A Reflection on SPARK in Pittsburgh
Mon, 12/10/2012 - 20:33
csvich
University of Pittsburgh
Directed by Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
November 12, 2012
by Dr. Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
Our first rehearsal was like any first rehearsal for a staged reading—introductions, clarifications about where to sit in the reading, which stage directions to read, and so forth. At the act break, we had a chat about the play, about the mundanity of daily life that it depicts—and we meant mundanity in the very best way. The details of the fabric of daily life, the intimate tones of voice, the specific language patterns and the miscommunications of a family who know each other so well sometimes, and so not at all others. The cider, the cake, the needle and thread. Personal histories bound up with, chafing against, tangling with the here and now, both immediate and more largely. At the end of act two, we commented on more of the same and also how Vaughn throws all of the above into sharp, sharp relief: histories and maps, personal and cultural, as inextricably linked to wars, present and past. We then found our way into a conversation about how war had personally been a part of our lives, sharing stories that aren’t the sort you share at a first read through. Of, to borrow from Tim O’Brien, things carried by us, or loved ones. The piece opened something in each of us.
For me, as an artist and a teacher, it also reminded me that, sometimes, in theatre classrooms, war and veterans aren’t always mindfully acknowledged, discussed, represented. At another institution, where I taught acting, an ROTC student came to me and asked if I might have some recommendations for the acting scene.
The student was not a theatre major and was hoping for a play that engaged with the complex experiences of soldiers. The student feared he might only come across anti-war, anti-military and, perhaps implicitly, anti-soldier plays. Working on Caridad Svich’s Spark reminded me to be mindful. How in so many ways war could or might sit, silent or silenced, in my classroom.
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta holds a PhD in Theatre History, Criticism and Theory from the University of Washington and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research interests center on histories and theories of performance and theatre in the Americas and Spain, the ethics of citizenship, and corporeality. Her directing work has been seen at The Women’s Project and Productions, chashama, HERE and the American Globe Theatre, among others.