By Christian Fernandez
As part of their season, MBU MFA companies select a Renaissance show where the company emulates the American Shakespeare Center’s Renaissance Season. The format of the Renaissance show limits the company to a one week rehearsal schedule with no director and only group collaboration determining every decision. For their Renaissance show, The Motley Players selected Francis Beaumont’s Knight of the Burning Pestle.
Motley Players Chad Marriott and Nick Ciavarra shared their experiences on the process. Ciavarra served as the play’s dramaturg, which entailed cutting the script, forming a dramaturgy packet, and assisting with casting the play. Marriott played the major male character, George. Each had different perspectives on the play selection. “We spent the weeks before our final decision presenting our ideas for plays individually” Ciavarra said. “Pestle showed up repeatedly in these presentations as both a proposal for our Ren Show and our Blackfriars show.” Marriott was one of those who “fought extremely hard” for Pestle. Marriott explained, “The argument came to down to the idea of what Pestle represents. I argued that the claim that a show ‘needs a director’ was antithetical to the idea of the Ren process. I felt we needed to prove that we could do this project without a director.” While the company had some concerns, Marriott noted the difficulty of the play was intended to help Motley grow. “Essentially,” Marriott said. “We chose our education over fun.”
With only a week to rehearse, the company had to figure out how to accomplish the most in a limited amount of time. Initially, the company selected the scenes to rehearse at the beginning of each day. “As we got further in,” Ciavarra recalled, “we had to become more organized.” The remedy was a comprehensive rehearsal schedule ensuring the company rehearsed each scene at least twice while also prioritizing the most important scenes. In such a system, Marriott observed that the different personality types began to show. “The type As set the structure and the type Bs mainly followed the current.” For example, with no director, Marriott found it important for him and his co-lead to “spend a lot of time helping the other actors and making sure they got what they needed.”
Those moments of difficulty certainly appeared. “It’s a monster of a show,” Ciavarra said. “The shortened rehearsal period certainly pushed our conflict resolution talents and forced us to evaluate and prioritize what needed attention and what was not worth the return on investment.” Marriott found the lack of hierarchy just as challenging as the company feared. “The group depends on organization and hierarchy,” he noted. “Without those pillars to lean on, we struggled during the week…the difference of expectation amongst the company members caused some friction and confusion among the group.”
Nevertheless, as Marriott had proposed at the beginning of the selection process, the difficulty of the show provided the greatest learning experience. “We learned how to work without rigid hierarchy,” he commented. “The Ren show process accelerates understanding of group dynamics. Hindsight is 20/20, but if I had known what Pestle taught me about our group dynamic I would have approached the entire year differently for the benefit of the group.” Ciavarra also observed the impact the show had. “Each Motley grew in their own way and took with them a lesson that is personal and potent.”
