“Here the youthful virgin, robed in innocence and sanctity, clothed with the visible protection of God, is seen at one time to yield up her frame, unfit, as yet, for torments, to the power of the executioner; while her spirit, ascending, like the smoke of incense, passed from earth to heaven. At another time we behold her conducted, as it were, into the wilderness by the Spirit; where, having left the house of her father, the allurements of the world, and the endearments of life, she dedicates her whole being to the service of God, and to the contemplation of those invisible goods which he has reserved for those who love him. In The Lives of the Saints, we behold the prince and the peasant, the warrior and the sage, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the peasant and the mechanic, the shepherd and the statesman, the wife and the widow, the prelate, the priest, and the recluse—the men and women of every class, and age, and degree, and condition, and country, sanctified by the grace of God, exhibiting to the faithful reader models for his imitation, and saying to him, in a voice which he cannot fail to understand, “Go thou and do likewise.” - James Doyle, from “Preface,” The Lives of the Saints Books like Butler’s not only collect accounts of lives worthy of emulation but also bear witness to the power of story itself—the same transformative power that drew Zimmerman to the Thousand and One Tales. In Butler’s book, St. Austin names a pair of courtiers moved to forsake the world by accidentally reading the life of St. Anthony, St. Godrick is enthralled by stories of the life of St. Cutbert, and St. John Columbini was converted from a covetous nobleman to a saint by casually reading the story of Mary of Egypt. This last account would become the anchor for our play—Columbini’s pious wife places a book of the lives of the saints in front of her husband, and his reading sets in motion an adventure that spans the globe and the centuries. Devising a new Zimmerman play (without Zimmerman) Mary Zimmerman's collaborative approach to theatre-making has not only developed a distinctive, easily recognizable production aesthetic, but has also repositioned the actor and director in relation to written text. Her emphasis on rehearsal preceding the written script enhances and highlights the fundamentally heteroglossic nature of theatrical performance—an attribute shared by the source texts for many of her most successful plays, including The Arabian Nights, Metamorphoses, and The Secret in the Wings. In January 2017, a group of Carthage Theatre students, under the direction of Prof. Neil Scharnick, attempted to create an original play in the dramaturgical mode of Mary Zimmerman, based on Alban Butler’s Eighteenth-Century tome, The Lives of the Saints. This text enabled the group to practice very nearly everything for which Zimmerman’s plays are known. To start, the play, like its source, is a collection of stories, and those stories are in part about the power of storytelling. Responsibility for creating the different stories and characters fell in part on the cast, while conceiving the play’s framework was the director’s responsibility. The resulting structure encouraged multiple-casting and highlighted the multiple authorial voices. Like so many of Zimmerman’s plays, this work contains magic/miracles/ angels that can be staged with imaginative hypertheatricality. It serves to “bring near” to the audience a set of worlds that at first seem remote and alien. And finally, like all of Zimmerman’s plays, it relies on word and image juxtaposed in a way that generates meaning in a way neither can achieve alone. The play’s first draft was presented in February, and development of the script continues. The Lives of the Saints Around this poster you will find excerpts and early drafts from the play, written by Scharnick and his students. Metamorphoses Saints Featured (in initial draft): Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael (archangels); St. John Colombini; St. Zosimus and St. Mary of Egypt; Sts. Godrick, Cutbert, Aidan, Boisil, and Eata; St. Elfleda; St. Mary, mother of Jesus; St. Mary Magdalene; St. Mary of Bethany, St. Eulalia Saints' Bones: Devising The Lives of the Saints for the Stage, Guided by Mary Zimmerman's Archaeology of Performance Dr. Neil Kristian Scharnick Department of Theatre, Carthage College Celebration of Scholars 2018 Exposition of Student & Faculty Research, Scholarship &Creativity Treasure Island The White Snake Argonautica Mary Zimmerman plays: The Secret in the Wings The Class: Dr. Neil Scharnick taught the class and oversaw the creation of the script, assisted by Ashley Pavlak. Collaborating students were: Roxanne Balaskas Alex Benitez Ben Braun Alexis Gilkes Lydia Haasl Josh Maloney Ashley Pavlak Jasmine Ratcliff The Arabian Nights
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Transcript
“Here the youthful virgin, robed in innocence and sanctity, clothed with the visible protection of God, is seen at one time to yield up her frame, unfit, as yet, for torments, to the power of the executioner; while her spirit, ascending, like the smoke of incense, passed from earth to heaven. At another time we behold her conducted, as it were, into the wilderness by the Spirit; where, having left the house of her father, the allurements of the world, and the endearments of life, she dedicates her whole being to the service of God, and to the contemplation of those invisible goods which he has reserved for those who love him.
