we're curious about what that means for the future. In short, Fiddler is a story of today.
So that's what I do, I look at the context of a play to find it's truth. But does that mean that I hate historical inaccuracies? Well, that depends. What I hate is laziness, sloppiness, or a creative team who isn't asking the important question of "what is this play/movie/tv show about?" But as long as the question is asked, and as long as the creative team is being honest with their goals, I believe there's space for creative freedom. For example, Charles Troy spoke of how, traditionally, the matchmaker in a Jewish community, and the matchmaker in the book Fiddler on the Roof is is based on, is a man, but in the musical it's a woman. Troy talks about how this gives a confidant to Golde, which is true, but it also does something larger, it gives the young women an older women to appeal to in their song, asking for a new order in women's roles and rights. So is Yente factual? Nope. But is she true to the spirit of the musical and its questions? Absolutely.
So that is dramaturgy. That is what I'm studying. And no, I will not ruin your favorite movies for you (unless they really need to be ruined.) Whether a piece of art is "true" or "right" or "historical" is not a simple question, and not even, necessarily, a useful question. A better question is, "what is this about?" It's a question that opens up so many doors, and so much space for learning and appreciating. And next time you want to ask me (or another nerdy friend) about a movie, or tv show, or play, or anything, don't ask me if it's accurate, ask me what story I think it's telling. I promise it will be a more interesting conversation.
For more information on Charles Troy and his upcoming shows, see his website, here.
Another conversation surrounding my intended profession usually happens when people find out that my favorite is A Knight's Tale. I usually get the shocked response, "But I thought you like historical accuracy, isn't that what you're studying?"
To answer this question, I'm going to tell a story that another historian recently told me. For starters, if you ever get a chance to hear one of Charles Troy's presentations, I highly recommend you do so. He is a delightful man who is very smart and well researched in the field of musical theatre. He does presentations on the making of popular musicals, but like any good historians he goes beyond the nuts and bolts of making and explains what it meant for the time. He uses video, photographs, and music, and even sometimes uses local actors to do scenes from the show. I saw him earlier this week at Woodstock Opera House doing his presentation on the making of Fiddler on the Roof. He'll be back at the opera house next month doing one on The Wizard of Oz, and the following month doing one on West Side Story, so if you're in the Woodstock area, I highly recommend. But I digress...
In his presentation, Troy talked about how, at the table meetings during the writing of Fiddler on the Roof, director Jerome Robbins kept asking the writers, Bock and Harnick, "What is it about?" And they kept saying, "It's about a Jewish milkman and his three daughters." And he kept saying, "Well, that's boring. Why would anyone want to watch that?" Finally Bock and Harnick came up with a suitable answer, "It's about modern children, and disillusionment with tradition." That, Robbins decided, was much more interesting than a story about a milkman and his daughters.
Every good piece of theatre has makers, writers, directors, designers, cast members, who ask "what is this show about?" and who go beyond the obvious answer. But these people ask the same question in different ways and for different reasons. As a dramaturg, it is my job to ask the same question important question, "what is this show about?" But, how my job and approach differs from the others on a creative team is that I look for connections between the text and its historical context for clues. I ask questions about the playwright, and the year it was written, and the place it was written, and I figure out what that says about what the play is about.
So, let's take Fiddler on the Roof, since that has already been our primary example. We already have an example of what the playwright said it was about, modern children and disillusionment with tradition. The play hit the Broadway stage September 1964, meaning that the majority of the writing process took place in a 1963 world. What was going on in that year in America, where the play was written?
1. JFK was assassinated.
2. The Vietnam War was going on, and the Gulf Tonkin Resolution had just been passed, giving Lyndon B. Johnson permission to increase the number of troops in Vietnam.
3. The Civil Right's Movement was in full swing, and Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during the Birmingham campaign.
4. Beatlemania began and The Beatles became a huge part of teen culture.
5. Speaking of teenagers, the Baby Boomers were in high school.
6. NASA was working hard to get a man on the moon.
7. The Feminine Mystique is published and credited with beginning second wave feminism.
Looking at what was going on in the US at the time of writing, we can begin to make connections with themes in the musical. The US is a place of political unrest, and no one really trusts the government. People have an increased awareness of racism and sexism, and people are being arrested for doing nothing more than standing up for what they believe. The young generation is being noticed, as it is the largest generation, and people are seeing a new world coming, one in which touching the stars is not unthinkable. When you compare that to the world of Fiddler, you see a lot of similarities. Fiddler on the Roof is the story of a country in political unrest. It is a story of people being kicked out of their home because of racism. It is a story of women asking to make their own decisions. It is story in which a young man is sent off to Siberia for standing up for his beliefs. It's a story of young people. It's a story of a new world on the horizon. In short, Fiddler is a story of the 60s.
So then, my next step is to take the connections I've made and connect them to the present for a modern audience. And it's not hard to do. We also live in a country of political unrest, one that is experiencing increased awareness of racism and sexism. Our young generation is also our largest generation and we're curious about what that means for the future. In short, Fiddler is a story of today.
So that's what I do, I look at the context of a play to find it's truth. But does that mean that I hate historical inaccuracies? Well, that depends. What I hate is laziness, sloppiness, or a creative team who isn't asking the important question of "what is this play/movie/tv show about?" But as long as the question is asked, and as long as the creative team is being honest with their goals, I believe there's space for creative freedom. For example, Charles Troy spoke of how, traditionally, the matchmaker in a Jewish community, and the matchmaker in the book Fiddler on the Roof is is based on, is a man, but in the musical it's a woman. Troy talks about how this gives a confidant to Golde, which is true, but it also does something larger, it gives the young women an older women to appeal to in their song, asking for a new order in women's roles and rights. So is Yente factual? Nope. But is she true to the spirit of the musical and its questions? Absolutely.
So that is dramaturgy. That is what I'm studying. And no, I will not ruin your favorite movies for you (unless they really need to be ruined.) Whether a piece of art is "true" or "right" or "historical" is not a simple question, and not even, necessarily, a useful question. A better question is, "what is this about?" It's a question that opens up so many doors, and so much space for learning and appreciating. And next time you want to ask me (or another nerdy friend) about a movie, or tv show, or play, or anything, don't ask me if it's accurate, ask me what story I think it's telling. I promise it will be a more interesting conversation.
For more information on Charles Troy and his upcoming shows, see his website, here.
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