Lessons From Theatre – Cradle Will Rock
I went to a good-enough college. I went for theatre, because I was knew I was going to be the next Nicole Kidman. If you’re looking for theatre programs in the midwest where cows outnumber people, you could have done worse. (Now, do I regret getting a B.A. with an emphasis in Theatre Performance, since I’m not Nicole Kidman and “Theatre Performance” lends itself to no immediate jobs? Well, that is a different question.)
Theatre comes with great stories – obviously. The whole industry is storytelling. The people that you meet, the experiences you have, and the experiences of the people that came before you shape a strange and twisted world of boundary-less brilliance. Anything is possible with the willing suspension of disbelief.
Since, I’m guessing you didn’t go to theatre school, because you were smart and planned for a future, I’ll share some awesome stories from theatre legends as retold by me.
Depression-Era Theatre
Fittingly to the times, the actors and actresses of the Depression had to deal with a massive upheaval. They, too, like their working bretheren, suffered massive cuts as the luxury of theatre died away to soup lines. And this was supposedly at a time when you could earn money in the theatre!
If I remember my history correctly, ultimately the depression started to ease when they developed work for the country such as building the highway systems, dams, and other projects. It was called The New Deal. And while at the time it might have felt like the equivalent of laborer’s “busy work”, the things they left behind paved the way, sometimes literally, to the future.
Just like other laborers, actors had to be rescued and thus was developed several new types of theatre. (Note to myself: look up how they got audiences during this time.) Names like Living Newspaper and African-American Theatre grew under the Federal Theatre Project. With federal government came federal regulations, unions, organization and censorship.
“Cradle Will Rock” was a musical reflecting the times. It spoke about unions and federal oversight, art as a commodity for the wealthy and the flurry of political viewpoints battling each other across the desks and dinner tables of the nation. When the premiere of “Cradle Will Rock” dawned most of the unions, the musicians, the theatre technicians, etc. had sent out a note to their membership forbidding them from participating in the play. The theatre booked for the premiere refused to let the play run – locking everyone out.
Not to be ignored, nor told what to do, the producers, administrators, managers, actors, technicians, musicians and audience all walked down the street several blocks. There a new theatre had been procured with only a single piano under the proscenium. The playwright, Marc Blitzstein, would perform the musical solo, with only his piano-playing for accompaniment.
As Bitzstein shakily started the play, announcing the scene titles and settings, magic began to brew. Upon her cue, an actress rose from her seat and began singing her part, leading other actors from the runaway production to claim their roles. Unrehearsed and forced to improv the actors played out their scenes in the aisles of the theatre, offering a magnetic, collective experience.
