|
||
 Professor Stephen Levine of the
Communication Studies and Theatre Arts Department has directed scores of plays at
Bridgewater. An integral part of producing a play is the scene design. In the inside front
and back covers of the issue of the Review Professor Levine provides a summary of thirty
hours of conversations that he had with Laura MacPherson, scene designer, for the
jazz-rock musical, Godspell, and the hilarious, This 1997 Godspell needs to get away from
the medieval view of the world, away from the 500-1000 year old icons of life. Take the
“good news” of Godspell’s parables and ultra-contemporary music and create
a cold environment where the characters shine. What is in their hearts is the only true
warmth in the cold, hard-edged high-tech world of today’s visual images. The humorous
appeal of the action is improvised around the most recent, up-to-the-minute icons from pop
culture and advertising. The result is that material things (masks, gag props like money,
hats, clothing accessories) form a wall that we can see through but not get through,
separating the characters (and the audience) from what is beyond,"out there."As
the things are used, they are discarded into the"split"leaving the word empty.
The play ends with the resurrection which unites the world of performers and the audience
in joy. |
||
Top | Table of Contents | Home |
||
