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Monday, November 14, 2011
CMU Drama's Peter Cooke and Jed Harris talk about MAD FOREST
First of all, I just think it's cool that this vlog exists! I had no idea that there was this sort of news reel for Pittsburgh theatre, and that our school and work is considered "legit" enough to be interviewed. It's cool to hear from Peter why he thinks that "Mad Forest" is relevant now, elaborating somewhat on what he said last year while announcing the season. Hopefully it will help to widen our audience and get more locals to come see our shows!
I certainly enjoyed hearing about Mad Forest, and since a good friend of mine's brother is adopted from Romania, I have some personal thoughts on this play. Certainly the political situation colors the interpretation, but that happens most of the time, or at least it should. I find it interesting that Peter Cooke said those who "were told what to do all their life" were having trouble coping with freedom. I was even more interested in the comments Peter Cooke had about our "large scale works" to come and wonder what "international reach" will be next.
Like Becca, I'm excited to have discovered this video blog. I didn't realize until I came to CMU that there was so much happening in the Pittsburgh theatre scene. Blogs like this are great tools for informing the public about what's going on in the arts, especially in a busy city like Pittsburgh. In this interview, Peter and Jedd both make it very clear why they think it's important for us to be producing this show right now. We sometimes make fun of asking the "Why this play now?" question in Foundations, but this is a good reminder of the importance of that question and the fact that theatre producers really do think about it. I think it would be interesting to ask myself that question after the next few shows that I see. Maybe it will help me make a deeper connection with the themes of the shows. All that aside, I'm very excited to see Mad Forest and I think Peter and Jedd did a great job here of telling people why they should care about this show and come to see it.
I knew from hearing people in Pittsburgh talk about our drama department that people consider us "legit" as Becca phrased it but I didn't realize that we got news coverage and a video blog. That's really awesome! And exciting to hear! I liked hearing Peter talk about the relevance of the show to our world now. This has made me really excited to see Mad Forest and now I'm going to look into the history of the play and Romania before I see this show. I'm super excited!
I watched this vlog a couple of days ago. Through this interview it is clear that the process for Mad Forest was going to be smooth. Peter and Jed are communicating the concepts of the show in the same general terms. It is always a good thing when the director and the producer are on the same page.
I just watched this vlog. Aside from the horrible editing, terrible sound quality, and sandwiched video compression - this vlog is sweet! it is clear that Jed and Peter are on the same page conceptually about this show and that the process all along was going to be incredibly easy. I wonder if that is largely related to the fact that they are faculty and have worked together for so long... well of course it is. I would love to see what obstacles are avoided because of this relationship opposed to when a student who does not have such a history with the staff is directing, or producing a show.
6 comments:
First of all, I just think it's cool that this vlog exists! I had no idea that there was this sort of news reel for Pittsburgh theatre, and that our school and work is considered "legit" enough to be interviewed. It's cool to hear from Peter why he thinks that "Mad Forest" is relevant now, elaborating somewhat on what he said last year while announcing the season. Hopefully it will help to widen our audience and get more locals to come see our shows!
I certainly enjoyed hearing about Mad Forest, and since a good friend of mine's brother is adopted from Romania, I have some personal thoughts on this play. Certainly the political situation colors the interpretation, but that happens most of the time, or at least it should. I find it interesting that Peter Cooke said those who "were told what to do all their life" were having trouble coping with freedom. I was even more interested in the comments Peter Cooke had about our "large scale works" to come and wonder what "international reach" will be next.
Like Becca, I'm excited to have discovered this video blog. I didn't realize until I came to CMU that there was so much happening in the Pittsburgh theatre scene. Blogs like this are great tools for informing the public about what's going on in the arts, especially in a busy city like Pittsburgh. In this interview, Peter and Jedd both make it very clear why they think it's important for us to be producing this show right now. We sometimes make fun of asking the "Why this play now?" question in Foundations, but this is a good reminder of the importance of that question and the fact that theatre producers really do think about it. I think it would be interesting to ask myself that question after the next few shows that I see. Maybe it will help me make a deeper connection with the themes of the shows. All that aside, I'm very excited to see Mad Forest and I think Peter and Jedd did a great job here of telling people why they should care about this show and come to see it.
I knew from hearing people in Pittsburgh talk about our drama department that people consider us "legit" as Becca phrased it but I didn't realize that we got news coverage and a video blog. That's really awesome! And exciting to hear! I liked hearing Peter talk about the relevance of the show to our world now. This has made me really excited to see Mad Forest and now I'm going to look into the history of the play and Romania before I see this show. I'm super excited!
I watched this vlog a couple of days ago. Through this interview it is clear that the process for Mad Forest was going to be smooth. Peter and Jed are communicating the concepts of the show in the same general terms. It is always a good thing when the director and the producer are on the same page.
I just watched this vlog. Aside from the horrible editing, terrible sound quality, and sandwiched video compression - this vlog is sweet! it is clear that Jed and Peter are on the same page conceptually about this show and that the process all along was going to be incredibly easy. I wonder if that is largely related to the fact that they are faculty and have worked together for so long... well of course it is. I would love to see what obstacles are avoided because of this relationship opposed to when a student who does not have such a history with the staff is directing, or producing a show.
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