The Director as the Dramaturg: How Research Aids in Effective Direction
By Lillie Kortrey ‘23
In order to tell an effective story, having conversations with the entire company and production team, asking questions of the text, and researching, are essential for a director and aid and inform direction. This helps navigate the director through the script, better equipping them to tell a cohesive story effectively. This is all part of dramaturgy: to learn as much as possible about the play and the context surrounding it. A director who takes the time to explore the play is provided with dramaturgical context for certain moments in the script, the historical context of the play, and the time period the play was written or takes place. This often reveals the playwright’s attitude to a particular event, ideology, etc. present in society at that time. For director Emily Sheridan ‘24, conducting research about the time in which A Change of Pace was written helped her to understand the evolving role of women in the latter half of the 20th century. By understanding this, she was able to make informed decisions about the way in which Margo views herself compared to how Jerry believes Margo should act in their marriage.
A Change of Pace is a great commentary on the world's current hookup culture and the sexist implications that comes with it. The play first appeared in Ms. Magazine, the first national American feminist magazine, in 1974, in the midst of Second Wave Feminism. Beginning in the 1960s, a new era of women’s liberation began to unfold across the western world. The movement was influenced by the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963. The text discussed the general unhappiness of American women, in what Friedan called “the problem that has no name.” Friedan pinpointed advertising and the education system as the perpetrators of a woman’s confinement to the domestic sphere that contributed and exacerbated this problem. As the book gained in popularity, many white, middle class women were drawn to it and thus, Second Wave Feminism was born.
Through their activism, women contributed to a number of state and national legislations, the most prominent of which include the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as several Supreme Court cases including Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade. The landmark case of Griswold v. Connecticut, where the Supreme Court ruled that the United States government had no right to ban contraception for married couples, and that buying and using contraceptives could be done at their own liberty. Roe v. Wade also furthered the feminist cause in 20th century America by granting the constitutional right to an abortion. The recent overturn of Roe v. Wade took this away, making the issue of legal abortion a decision to be made on a state-by-state basis. The overturn has been viewed as an “assault on women’s rights,” putting them at a disadvantaged societal position as they no longer have autonomy over their own bodies. Once again, women are subject to having others—mostly men—make decisions regarding themselves, their personal liberties, and now their own bodies. This makes A Change of Pace especially relevant in a time where women are less free in the trajectory of their own lives, decisions over their bodies, and in family planning.
For some directors, research comes as a result of understanding something explicit in the script. By uncovering this meaning, directors and audiences are left with a better understanding of this particular moment in the play, and how it contributes to the story as a whole. Directors Nora Jacobi ‘25, and myself, questioned the specific moments in our scripts that stood out to us, why they were there, and how they fit into the overall story.
Lillian Goes to the Mirror is bookended with a poem called “Amazons Gone Wild.” The poem discusses the Amazon warrior ritual of cutting off one’s breast to show their strength. This ritual was believed to be a mere myth created by the Ancient Greeks for years until historical evidence was uncovered. There is little historical evidence of women warriors fighting with the Amazons, however, these few facts led many to believe that the entire myth is true. Researchers believe some of these women did have high power and status based upon two factors: the first is the fact that they appeared to be trained on horseback riding for years before their death, and the second comes from looking at the weapons they were buried with.
The myth started when the Greek soldiers fought an army of exclusively women. This shocked the Greek soldiers, as Amazonian women had vastly different roles in civilization than Greek women who largely fulfilled domestic roles like cooking and weaving. Instead, Amazonian woman were involved in combat. It is believed that these women warriors cut off their breasts in order to successfully shoot arrows without any hindrance. This idea came about in 490 BCE when a Greek historian tried to translate the name “Amazon'' as “without breast” because the suffix “mazon” sounded similar to the Greek word meaning ''breast” and “a” meant without. The ancient doctor Hippocrates describes how this would have been done and that they would make “red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm.” Many historians now believe this to be untrue due to the severe lack of primary evidence.
Though the historical accuracy of the poem is debatable, it was important for Jacobi to understand what the poem meant in relation to the play as a whole. The poem was significant to Jacobi, as Amazons are often associated with feminine strength and empowerment, and Jacobi believes that the action of cutting off one’s breast is a symbol of the rejection of traditional femininity and patriarchy, as Lillian is breaking down the societal norms of what it means to be a woman when revealing her mastectomy.
It was important for me to understand the severity of domestic abuse directly on the victim as well as the victim's loved ones. Domestic abuse, especially towards women, remains a very prevalent societal issue, as 85% of domestic violence victims in the United States are women. One in four women in the US have experienced domestic violence at the hands of their partner; globally, it’s one in three women. I additionally took on conducting research differently than my fellow directors. In the Playtime script there is a very explicit reference to a popular ‘90s movie, Thelma and Louise. I watched this film to understand the severity of violence from a man towards women, that would drive another woman to go to extreme lengths in the name of protection. In Playtime, it is clear that Maureen took drastic measures to protect herself and her daughter Nicole, from her abusive boyfriend, Marty. Watching Thelma and Louise, helped me to understand the motivations for such a drastic act and made the character of Maureen all the more complex.
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