While theater programs across the country busy themselves with productions of well-known shows such as “Grease” or “Annie,” the Hillsdale Tower Players reject the norm and undertake instead a production set in that bastion of republicanism and aqueducts, Ancient Rome.
Such a choice is not surprising in an institution where the students discuss ancient philosophers like connoisseurs lingering over fine wine, and where couples send each other valentines in Latin. Yet sometimes the question is still posed: why bother seeking out and performing more obscure theater pieces at all? Why not simply reenact old favorites? Wouldn’t students enjoy spending an evening watching their friends perform in familiar productions?
The answer has to do, in typical Hillsdale fashion, with the purpose of the thing. The purpose of college theater is not simply to emulate successful Broadway musicals. These shows are designed for nationwide audiences and have budgets that college program directors can only dream of. Instead, college productions can and should target a more specific audience, as the Tower Players clearly have done with this season’s classically inspired repertoire.
By choosing more obscure shows, producers can use Hillsdale’s distinct atmosphere and their students’ developing talents to craft unique productions.
By the same token, producing more obscure shows provides students with extensive opportunities to develop their artistic talents. When national shows such as “Grease” or “The Sound of Music” become extremely popular audiences develop a very specific idea of how that particular show should be performed. When people think of “The Sound of Music,” images of Julie Andrews spinning in front of breathtaking landscapes or of sixth-graders warbling their way through “Do-Re-Mi” for their annual musical production leap to mind. These images strongly influence audience expectations, and often severely limit creative risk-taking on the part of directors. Directors must take into account not only the script itself, but also the audience’s strong, preconceived notions of what the show should be.
By performing lesser-known shows such as “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and by altering the setting of well-known shows such as “Medea,” the department makes better use of their creative license. Blossoming actors can develop their characters from the page, drawing upon their own experiences and interpretations, rather than simply imitating other well-known actors. Designers can create sets outside the limits of, for example, the picturesque Swiss Alps. Students of dramaturgy can run wild with original research, delving deep into more obscure time periods. Less-common shows help the students to develop their own unique, creative talents, rather than simulating the success of others, allowing them to truly shape the productions after their own image.
On the whole, lesser-known theater pieces provide Hillsdale students with the opportunity to carve their own legacy, creating beautiful and stirring productions and giving those classic plays that they do perform their own distinct flair. When we understand the mighty creative task that rests before the Tower Players, we can be grateful that they choose to take up the challenge of less common shows and bring us a more personal theater with a wonderfully unique flavor. Thanks to their dedication, Hillsdale is alive, not with “The Sound of Music,” but with the entertaining lovers, liars and clowns of the forum.
cschmid@hillsdale.edu