In The Lives of the Saints, we behold the prince and the peasant, the warrior and the sage, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the peasant and the mechanic, the shepherd and the statesman, the wife and the widow, the prelate, the priest, and the recluse—the men and women of every class, and age, and degree, and condition, and country, sanctified by the grace of God, exhibiting to the faithful reader models for his imitation, and saying to him, in a voice which he cannot fail to understand, “Go thou and do likewise.”
- James Doyle, from “Preface,” The Lives of the Saints
Books like Butler’s not only collect accounts of lives worthy of emulation but also bear witness to the power of story itself—the same transformative power that drew Zimmerman to the Thousand and One Tales. In Butler’s book, St. Austin names a pair of courtiers moved to forsake the world by accidentally reading the life of St. Anthony, St. Godrick is enthralled by stories of the life of St. Cutbert, and St. John Columbini was converted from a covetous nobleman to a saint by casually reading the story of Mary of Egypt. This last account would become the anchor for our play—Columbini’s pious wife places a book of the lives of the saints in front of her husband, and his reading sets in motion an adventure that spans the globe and the centuries.
Devising a new Zimmerman play (without Zimmerman)Mary Zimmerman's collaborative approach to theatre-making has not only developed a distinctive, easily recognizable production aesthetic, but has also repositioned the actor and director in relation to written text. Her emphasis on rehearsal preceding the written script enhances and highlights the fundamentally heteroglossic nature of theatrical performance—an attribute shared by the source texts for many of her most successful plays, including The Arabian Nights, Metamorphoses, and The Secret in the Wings.
In January 2017, a group of Carthage Theatre students, under the direction of Prof. Neil Scharnick, attempted to create an original play in the dramaturgical mode of Mary Zimmerman, based on Alban Butler’s Eighteenth-Century tome, The Lives of the Saints. This text enabled the group to practice very nearly everything for which Zimmerman’s plays are known. To start, the play, like its source, is a collection of stories, and those stories are in part about the power of storytelling. Responsibility for creating the different stories and characters fell in part on the cast, while conceiving the play’s framework was the director’s responsibility. The resulting structure encouraged multiple-casting and highlighted the multiple authorial voices. Like so many of Zimmerman’s plays, this work contains magic/miracles/ angels that can be staged with imaginative hypertheatricality. It serves to “bring near” to the audience a set of worlds that at first seem remote and alien. And finally, like all of Zimmerman’s plays, it relies on word and image juxtaposed in a way that generates meaning in a way neither can achieve alone.
The play’s first draft was presented in February, and development of the script continues.
The Lives of the SaintsAround this poster you will find excerpts and early drafts from the play, written by Scharnick and his students.
Metamorphoses
Saints Featured (in initial draft):Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael (archangels); St. John Colombini; St. Zosimus and St. Mary of Egypt; Sts. Godrick,Cutbert, Aidan, Boisil, and Eata; St. Elfleda; St. Mary, mother of Jesus; St. Mary Magdalene; St. Mary of Bethany, St.Eulalia
Saints' Bones: Devising The Lives of the Saints for the Stage, Guided by Mary Zimmerman's Archaeology of Performance
Dr. Neil Kristian ScharnickDepartment of Theatre, Carthage College
Celebration of Scholars 2018 Exposition of Student & Faculty Research, Scholarship &Creativity
Treasure Island
The White Snake
Argonautica
Mary Zimmerman plays:
The Secret in the Wings
The Class:Dr. Neil Scharnick taught the class and oversaw the creation ofthe script, assisted by Ashley Pavlak. Collaborating studentswere:
Roxanne Balaskas Alex BenitezBen Braun Alexis GilkesLydia Haasl Josh MaloneyAshley Pavlak Jasmine Ratcliff
The Arabian Nights
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