It’s that time of year, everyone! The weather begins to chill, pine needles cover the floors in our homes, dreidels begin to spin and seniors continue to present their theses to the wes-public.

In this week’s theatrical spotlight we feature Ariela Rotenberg ’10 with her presentation of Our Day Will Come, a play based on Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes. I recently took the time to sit down at my computer and send Ariela an email asking her questions about her experiences with her senior thesis. Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a hassle to get in contact, seeing as how she is a TA for my theatre class (build those connections Wes boys and girls!).

Argus: So, Ariela, inform us a little bit beyond the short excerpt provided on the CFA website. Where did you draw your inspiration for this play? What made you decide on a play such as this?

Ariela Rotenberg: This project is the performance component of my thesis, meaning that it has been inspired by and is research for, my written thesis, which is about narrative and formation of community in Irish oral performance. The text of the play, taken from Seamus Heaney’s The Burial at Thebes, was immediately interesting to me because of the fact that he is a brilliant writer and tends to write with a particularly Irish sensibility–for this play specifically, the rhythms and meter of the poetry lent itself to the cadence of an Irish accents, so we spent a good deal of time on dialect work as well. Since with this project I was trying to emulate a lot of the experiences I had doing field research in Chicago at Irish pubs over the summer, that Irish-ness was appealing to me. My thesis will be about how narrative authenticity is established in Irish oral performance, and then how that experience leads to the formation of a particular community of audience and performers that are re-established with each performance act. The project then, is an examination of that experience. As an acting experiment though, the experience was not that academic. We took a text that was beautiful and intriguing and deconstructed it and framed it over and over again. We’ve probably had about 5 different plays in the process of creating what we will be performing this weekend. The experience as an actor has been about the work we are doing–a semester dedicated to the work of this piece.

Argus: What did you envision for this play, once you had the foundation set? Like the types actors, the costumes, the technical aspects? Were you able to carry your exact vision? 

AR: Because the project is an acting project, I had very little tech in mind. I knew I wanted the piece to take place in a pub, and originally we were trying to rent a pub space in which to perform. The aesthetic aspects were not the focus of this project.  But the stage of the ’92 does look incredible as a pub. I did know from the beginning that we shouldn’t “play parts” per se. This experience was about storytelling, really–and if each actor is identifying with one character, an aspect of that communal telling is lost.

Argus: How long has this journey been (to the completion of this senior thesis)? What challenges you have had with this project.

AR: We’ve been working on this essentially the entire semester, and I was talking about it with David, and to an extent Zach and Emma, even last year. Plus I did all of my field research this summer–so it’s been quite a long process. Of course we’ve encountered hiccups, but that was part of our challenge to ourselves and sometimes we even created them intentionally.  

Argus: What has it been like working side by side with Jaffe rather than as his student?

AR: I’ve actually worked with David Jaffe as a director before. My sophomore spring I was an actor in Big Love, the department show that David directed. I really loved working with him then, which is why I asked him to be a part of my thesis project. He’s been great because this is a somewhat unorthodox project. I’m technically an actor in the piece, but it was my vision that inspired it and it’s my research that had a lot to do with what drove us originally, so we’ve been very collaborative. He’s very able as a director to give attention to a particular aspect or vision of a project, which was useful for this process.

Argus: Any funny stories you may want to share about behind the scene events with actors/techies/director?

AR: During Big Love our stage manager made a quote book of David Jaffe-isms, but I haven’t been keeping track during this process. A really important behind-the-scenes moment though was when we (the actors and David) watched The Commitments together. That film is amazing, and really rang true with the work we were doing. We were so into it that we’re using its music for our pre-show soundtrack.

Tickets for Our Day Will Come will be free at the Box Office on the day of the show. Get tickets early, because seating is limited.