Opening October 27 and running through November 5 2023, the University of Utah Department of Theatre presents “Town Hall,” by OBIE award-winner Caridad Svich and directed by Latoya Cameron. Described as "a play/a conversation/a story about life and living in an ever-changing world: a place we thought we knew, once upon a time," "Town Hall" is not to be missed.
In an interview in 2017 first published by The Lark, and shared by The Theatre Times, Caridad Svich offered a glimpse inside the piece:
“There is a script. There are words that will be said. Yes. I am not doing away with text. I have a very particular way of thinking about shape and sound, meaning and affect, white space and no space, and how the score is to be played and/or decoded in performance. But we—all those on the creative team (and by extension, those in the audience)— are all invited to share in the dream-making, because there are very little if any directions in the text as to how to go about finding the vocabulary of the world of the play. What is that expression about directing? Some plays are discovered and others are propped up? I prefer the former. And the more life experience is in the room, the richer the process of discovery is and the richer the discovery is itself.”
While embracing and embodying the unconventional script/score, the cast has found new flexibility in their abilities, and in the possibilities of modern theatre.
Griz Siebeneck is studying in the Actor Training Program as well as majoring in Criminology. “During this production I feel like I learned skills for an entirely new discipline. This kind of experimental, activist theatre is its own beast in the way Shakespeare and musical theatre are,” they explained. “It feels uncomfortable and strange, but that discomfort is where the greatest growth happens. (Much like the discomfort this show may offer to audiences. We can all grow together.)”
"Being an active player in telling the story prevents actors to look away from what is happening around us every day. Climate anxiety and hopelessness compound with fear and horror, and yet we live on."
Siebeneck tackles the role of E.
“Throughout the creative process we’ve identified A and S as talkers, while E and B are doers,” they said. “One cannot exist without the other. I’m hoping the audience will gain curiosity about what we justify as being ‘the way things are.’ That we can reflect on what things are and what we want them to be. And then do something about it.”
"Town Hall" lives amongst the very issues that are top of mind (and news) today.
“In today’s world, the show continues to be extremely topical. Being an active player in telling the story prevents actors to look away from what is happening around us every day. Climate anxiety and hopelessness compound with fear and horror, and yet we live on. But the show does not only center on these gloomy conditions. It explores beauty and joy and calls on the actor and the audience alike to take action,” Siebeneck said.
Tyler Kline, who plays B in the show, studies Pre-med in addition to Theatre in the Actor Training Program. “For me personally, the most difficult part of the process was allowing myself to be open and grounded with the peculiarities of this show,” Kline said.
“It demands that I am the character. In other productions and works, I have portrayed characters as someone else with hints of me sprinkled in. But in this case, the most terrifying part is that I am myself in this production and that it requires a lot of patience and vulnerability.”
Come share space with "Town Hall." You won’t be sorry.
"It was last night
It was a millennia ago
The trees were in bloom
Everything seemed possible
I was here
We were alive
It was a dream
Just like this one"