Online Hubbub: The Communist Dracula Pageant, Thursday, November 13, 2008

What did this play make you think about?

“The nature of power and how power can delude one into believing that one is infallible and more intelligent and capable than one is.”—TVHC

“Just how torqued Romania was.”—RickF

“Eastern European Communism.  Ambiguity–not all black and white.”—Bill D.

Where were you when the Iron Curtain fell?  When the Berlin Wall came down?  What are your memories?

“I was on a consulting gig in Kiel, West Germany.  Couldn’t quite believe it was true and worried that the Soviets would come crashing through with troops and tanks.”—TVHC

What else would you like to say about the play?

“I found this a very one note production and not as thought provoking as the reality of the Ceausescu’s fall from power.  The A.R.T.’s Brecht productions have been much more thought provoking as was Peter Sellar’s production a couple of years ago.”—TVHC

“I really enjoyed it — it was well written and well acted. The last part with the dancing (partial) bears was just perfect.”—RickF

“Superbly done, as all ART productions are.  Would have gained immensely from some sort of introductory materials.  Program helped some, but it itself somewhat confusing. OK to assume audience is smart, but it was just not that informed on something that happened 19 years ago.”—Bill D.

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Online Hubbub: The Communist Dracula Pageant, Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What did this play make you think about?

“The horror of living in a country run by a tyrant. Also, Elena made me think about Sarah Palin.”—Susan B.

“The absurdity of Ceausescu’s rule.”—Jon R

“My wife was in Hungary at the time  – the most significant and interesting issues were not covered. For example the revolution was triggered by the inhumane way that the regime treated a Hungarian priest.”—John H

Where were you when the Iron Curtain fell?  When the Berlin Wall came down?  What are your memories?

“I was living in Newton Centre. It did not seem possible. I thought Soviet rule was set in stone.”—Jon R

“I was dealing with my brother-in-laws death at 37 of AIDS and my own diagnosis of breast cancer at 43 years with 2 small children. I remember feeling dispassionate about it because I was living in a dark tent.”—Susan B.

Ceausescu’s fantasies created a reality for the Romanian people.  Have you ever had your reality shaped by someone else’s fantasies?

“Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, religion, wall street panic.”—Susan B.

What else would you like to say about the play?

“It was very well done. The costumes were authentic.”—Jon R

“I love ART.”—Susan B.

“Poorly researched, and patchy dramatically, it did not cover the central issues. I hope Obama’s new regime is better informed!”—John H

Online Hubbub: The Communist Dracula Pageant, Monday, November 3, 2008

What did this play make you think about?

“The way people in a position of power can manipulate public opinion.”—Barry P.

“Historiography.  The film, ‘12:08 East of Bucharest.’”—Bearlover

Where were you when the Iron Curtain fell?  When the Berlin Wall came down?  What are your memories?

“Living in Boston. I had crossed between West and East Berlin in the late ’60s, so have vivid memories of the nasty separation it formed and the no-man’s land in between.”—Barry P.

“I was three. I was in Ithaca, watching TV. I remember realizing that it was a big deal, but nothing else.”—Bearlover

Ceausescu’s fantasies created a reality for the Romanian people.  Have you ever had your reality shaped by someone else’s fantasies?

“No, but from my travels, I have seen individual opinions and fantasies shaped by others in China and some African countries.”—Barry P.

“Yes, as a mother.”—betsey a.

What else would you like to say about the play?

“Loved it, especially (as always) the acting of Thomas Derrah and Karen MacDonald.”—Barry P.

“Enjoyed the actors.  Found the play boring, which may be the point:  boring people brought about disaster and never “grew”.  For passion and another, more understandable evil, Dracula had to fill the role.”—betsey a.

“I loved the bear!”—Bearlover

“They kept it upbeat and relatively entertaining especially given the subject matter.  The style of the play means you can’t rely on any of it as real history, so you don’t come away feeling informed.  I would not recommend this play to others.”—JudyE

Online Hubbub: The Communist Dracula Pageant, Thursday, October 30, 2008

What did this play make you think about?

