I.    Professional Theatre is a Risk

        A.    Chances of failure are high

                1.    Baseball players are good if they go 3 for 10

                2.    In theatre, you are expected to hit a homerun every time

II.    Troilus and Cressida (Colorado Shakespeare Festival)

        A.   Big Risk

               1.    Difficult title to sell at box office

                       a.    Script hard to follow for modern audience

                        b.    Not a well-known Shakespeare play

                        c.    A very cynical script

                2.    Festival had to make money and sell at least 60% of seats

                3.    Could hurt reputations of artists involved if a failure

        B.    Story

                1.    Somewhat familiar to modern audience

                        a.    Miniseries Helen of Troy

                        b.    Movie Troy

                        c.    Movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

                        d.    Story of Trojan Horse

                        e.    Terms such as "Ajax" (strong), Achilles (vulnerable), Pandarus (pander or pimp)

        C.    Process

                1.    Director chose production team

                        a.    People he had successfully worked with before

                2.    Had team look at first scene with

                        a.    Cliffs Notes

                        b.    Video of BBC production

                        c.    Reading script

                3.    Had team reread whole play in one sitting

                4.    Director read nine essays about play to find analyses of

                        a.    Characters

                        b.    Themes

                        c.    Genre

                        d.    Style

                        e.    Structure

                        f.    Meaning

                 5.    Found intriguing idea that Greeks and Trojans were related and it was almost a family feud

                        a.    Had intuition that this might be a key to making the production accessible to modern audience

                6.   Researched previous productions

                        a.    Looked at photographs

                        b.    Read interviews with directors and actors

                        c.    Read critics' reviews

                7.    Analyzed genre to see if it could help determine style of play

                        a.    Found some had called it a comedy; some, a tragedy; and some a tragicomedy

                        b.    Because of opening prologue spoken directly to audience, decided to stage in Theatricalism style

                8.    Analyzed dramatic makeup

                        a.    Dramatic Question: "Will Troilus and Cressida live happily ever after

                        b.    Turning Point: Cressida taken away to the Greek camp by Diomedes

                        c.    Resolution: Dramatic Question answered with resounding NO when Troilus renounces Cressida after seeing her kiss Diomedes

                        d.    Simple Plot: Story of Troilus and Cressida, who fall in love, are separated by cynical and corrupt forces of militaristic society and discover
                                 they must betray each other to stay alive

                        e.    Meaning of Play:   War corrupts our values and destroys our happiness

                9.     Worked with early sketches and ideas

                        a.    Thumbnail set drawings

                        c.    Costume sketches

                        d.    Lighting storyboards

                        e.    Music from period

                10.    Decided to set in Civil War period

                        a.    Many parallels

                                i.    Brothers fighting each other

                                ii.    Bodies and spirits broken down by time

                                iii.    Bloody war with outmoded value of "honor" in the South (Troy) vs. cynical militarism of the North  (Greece)

                                iv.    Parallel characters like Ulysses and Ulysses Grant

                11.    Prepared Script

                        a.    Edited down to shorter version

                        b.    Removed archaic language

                        c.    Kept Shakespearean meter  

                12.    Decided to use Ken Burns' film as design influence

                        a.    Music

                        b.    Captions

                        c.    Still photos

                13.    All designers met and shared ideas

                        a.    Sketches

                        b.    Photographs

                        c.    Logos

                        d.    Music

                14.    Sent research and ideas back and forth among designers for several months

                15.    Final Design Conference

                        a.    Showed model

                        b.    Looked at costume renderings

                        c.    Listened to sound effects

                16.    Developed final plans

                        a.    Technical drawings

                        b.    Painter's elevations

                        c.    Purchased fabrics

                        d.    Ordered military costumes

                        e.    Designed choreographic requirements

                17.    Realizing production

                        a.    Met with full staff and actors to show design concept

                        b.    Worked in shops building sets and costumes

                        c.    Met in weekly production conferences to stay on track

                        d.    Rehearsed actors, developing accents, choreography, etc.

                        e.    Conducted technical and dress rehearsals

                18.    Problems

                        a.    Sign blew up

                        b.    Banjo player booked interfering schedule

                        c.    Lead actor got hernia

                19.    Success

                        a.    Show was a critical and financial success