Recently, Adaptive Arts gave playwrights across the theater community a challenge: address the main theme of Good Woman of Setzuan, is goodness possible in an unjust world?
This will be a night featuring aliens, bees, waxing salons, satan, murder, video games and tea parties and might even make you rethink your own morality!
Playwrights: Christian Toth, Corey Ann Haydu, Isaac Rathbone, Janet Zarecor, Kat Funkhouser and Michael Bradley.
Direcotrs: Christopher Thomasson,Christian Toth, Marielle Duke, Philip Emeott, August Schulenburg and Michael Criscuolo.
This fundraiser will be an exciting night of theater and a chance to suport the new work of some talented playwrights and a company with a unique, new mission.
The event will taken place in Penthouse 1 at Shetler Studios on Saturday, March 6th at 8pm. There will be refreshments there as well :)
Tickets will be $15 dollars and you can reserve tickets for the event by emailing RSVPadaptive@gmail.com or by calling (845) 667 0757.
A portion of ticket sales will be donated to Autism Speaks, the "nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families."
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Children's Shows versus Shows for Children
A question that seems to be recurring when discussing our upcoming production is whether or not Good Woman of Setzuan is an appropriate show to present to an audience filled partly with children.
I, personally, have always believed it to be appropriate thematically. At its heart, it is a play that asks “how do we achieve goodness?” It questions if we can be successful human beings and at the same time remain good people. This query is nothing new. It is a question that has been passed down to the ages and, often, is found within many children’s stories and fables. In fact, this is one of Brecht's two self-proclaimed Parable Plays (the other being The Caucasian Chalk Circle)
As parents, teachers, and leaders in the community, we preach morality. We try to teach children early on to respect each other and themselves, to grow into law abiding citizens. When they are young, much of this learning comes from the people they are exposed to and the literature they read. The texts most often presented and referenced are fairy tales and religious doctrine, predominantly the Bible (within the Judeo-Christian religion).
So I suppose the question becomes does The Good Woman of Setzuan present to these children anything more “risqué” or “adult” than they have already been exposed to?
In Good Woman, our protagonist, our lead, happens to be a prostitute. Shen Te is poor in a poor society and prostitution (perhaps the oldest career choice) becomes her only option, an option she wishes to move beyond if given opportunity. However, her career is just one facet of her being. She is the only person in the city willing to give shelter to the Gods and thus, is deemed the first “good person” they come across. Even with the little she has, she gives to others, leading to her financial ruin. Each morning she gives rice to the poor, she provides shelter to those in need, she loves unconditionally, and even is willing to give up everything for the person she loves. Aren’t these aspects of her that we should focus on?
Beyond that, prostitution is nothing new. From an early age, children are faced with sexuality (as much as conservatives may argue otherwise). It is prevalent in our culture; movies, television, magazines. Even in those “child friendly” outlets; Freud had a field day with the sexual undertones in many fairy tales and the bible itself is riddled with references to prostitution! (Also, let us not forget that in most public schools, sex education begins as early as 4th grade.)
Good Woman deals with interpersonal relationships, it deals with notions of morality and, presented onstage, is only one instance of mild violence (a barber hitting a beggar once in a slapstick fashion) and no portrayals of physical romance (even so much as a kiss is missing). Children see more than this in the video games they play on a daily basis! Beyond that, perhaps our must trusted guides of morality, fairy tales are full of much more disturbing ideas and images: “Even those who know that Snow White’s stepmother arranges the murder of her stepdaughter, that doves peck out the eyes of Cinderella’s stepsisters, that Briar Rose’s suitors bleed to death on the hedge surrounding her castle, or that mad rage drives Rumplestiltskin to tear himself in two will find themselves hardly prepared for the graphic descriptions of murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest that fill the pages of these bedtime stories for children” (Rohrich)
Why is all this appropriate for children and yet simply the mention of prostitution throws people into alarm?
I propose giving our children credit to see past a career choice and to appreciate the story as a whole. Let the children and audience see, as the Gods do in the play, that Shen Te is a good woman as a whole and that is what matters.
Let us begin to give our children a little credit to make informed decisions about people and maybe they will surprise you.
I, personally, have always believed it to be appropriate thematically. At its heart, it is a play that asks “how do we achieve goodness?” It questions if we can be successful human beings and at the same time remain good people. This query is nothing new. It is a question that has been passed down to the ages and, often, is found within many children’s stories and fables. In fact, this is one of Brecht's two self-proclaimed Parable Plays (the other being The Caucasian Chalk Circle)
As parents, teachers, and leaders in the community, we preach morality. We try to teach children early on to respect each other and themselves, to grow into law abiding citizens. When they are young, much of this learning comes from the people they are exposed to and the literature they read. The texts most often presented and referenced are fairy tales and religious doctrine, predominantly the Bible (within the Judeo-Christian religion).
So I suppose the question becomes does The Good Woman of Setzuan present to these children anything more “risqué” or “adult” than they have already been exposed to?
In Good Woman, our protagonist, our lead, happens to be a prostitute. Shen Te is poor in a poor society and prostitution (perhaps the oldest career choice) becomes her only option, an option she wishes to move beyond if given opportunity. However, her career is just one facet of her being. She is the only person in the city willing to give shelter to the Gods and thus, is deemed the first “good person” they come across. Even with the little she has, she gives to others, leading to her financial ruin. Each morning she gives rice to the poor, she provides shelter to those in need, she loves unconditionally, and even is willing to give up everything for the person she loves. Aren’t these aspects of her that we should focus on?
Beyond that, prostitution is nothing new. From an early age, children are faced with sexuality (as much as conservatives may argue otherwise). It is prevalent in our culture; movies, television, magazines. Even in those “child friendly” outlets; Freud had a field day with the sexual undertones in many fairy tales and the bible itself is riddled with references to prostitution! (Also, let us not forget that in most public schools, sex education begins as early as 4th grade.)
Good Woman deals with interpersonal relationships, it deals with notions of morality and, presented onstage, is only one instance of mild violence (a barber hitting a beggar once in a slapstick fashion) and no portrayals of physical romance (even so much as a kiss is missing). Children see more than this in the video games they play on a daily basis! Beyond that, perhaps our must trusted guides of morality, fairy tales are full of much more disturbing ideas and images: “Even those who know that Snow White’s stepmother arranges the murder of her stepdaughter, that doves peck out the eyes of Cinderella’s stepsisters, that Briar Rose’s suitors bleed to death on the hedge surrounding her castle, or that mad rage drives Rumplestiltskin to tear himself in two will find themselves hardly prepared for the graphic descriptions of murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest that fill the pages of these bedtime stories for children” (Rohrich)
Why is all this appropriate for children and yet simply the mention of prostitution throws people into alarm?
I propose giving our children credit to see past a career choice and to appreciate the story as a whole. Let the children and audience see, as the Gods do in the play, that Shen Te is a good woman as a whole and that is what matters.
Let us begin to give our children a little credit to make informed decisions about people and maybe they will surprise you.
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