Inspiration
When I initially proposed Appropriate, it was a part of an idea about a 2 show experience. We sought to produce the play in repertory with another play, Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage, directed by my colleague Jaye Austin Williams. Both plays would be produced in the same space, in the round.
We chose to explore the idea of two plays in-rep because we saw it as an experiment and opportunity for these two plays to be more profoundly in dialogue with each other. As we often enjoy in our theatre courses, the opportunity to read, compare and contrast two stories is a treat which inspires much conversation and gives us a richer understanding of the subject matter as a whole. In classes, comparing plays seen through the eyes of differently gendered playwrights can be astonishing. In our collaboration, the identities of the playwrights is just the beginning. We sought to compare, contrast and connect these two plays in multiple ways.
Two different families, two different time periods, two totally different settings seemingly having nothing in common – and yet each play is centered on the devastating complexities of race in America. What does it mean when a white family in the early 2000’s is forced to come to terms with a painful past steeped in oppression? What does it mean when a Black family in the mid 1950’s tries to imagine a better future and hurts one another trying to find their way forward? Further, how is the possibility of “family” formation pitched into crisis in the afterlife of slavery? We asked ourselves, do these two families have anything in common? Are they connected? Or are they merely ghosts in each other’s stories, haunting one another with secrets, pain, and the regret of choices never made? Our two plays in-rep: Appropriate by Brandon Jacob Jenkins and Crumbs from the Table of Joy by Lynn Nottage offered our community at Bucknell the chance to experience, question and struggle through the many ways in which all of our stories all intersect.
We were excited to present those two shows, not as separate productions, but as a connected project. Two plays, one stage. Two productions, one weekend. Two casts, one company. Two extraordinary experiences. One sensational program.
Concept & Conceit
Playwright Branden Jacob-Jenkins play Appropriate is fundamentally about a deeply dysfunctional family whose central pathology is the continued participation in systems of oppression that cut them off from their own capacity to love each other. The lie at the heart of their family, the lie that their father was essentially a man who did not hurt others, eats away at each of them over time, infecting their abilities to take responsibility for their own actions as well as making them blind to the impacts they have on others. Seeing these characters as human, as deeply flawed people, does not abdicate them from their failings but rather asks us examine more deeply our own failings, and the failings of the families, of communities and of the loved ones that surround us. It asks that we each examine our own American family pathologies, and root out the lies that run deeply though our own cultures, professions and ancestries. The Beauregard family sin is not their history. Their sin is their failure to reckon with their history truthfully. My wonderfully astute colleague C Francis Blackchild calls Branden Jacobs-Jenkins a very ‘trusting’ playwright. She said, ‘it’s because he trusts that the audience will ‘get’ that these characters aren’t racists because they are terrible people but that they are terrible people because they are racist.’ The difference being, that this is all a choice they are making, to be terrible to one another when the alternative is to admit that their ancestors were terrible to Black people. As my excellent fellow director Jaye Austin Williams observes, “The danger with Appropriate is that the audience, equipped with a collective bogeyman (The Beauregard family) may choose to render themselves distinct (like the nation did from Derek Chauvin) rather than see a mirror.” The mirror that Dr. Williams refers to, reflects the truth of our history as a nation. That although many of us may come from a legacy of love, we also come from a legacy of hate. The legacy we perpetuate is not just the one we acknowledge, it’s also the one we ignore, the one we suppress.
Although Appropriate is clearly about race, it’s also deeply about family. The desire for belonging and the hurt that comes wanting to be accepted by your family is huge. The characters are so broken and so desperate and so hungry for love and so cruel to each other that it’s hard to turn away. And the characters are so familiar. And they make terrible choices. I found the play profoundly heart breaking. It is a beautiful family drama, ghost story, and study of our common American pathology, which of course – is deeply entrenched in race.
We were interested in these ideas about ghost stories, hauntings and pathologies when we began our creative process. The tradition of repertory theatre values a commitment to a more experimental rehearsal style, rich with time for exploration. This style tends to embrace a minimalist approach in small spaces, offering an intimate atmosphere within which audiences can experience plays more viscerally. Attention is also paid to areas in which costumes, props and sets can be interchangeable between productions. So towards this end, we looked for ways the two plays, and their design elements, might overlap. Props from Crumbs appeared in the hoarder’s household, years later – stories and meanings collected and forgotten. We both utilized the exciting nature of producing in the round to showcase different points of view, different entry points and different understandings. We leaned into the intimacy, the proximity to the audience. And although the show was filled with piles and piles of props, we centered the idea of minimal by not designing the plantation house itself, but rather allowed the audience to imagine the house around, making them complicit in the story.
Reflections
Appropriate was a strong theatrical production. The intensity of the script, the intimacy of the round and the deeply shocking content and design all worked together to create a profound experience for those who witnessed it. We heard more than once about how audience members had plantation owners and slaves in their own family histories and how the play unsettled and moved them deeply. We heard how it was disturbingly realistic. We heard the acting was superb. Yet we also heard from students, particularly Black students, that the play shocked them in ways they were unprepared for despite multiple content warnings. It made our department think more deeply about who we were producing theatre for and why. About how to prepare audiences and how, even if the playwright demands against it as Brandon Jacobs Jenkins did, how we can better emphasize content disclosures in our current climate and in academic theatre. In addition, due to COVID, we were unable to collaborate as effectively between the casts of the two shows as we had hoped. And indeed, we never had the whole cast of Appropriate together until opening day. COVID illnesses took out actors repeatedly and in succession. Our lead actor was out the full two weeks before opening. It was an excercise in patience to find ways to work with him over zoom despite the difficulties. Yet he stepped into the production on opening night without so much as a missed beat. The Appropriate/Crumbs from the Table of Joy project was indeed strong theatre, but it was also a lesson for our department in intentions vs impact. We have learned from this project and have benefitted as a whole community ever since.