MAD FOREST
A PLAY FROM ROMANIA
BY CARYL CHURCHILL
“fervently inventive... deeply moving... emotionally direct and lucid.”
Full review HERE
BARD THEATER & PERFORMANCE PROGRAM + UPSTREAMING: the Fisher Center’s Virtual Stage + Theatre for a New Audience
Live Webcast Production
Directed by Ashley Tata
Production Stage Manager Vanessa C. Hart
Scenic Design by Afsoon Pajoufar
Costume Design by Ásta Bennie Hostetter
Lighting Design by Abigail Hoke-Brady
Compositions and Sound Design by Paul Pinto
Movement Direction by Daniel Safer
Video Design by Eamonn Farrell
Video Programming by Andy Carluccio
Video Operation by Connor Martin
Properties Master Shane Crittenden
Assistant Stage Manager Anisha Hosangady*
Assistant Stage Manager/Sound Operator Maggie McFarland*
Assistant Directors Laila Perlman* and Angela Woodack*
Brief Excerpt From the final broadcast of Mad Forest.
Performed 05.27.20
“In our current context, with protests happening, there is more radical content theater can consider instead of just productions about white families. In terms of successful Zoom plays that have delivered alternatives, we’ve seen “Mad Forest”...”
“I was very impressed by the Bard College student production of Caryl Churchill’s “Mad Forest,” a portrait of the events surrounding the end of the Ceausescu dictatorship, in the way it used the image of a fragmented population — embodied with aching intensity by its young cast in their separate frames — in a time when a society was collapsing.”
Quotes from “This is Theater in 2020. Will It Last? Should It?” Published 07.08.20 in the NYTimes. Full article HERE
CAST
Bogdan/Translator/Vampire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Phil Carroll*
Bogdan’s Grandfather/Angel/Boy Student 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Omar Crisol*
Ianoș/Painter/Old Aunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lily Goldman*
Radu/Boy Student 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tim Halvorsen*
Flavia/House Painter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mica Hastings*
Bogdan’s Grandmother/Scribe/Someone With a Sore Throat . . . . . . . . . . .Azalea Hudson*
Lucia/Girl Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ali Kane*
Mihai/Doctor/Wayne/Soldier/Patient/Ghost/Soldier 2 (of Rodica’s Nightmare) . . . . . Gavin McKenzie*
Irina/Rodica/Waiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Taty Rozetta*
Florina/Student Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Violet Savage*
Gabriel/Flavia’s Grandmother/Toma/Bulldozer Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yibin (Bill) Wang*
Priest/Securitate Officer/Soldier 1 (of Rodica’s Nightmare) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charlie Wood*
*Bard Student
From an old notebook: Überevent: the point past which one cannot go back to the way things were. The core of these events reveal the true nature of a character to the audience and sometimes to oneself.
In Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest we witness the before (Act I) and after (Act III) of a nation’s Überevent through the actions of characters who comprise the Vladu and Antonescu families. The main event is the Romanian Revolution which occurred in December of 1989 and resulted in the overthrow and execution of Nicolae Caușescu and his wife Elena, ending decades of brutal dictatorship. Act II presents the days of the revolution documentary-style from eyewitness accounts of people who Churchill, Mark Wing-Davey (the original production’s director) and their class of acting students interviewed in Bucharest, Romania in the spring of 1990, mere months after the events of the play that they were writing occurred. Though they didn’t have the historical perspective to see what the lasting implications of this event would have, their work hits a note that resonates from 30 years ago to today: with change comes enormous responsibility. The third act is full of arguments and suspicions about the validity of their revolution. It is not enough to cause a dictator’s downfall or to survive the crest of change. As upheaval settles to normal there are those who will clamor to return life to the way things were. The responsibility falls upon the majority to see possibility in change and keep a reflexive return to “normal” at bay.
When faced with the option of cancelling our production there was that part of me that reflexively contracted to “the show must go on.” Fortunately, there was immense support and trust in developing an expansive manifestation of this work during decidedly abnormal and into new normal circumstances. Continuing required us to re-conceive the entirety of the production, being rigorous in all departments to not broadcast an irl-conceived show. We would work to create a live production for a virtual stage. We found the material breathed differently in this space. There have been many reflections about how TV and the amateur camera were a fundamental medium that conveyed and shaped the message of the Romanian Revolution. State-run, regularly televised addresses is the medium of choice for dictators. As it was for the Ceușescu’s. Churchill’s play references the days when the television station was occupied by revolutionaries. They opened the doors so citizens — victims of the regime — could testify and bear witness to how Governmental policies had effected them for decades. There were lines around the block and citizens tuned in to their fellow-witnesses for days on end. Transitioning to this format and incorporating it as a design and meta-theatrical element seems almost obvious. Of course now I wish we had conceived of it as a Zoom production when we began our design process. As I write that I’m shocked to realize that three weeks ago I didn’t even know what Zoom was.
Spoiler alert: the play ends in a wedding. But unlike a comedy in which this signifies a reunification of society, these families are in chaos. Having been released from censorship the characters speak on top of each other in a cacophony of their pure distilled selves. Rising above the din is the voice of the Vampire — a character deeply entwined in Romanian lore and a hushed title the Romanian people nominated Ceaușescu with — speaking a mantra of empty need: “You begin to want blood. Your limbs ache, your head burns, you have to keep moving faster and faster.”
The response to Überevents reveal our character. We can reveal our better nature and expansively strengthen society or succumb to fear and act out of self-preservation resulting in the continuation of violent, empty, restrictive and destructive cycles.
Making this work is a commitment to community. We have continued with the responsibility we have to each other and to those who seek and find refuge in the works we create. We offer this as a testament to the possibility that can be found during times of great upheaval. And commit to responsibly make work for and with each other long after this moment of change settles into the way things will be.
With immense gratitude to the company of performers, the collaborators and the team at the Fisher Center. And in dedication to all those who are taking on the responsibility of shepherding us safely through this time.
Ashley Tata, Director
04.10.20
