Student Blog: Theatre That Challenges Us Helps Us Grow

As student artists, it’s easy to stick to what we know and take on work that stays within our comfortable range of abilities. It is simpler to stay in our comfort zone and deny challenging opportunities around us. However, when we try something new, or take on a seemingly daunting task, our creative minds are opened and new skills are gained. In order to illuminate how taking on theatre-related challenges has made me a better creator, I will describe a theatrical experience I underwent recently that inspired me and changed my perspectives.

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending GATZ, a show created by the New York-based theatre company Elevator Repair Service. Known for their "verbatim" style, the company often takes existing texts—from Supreme Court transcripts to classic novels—and stages them exactly as written, finding drama in the most literal interpretations of the word.

GATZ, in essence, is a full, live-action reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Taking place in a dingy office, a man sits at his desk and begins to read the novel. He doesn’t stop; the office around him jumps to life, embodying the story as he tells it. The narrator, Nick, skillfully portrayed by Scott Shepard, reads all of Nick’s dialogue and any narration in the novel, while the other actors embody and read the dialogue of the other characters.

Because of its loyal nature to the original novel, no single word is omitted from the performance. Because of this, the runtime is a daunting eight-hour commitment. Upon learning I was required to attend this performance for my Acting 101 class, I was initially nervous. How could I possibly make it through a performance that long? When telling peers about my Saturday commitment, they shared similar fears and apprehension. Many cheered that they themselves would not have to attend something so lengthy for a class. I was beginning to doubt if this ultimate test of an audience member was something I could pass.

Finally, the day of the performance came, and I buckled up for the long haul, doubts still swimming in my mind. However, from the first light that lit up the stage, I was enraptured. Clinging to every masterfully created word, the chapters flew by as my attention remained focused on the beauty happening on the stage. Intermissions came and went, and I found myself staying in my seat, scared to be late for the next moment. When finally the curtain fell, and we had given the cast a several-minute standing ovation, I felt myself wanting more.

Ultimately, this experience proved something very important to me: Theatre that challenges us helps us grow. After seeing GATZ, ideas about how to increase immersion and stretch the limits of my own theatrical work continue to spark. This show proved to me that, with a strong directorial concept and careful creation, an audience can be enraptured for the length of an entire novel. It also proved to me that I am capable of more than I expect, and more than others expect of me. In this era of shortening attention spans and endless reworkings of old properties, it was refreshing for both myself and the audience to be immersed in something so original and ambitious. I will never forget this experience, and will draw upon this theatrical challenge to enrich my own craft.