STAGE NOTES
The WICA Blog
ESSAY | "Consider the Metaphor"
“Metaphor is inseparable from human language and conceptual thought. The use of metaphor appears in our earliest stories; the first writing about it appears in Aristotle, who wrote, ‘Metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else.”’ The literary device is as at home in Shakespeare (‘All the world’s a stage’) as it is in 80’s pop music (‘Once had love and it was a gas, soon turned out / had a heart of glass’). The singer Blondie did not literally have a heart of glass, but the listener grasps her meaning: her heart was fragile and easily broken. Metaphors transfer and transmit meaning.
‘Heart of Glass’ is straightforward, but the best metaphors are complex. Consider the “extended metaphor,” also called a conceit. Shakespeare’s metaphor from As You Like It, ‘All the world’s a stage,’ extends and deepens in the next line: ‘And all the men and women merely players.’ As the lines continue, each image is layered on to the one before, logically following from idea to idea. If the world is a stage, then people are the players and, as players, ‘they have their exits and their entrances.’ If we understand exits as deaths and entrances as births, simple comparisons transform into a poetic, existential consideration of mortality.
In Craig Lucas’ Prelude to a Kiss, a romantic fairy tale evolves into a powerful and moving metaphor. The play began for Lucas as an attempt to capture how marriage transforms one’s lover, how newlyweds wake up the next day and feel as if they don’t know the person lying next to them. When Lucas found himself confronted by the AIDS Crisis and watching beautiful youths transforming overnight into old men — he echoed the dark transformations in his play.
Prelude has become a modern classic, and what makes the play endure is that Lucas doesn’t simply use language to contain his metaphor; he uses bodies. Metaphor is made flesh in [SPOILER ALERT]… continue reading here.
SOURCE: Huntington Theatre Company
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Prelude to a Kiss | June 07-22, 2019
ARTICLE | “Next to Normal” rocks more than the WICA stage
Some things defy expectations. Next to Normal, at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley, is sure to be one of them.
“Next to Normal is the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a suburban American family and one woman’s journey through her bipolar episodes and depression,” described director Deana Duncan, WICA’s Artistic Director. “It is at turns funny, heartbreakingly tender, and stunningly beautiful.”
With a small cast of just six actors, Duncan said the music is easily the seventh character.
“This music begins soft and plays at your heartstrings, then it drives deep into your belly and soul and then it rocks the foundation of your emotions,” she described. “I’ve been listening nonstop to this music for over six months and it’s only getting stronger. The music holds, carries and matches the authenticity of the emotion this story shares.”
“The music is composed as part and parcel of the telling of the story - the melodic riffs, the rhythmic impulses, the chosen instrumentation are all very intentional as a way to convey the reality of each character AND the arc of their development as the play unfolds,” said musical director Sheila Weidendorf. “The music is the heart of the story…” — Kathy Reed, Whidbey Weekly
Read the entire article here.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019
DIRECTOR'S NOTE | "Next to Normal"
“Sometimes, the universe gives us an experience so full and authentic it cracks us open. Next to Normal has been in my heart and mind and soul for 7 years, since my son Zachary, in college on the East Coast, called at intermission in tears and said…”Mom…this show…” and I’ve wanted to work on it ever since.
There are three lyrics I’d like you to listen for please…because I think they hold the heartbeat of the story. These are the lessons we can cultivate enough courage to hear and act on so we can move forward and I think these are what make Next to Normal so important:
The doctor tells Diana at one point:
Admit what you’ve lost
And live with the cost
At times it does hurt to be healed
Natalie tells us:
Give me clouds, and rain, and gray.
Give me pain if that’s what’s real
It’s the price we pay to feel
And Diana shares with us:
And you find out you don’t have to be happy at all
To be happy you’re alive
There is great hope in this story but it’s only possible with the courage that comes from accepting this human life of ours in all its complexity and pain and beauty.
This cast, band, and creative team have worked some magic here, I have to thank Sheila Weindendorf who was the only one I knew could hold this, Verna Everitt who took away the fences, David Mackie who created this set and lighting and gave us a pallet to grow in, the WICA Board and Staff for all the support, and my boys, my family for letting me break open my heart…and not walking away.”
Deana Duncan
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019
KEY IDEAS | What is bipolar disorder?
OVERVIEW
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.
There are four basic types of bipolar disorder; all of them involve clear changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. These moods range from periods of extremely “up,” elated, and energized behavior (known as manic episodes) to very sad, “down,” or hopeless periods (known as depressive episodes). Less severe manic periods are known as hypomanic episodes.
SIGNS & SYMPTOMS
People with bipolar disorder experience periods of unusually intense emotion, changes in sleep patterns and activity levels, and unusual behaviors. These distinct periods are called “mood episodes.” Mood episodes are drastically different from the moods and behaviors that are typical for the person. Extreme changes in energy, activity, and sleep go along with mood episodes.
TREATMENTS & THERAPIES
Treatment helps many people—even those with the most severe forms of bipolar disorder—gain better control of their mood swings and other bipolar symptoms. An effective treatment plan usually includes a combination of medication, psychotherapy, and for those who have not been able to recover with other treatments — electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Learn more about bipolar disorder at the National Institute of Mental Health.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019
ARTICLE | Is "Next to Normal" Normal?
“A few months ago I headed to New York for my friend Jenny Fisher’s 50th b-day celebration along with a few high school friends. I sprung for tickets to Next to Normal, a play described to me as a musical about familial dysfunction. When we waffled about our other activities, I suggested that we see Ground Zero. I wanted to physically experience for the first time the spot that remains seared in the memory of every living American. My friends appreciated the free tix, but thought I was nuts. “What’s next on the Depression Tour?” They razzed. “Graveyards? Prisons? Hospitals for the terminally ill?”
Next to Normal is fabulous; make time to see the show. The script zings, both funny and painful. The music pulses, keeping a tough subject palatable—even entertaining. If you’ve seen the show and read my book you might understand why I was sobbing by the end of the first act. Middle-aged Diana, the play’s lead, is adored by her husband Dan, but drops into a deep depression. Despite medication and psychotherapy, she catapults further. Diana attempts suicide followed by ECT. The details are different, but this story is my story on stage…” more.
Julie K. Hersh, Psychology Today
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019