Outrage

Theatre, moreso than most other forms of artistic endeavour, is reliant upon its community for support and creative interchange. We here at The Savannah Dramaturgy heartily endorse such interaction, as it truly is the lifeblood of our discipline, not to mention beneficial to the general community.

However, such interaction relies upon good faith from both parties. It has recently come to the attention of The Savannah Dramaturgy that one of our local businesses here cannot be bothered to do this, a truly sad state of affairs.

Theatres spend a goodly deal of money, often money fronted from ticket sales, or charitable contributions, and sometimes out of the artists own pockets, in order to promote and market their shows in order to draw the community. Perhaps one of the most common techniques is the distribution of posters throughout the city to inform the populace about upcoming productions. Posters are not free, are often carefully crafted, and come in finite amounts. Waste is a drain on resources.

As such, when a local business is approached with a request for a poster, the proper thing to do is either display the poster or simply refuse, allowing the artist to take their promotions elsewhere.

However, according to an anonymous source, the new Fuddruckers in downtown Savannah is engaging in wasteful disregard of the above protocols and an outrage on good taste. Evidently, manager Lori Kehoe will accept a poster, promptly to trash it upon the artist's exit. She cites this as retribution for "rude behavior" on the part of artists trying to market their shows. Simple consideration of an already strapped arts community could simply save both parties a bit of face.

As such, The Savannah Dramaturgy would like to call for a general theatrical boycott of the Fuddruckers at 15 W. Broughton Street in Savannah, GA. We encourage the the entirety of the arts community to refrain from giving hard-earned money to a company that refuses engage in a civil manner with us.

Please spread the word to your friends.

... and so, Good Night.

There is a theatrical tradition that a light bulb should be left upon the stage in a theatre, so that the ghosts and spirits may have light by which to perform and rehearse shows of their own. In some ways, individual theatres (as institutions) were linked to their lights in terms of their fortunes.

On the evening of April 29th, 2009, one of Savannah's lights was put out for the last time. With it's revival production of An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on His Final Evening, Cardinal Rep closed its doors and turned out its light, closing the book on four years of setting benchmarks for quality, artistic achievement, and community involvement. Those four years began, interestingly, with a production of the above.

As a dramaturg, it is often difficult, personally and professionally, when such a light is extinguished. But then the habits of a working lifetime take hold.

Begun in 2005, and performing in any venue they could find, Savannah Actor's Theatre/Cardinal Rep was founded to bridge the gap between a fairly progressive SCAD Department of Media and Performing Arts and a more conservative community theatre. If anything, SAT/CR has succeeded in pushing the envelope and opening new horizons for other theatres in town. Indeed, it seems interesting that SCAD is now resorting to musical revues such as Beehive and dinner-theatre fodder like Lend Me a Tenor while groups like Little Theatre of Savannah explore the wilder side of camp in Psycho Beach Party.

Further, SAT/CR has perhaps come closest to ideals of tribal theatre and communal involvement with production as set out by Scott Walters at Theatre Ideas and endorsed here in the pages of The Savannah Dramaturgy. In the halls of the Freight station during productions such as Catch-22 and The Rocky Horror Show, this author can attest to a real feeling of true collaboration and mutual ownership of the project between all participating artists. This is, in some ways, more a tribute to the collection of people involved in the work than to the institution in and of itself, but what a group.

Further, SAT/CR has set a high standard for quality on a shoestring. This author once had a sign over his desk the read:

We, the willing,
led by the incompetent,
have been doing the impossible
for the ungrateful.

We have done so much,
for so long,
with so little,
that we are now certified to do anything
with nothing.

This is precisely what they have done, sometimes with nothing more than a table, some cans of tuna, and the recycled set from a Little Theatre production. While the SCAD answer seems increasingly to be throwing a chequebook at any problem, SAT/CR made it abundantly clear, with works like Laughing Wild, Doubt, and Pillowman that excellence isn't about depth of pockets, but about depth of character (both on and offstage).

At The Savannah Dramaturgy, we must give credit to Cardinal Rep and Ryan McCurdy for their support of our operations, even when we were less than enthusiastic about some of their productions. Our reviewers were always welcome, and for that, and much else, we are thankful.

Mr. McCurdy, rumour has it, will be departing our environs in fairly short order. We wish him the best of luck, and look forward to his continued success. Because, though we have not always agreed in regards to aesthetics, his achievement has been substantial.

Moonlight & Magnolias - The Little Theatre of Savannah

Every generation seems to believe that they are the doomed ones. That after them, it is all going downhill. That after (or thanks to) their actions, something will be lost. The first thing they often bring up is the arts. How often have we heard that the theatre, an entity that has existed for millennia, is now dead? Though people are not usually so drastic on this take when it comes to film, the consensus of many has become that it is no longer an art form so much as entertainment. The Little Theatre of Savannah's production of Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight & Magnolias offers the comfort of knowing that people have always felt this way, and will perhaps continue to feel this way for eternity.

Set in the office of producer David O. Selznick, Moonlight & Magnolias is a fictional account of five days during which Selznick, writer Ben Hecht, and director Victor Fleming starved, fought, typed and possibly lost their minds. All to create the film adaptation of Gone With The Wind, arguably one of the greatest epics ever brought to the silver screen. Directed admirably by Grace Diaz Tootle, this production is one of the finest I have seen the Little Theatre undertake. Tootle has assembled a brilliant cast, each one suited for his or her character.

As Selznick, Sonny Schneider brings an energy to his performance as a famous producer who has reached the end of his rope, sure that a failure with this film will be the end of his career. Selznick is clearly a man of power, but Schneider also brings with him a sympathy that cannot be denied: Selznick may be a business man, but he has not lost his love for the art to which he has dedicated his life. The chemistry between Schneider and his partners in crime is outstanding. Louis Clausi brings the most humanity to the stage as the idealistic scriptwriter Ben Hecht, who tries desperately to keep Selznick true to his Jewish roots and warns against creating any message of intolerance, seeing dark clouds on the horizon (the year is 1939). As director Victor Fleming, Les Taylor is hilarious as he slips slowly into hysteria. Taylor and Schneider's antics reenacting the book for Hecht's benefit are among the most memorable in the production. Last, but certainly not least, Jennifer Doubleday is absolutely charming as Miss Poppenghul, Selznick's overworked secretary.

In our own lives, exhaustion becomes frustration and frustration becomes hysteria, and it's some comfort to know that this feeling is universal, even in the world of motion pictures, where everything seems to gleam with perfection. Even better is if you can laugh at the manic antics of those involved. The Little Theatre of Savannah is to be commended for an excellent production.

Rock the Vote

Recently, members of the Savannah Theatre Community have issued a call for voters to support the Savannah Shakespeare Festival in Connect Savannah's annual "Best Of Savannah" awards in the category of Best Local theatre Production/Play. We here at The Savannah Dramaturgy would like to echo this sentiment and encourage our readers to also stand on behalf of our resident Shakespeare Festival.

Though there have been numerous quality productions (many frequented and spearheaded by our own staff), the consensus is that Shakespeare on Love best fulfills not only quality requirements, but also inclusion and community involvement.

Not only did this work involve the majority of the Savannah performing arts communty, but it also provided high quality work to the city's public free of charge. The event itself was the epitome of artists working in their community.

Basic information regarding Shakespeare on Love can be found here.

Voting for the Connect Savannah can be found here.

If you could find it in your hearts to also support The Savannah Dramaturgy as the best local blog/blogger... we'd not look unkindly on that either.