“The misfortunes you are already accustomed to will repeat themselves,” said Gedney Barclay ’09 in “Labyrinths,” a senior honors thesis staged April 6-8 at the ’92 Theater. Lillian Whitsitt ’06 and her cast created a play, as Whitsitt wrote in her program notes, “…from Borges’ premise that personality is nothing and that one man can contain the history of all men and the universe within himself.”
The product was a symbolic whirlwind of a piece, combining elements of Borges’ short stories, an unbelievable cast, and the theory of “eternal return.”
Whitsitt defined the myth of eternal return as the idea that events must recur identically or almost identically forever. This theory “obsessed Borges,” whose stories include “these different planes of reality in time and space, in which events recur.”
Actions and themes recurred throughout the play, as different actors sang the same song and repeated the line that they saw “my future written in a book.” This cycle of themes within the “myth of eternal return” gave the audience a tangible link to a piece that lacked a linear plot line or easily-identifiable characters.
Directing “Labyrinths,” Whitsitt decided to employ a physical approach to creating her piece.
“For the beginning of the rehearsal process the actors and I worked on creating physical scores based on their own dreams and memories,” she said. “It was important to me not to impose ‘blocking’ on them, but rather to let them find their own movements. I find this way of working to be much more organic than if a director tells the actors exactly what to do.”
She used this method in order to “…give more layers to the performance and avoid making the piece too illustrative,” a goal that Whitsitt’s play remarkably achieved. The ensemble moved so well together, connecting the text to physicality created organically from their own dreams and memories, which allowed the audience a unique perspective into Borges’ work as well as the actors’ individual work processes.
Because Borges stories include different planes of reality in time and space, the audience needed a frame of reference to follow the ensembles’ actions. Lighting designer Greg Malen ’07, once again proving his talent, created a lighting scheme that signaled points of reference to the audience even through the “shifting realities” of the Borges piece. Designers Zachary Bruner ’08 and Sara Ross ’06 also created an exceptional set which afforded the audience an intimate connection with the ensemble and the story they told while establishing a dream-like, mystical environment.
In her program notes, Whitsitt wrote that her play was not a substitute for actually reading Borges’ work, but a source of motivation for doing so. Through “Labyrinths,” Whitsitt and her cast gave the audience a ride through the remarkable world of Borges, showing the audience, as Whitsitt said, “A map of the landscape of Borges’ mind and work.” It was quite an extraordinary feat.
LABYRINTHS. Directed by Lily Whitsitt ’06. FEATURING Gedney Barclay ’09, Edward Bauer ’08, Sean Chin ’09, Tadd Gero ’07, Ali Kimmell ’08, Margot Kistler ’09. STAGE MANAGER Nick Benacerraf ’08. ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS Miriam Krent ’09, Will Hasty ’08. SET DESIGN Zachary Bruner ’08, Sara Ross ’06. COSTUME DESIGN Andrea Lipsky-Karasz ’08. LIGHTING DESIGN Greg Malen ’07. ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGN Matt Bush ’09. PROPS DESIGN Mike James ’07. ASSISTANT PROPS DESIGN Rebecca Lipman ’06.
Leave a Reply