Oregon Children's Theatre Blog

Oregon Children’s Theatre’s adapts Lois Lowry tale with a “Gossamer” touch. Read full review here.

We’d love to know what you thought of the play. Posting here helps us other visitors learn more about the play and what to expect.

Saturday 10/18 3:30 to 4:30 in the 4^th floor lobby of the theater
Join us for a community panel sponsored by the Oregon Council for the Humanities exploring how the fantasy of theater creates a catalyst for discussions of the harsh realities of our world. Panelists will include author and playwright Lois Lowry, Dana Buttler (Beaver Acres Elementary and Lewis & Clark College), Dr. Glennellen Pace (Lewis & Clark College), Olga Sanchez (Miracle Theatre Group) and Stan Foote (Oregon Children’s Theatre).

The Oregonian “A play so good, it’s dreamy.”

The Willamette Week - A dreamy premiere from the author of The Giver.

Oregonian columnsit Margie Boule wrote about Gossamer and how it challenges traditional thoughts about children’s theater. Thanks Margie!

Children’s theater with tiny creatures — and real issues
Thursday, October 09, 2008
The Oregonian
You’d expect a children’s play to be about merry creatures singing and dancing their way to predictable happy endings. “Gossamer” isn’t like that. It’s gritty, sometimes scary and very real.

The play, commissioned by Oregon Children’s Theater, is based on a book written by two-time Newbery Award-winning author Lois Lowry. Lois herself wrote the script. “It’s her first play,” says Stan Foote, artistic director of OCT and director of the production. READ MORE

When starting the Gossamer project I was very hesitant, I had no idea what we were going to be doing. OCT valued the Young Professionals’ opinions. We did not think that our opinions would shape themes in the play and get it up in running. We were able to reach inside Lois Lowry’s head and comprehend Gossamer in a new and different way. A story so imaginative and whimsical that had relevance with teen and children audiences–due to a harsh reality that also came pouring out on the pages.
I, being a Young Professional, have learned many things to improve my acting skills as an actress. I am grateful for those opportunities, and even more grateful to have the ability to see what hard work goes on before the curtain sets the stage for scene one.  - Natasha Natraj
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Every Fall The Oregonian previews the new “arts” season–highlighting upcoming arts programming in Portland. We are very excited to have Gossamer featured prominently in this issue alongside other regarded theater companies.

 Read the full article here.

June 21 and 22, 2008

Staged Readings and Symposium on Adapting Novels for the Stage:

All of the readings went well with good feedback from the audiences. One of the great surprises was on Saturday when a familiar face walked through the door. Don Lieber a bass player from Portland brought his daughter to the reading. He had seen the listing in the New York Times and his daughter loves Lois. Don had no idea of my involvement in the play, so we both were surprised to see each other. Nice reunion. As Nancy Swortzell said “Only in New York”

On Sunday we participated in a panel discussion about adapting Gossamer and other novels for the stage. I thought an hour and a half would be long, but time flew by. Cecily conducted a workshop and then the reading. A great day lots of learning. David Montgomery and the staff for New Plays for Young Audiences hosted a reception after the reading and then it was time to head out to Portland. My cab driver to the Newwark airport was a self professed psychic  and proceeded to tell me about all of things he had predicted in the past including a friends death. He got lost going to the airport, but predicted I would live to be 99. I can’t imagine a better way to leave New York.

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Hey guys! The show looks amazing. Rehearsal started with a run through of the entire show without stopping. The cast is really coming together. An example of this is how the actress who plays the Young Woman got sick while she was on stage, right after her first monologue and had to leave. Without skipping a beat, Lisha, the girl who reads the stage directions and makes all the crazy soundscape noises, filled in and read her parts, knowing all of the cues. It really shows how much everyone cares about this production, and the wonderful amount of teamwork that is involved.

Near the end of the read through, a theater production class came in to watch and ask questions for Stan, Cecily and Lois to answer afterwards. This was just the kind of thing I needed, because they asked all the questions (and many that I wouldn’t have thought to ask) I would have liked to talk to those three about. Lois talked about how she tackled adapting the book, which she did by writing many stage directions and then taking them out, so she could visualize the show. Cecily explained what her job as dramaturg was and the process she went through in looking at the structure of the play. She was mainly focused on the three major character arcs of the Young Woman, John and Littlest, and would analyze each scene to see if they had moved throughout it. When she noticed that the Young Woman’s arc moved too smoothly, she brought this up to Lois, who eventually rewrote her part so that things were not so easy. She also pointed out that Stan did a very good job of enhancing the actors understanding of their arcs, because he rehearsed each main characters scenes together (All of John’s scenes were acted back to back, same with the Young Womans, as well as Littlest). She had not seen this approach before.

At the end Lois brought up and answered the big question. How do you know when you’re a great writer and a success? Her answer was a little surprising, however very important. She said that it is when you are able to not consider your prose immortal and can cut lines. She told a story about Edward Albee who, when confronted by an actor about a very wordy monologue, was able to simply cut a whole block of his words without thinking twice.

The cast was let out early by almost two hours, because honestly, they have the show down cold. Everyone is very comfortable and happy, and it is very apparent.

Unfortunately, this was my last rehearsal that I was able to watch. I have to go back to Washington DC this weekend and am not able to see any of the final readings. I hope that you all enjoyed this blog, I had a great time writing it! Thank you very much for reading it, and thank you to Stan and the program for letting me come and watch this fascinating process!

Sweet Dreams!
Olivia

June 17, 18 and 19

Check out Olivia’s blog for details. Things are going great. On Wednesday evening it became a play; all of the words told the right story, all of the characters had there own arc and there is dramatic tension and comic relief through-out. Tonight I set light cues with Darryl the lighting designer and we will run through the play one more time. We might also read through it again without action to make sure the words are all there. Actors, in the heat of the moment, sometimes paraphrase lines. I want to make sure Lois’s script is performed with the words that are written.

Someone asked “What does a dramaturge do?” Great question!  Cecily O’Neil, the Dramaturge for Gossamer, went through each scene prior to the first rehearsal and tracked each characters’ growth within the story. After each scene she wrote yes if she thought the character was going to achieve there goal (for lack of a better word), no if she thought they were not going to make it and maybe if the journey was questionable yet possible. Armed with this information Lois adjusted scenes to create more “maybe scenes”. The more the audience worries about the characters the stronger the dramatic tension.  She also asks questions to help shape Lois’s thinking and main as well. A Dramaturge serves the play! Googel Cecily O’Neil, she is an inpressive writer and a leader in the Theater for Youth field.