“Of course, the play brought to mind the incredible suffering inflicted on the Romanian people by Ceausescu, but I thought that the reflection of him on the Vlad/Dracula character enhanced the poignancy of this, while also revealing an historical precedent for brutally ignoring the plight of one’s own people.”—Bruce D.

“Ionesco and the theater of the absurd.”—anonymous

“Dracula, Ceausescu, madness, deception, dictators, absurdity.”—Roy D.

Where were you when the Iron Curtain fell?  When the Berlin Wall came down?  What are your memories?

“In New York in the insanity that was the magazine industry. It all seemed surreal to be doing something so completely vapid in light of genocide and such monumental milestones for humanity.”—anonymous

“I was here at Harvard when the Berlin Wall came down, and right away I received a fax from a long-time friend in Germany with a newspaper (actually, the tabloid Bildzietung) front page on the event: Die Mauer ist weg! Berlin ist wiedetr Berlin! (The Wall is Gone! Berlin is once again Berlin!).  In 1972, he and I had a picnic in Lower Saxony, in view of the border fence separating East and West.  Like most, I never imagined that barrier coming down so soon, or even in my lifetime.  Now it’s 19 years ago.”—Bruce D.

“I remember Christmas of 1989 seeing the photographs of the corpses on the front page of the newspaper.”—Roy D.

Ceausescu’s fantasies created a reality for the Romanian people.  Have you ever had your reality shaped by someone else’s fantasies?

“No, and I hope I never do.  I took a course back in school taught by Noam Chomsky on propaganda, politics and the news–I’ve never understood how people can allow themselves, like the Germans in WWII to be manipulated by any individual’s vision of a parallel universe utopia; or to accept what they know not to be true.”—anonymous

“Certainly.  For example, academic leaders with a certain “vision”.”—Bruce D.

“Hell yeah. I’m an American in 2008. Take a look around at everyone else’s fantasy.”—Roy D.

What else would you like to say about the play?

“I liked the pageantry and socialist realism aspects displayed on the stage.  There really were things like that.”—Bruce D.

“I went with my friend who grew up under Ceausescu, and actually knew some of the players depicted. She said it was funny, sad, and pretty accurate.”—Roy D.

“I thought it was great, but unfinished. One of the weaker of the more recent ART performances, in some ways-but definitely thought-provoking, interesting, funny, and full of potential.”—anonymous

Anne Washburn on Political Earthquakes and Stolen Revolutions

From Anne Washburn, playwright of The Communist Dracula Pageant:

“Chaos, action, rumor, deception, hope – The Communist Dracula Pageant lives in a political and cultural landscape that contains a mixture of all of these. As we have rehearsed and brought the script alive, I think about “political earthquakes” – how they erupt in every age, in every culture, in every life.

I invite you to share your thoughts – have you experienced political earthquakes? On what scale – personal? local? national? global? Is what we are living through right now a political earthquake? In what way?”

Introducing The Communist Dracula Pageant

Anne Washburn is one of my favorite young American playwrights.  In plays such as The Internationalist, The Ladies, and Apparition, she has revealed wonderfully theatrical imagination, far removed from the realism and family dramas that currently dominate American and British playwriting. 

Anne’s plays are purely theatrical; it’s hard to imagine them adapted as scripts for film or television.  She delights in stage illusion, in ghosts, fantasies, and figments of our imagination.  Her style reminds me somewhat of early Caryl Churchill, and she has something of Tony Kushner’s epic and historical sweep, but ultimately her voice is unique.

Introducing the 2008-09 season

Now that we have announced the A.R.T.’s 2008-09 season, and I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts as I assembled these seven productions. I hope you’ll agree that it’s a terrific line-up, consisting of seven very different theatrical experiences–new plays and classics, comedies and dramas, great epics and chamber pieces, with a healthy dose of spectacle and politics, heartbreak and whimsy.