War juxtaposed against everyday life is the subject of a play that ran at Poughkeepsie High School from Nov. 1 to Nov. 4.
Artistic director Dwayne Mann, who now lives in New York City, grew up in Wappingers Falls and heads theater company Keitrik Productions. The work, “365 Days/365 Plays,” by Pulitzer-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, has been staged in over 600 theaters around the country during a yearlong festival, which began in November 2006.
Mann brought his own production to Poughkeepsie High School in order to expose the students and members of the diverse community to theater, he said. “I think theater is kind of seen as an elite art. It’s not really that accessible at this current moment in time” – something Keitrik Productions is trying to change. “We thought we’d plant it right in the middle of the community,” Mann said.
People have been curious about their reasons for bringing a somewhat avant-garde work to Poughkeepsie: “We get the ‘Why Poughkeepsie High School’ question a lot,” said executive director Mary Rocco.
“Arts in the school is still pretty new. We’re kind of doing it from the ground up a little bit, which is kind of the reason why – you know, why do it,” said Mann.
While the play engaged professional actors from New York City, Keitrik Productions sought to bring high school students onboard to help with marketing – the company hosted marketing workshops for the after- school programs Sister 2 Sister and Brother 2 Brother, in addition to general workshops on theater production over the past two weeks in the school.
“People who aren’t exposed young to theater don’t end up becoming theater-goers,” said Rocco.
Mann and Rocco also sought to show students that theater was a viable profession: “If you are interested in any of this, one day you can make a career out of marketing” or other aspects of production, said Mann, who has been involved in theater professionally since the age of 18, beginning his career in company management with the Third National company, where he was part of a team producing “Seussical,” “Aida” and “Miss Saigon” on Broadway and on tour. He is currently with the Gershwin Theater, where “Wicked” is now running.
War and Beyoncé
Parks wrote a play every day for a year beginning in November 2002. The resulting play cycle is her meditation on artistic life. “Week 51,” the selection staged by the Keitrik Productions, explores how war has become a background noise in everyday life, much like a pop song on the radio.
Conducted on distant foreign lands, those of us who are not fighting the battles (and are not close to anyone who is) can tune war out of our lives with a convenient flip of the channel.
To explore this scenario, Mann set a scene where soldiers return from war to a lively song by Beyoncé. “Get Me Bodied.” It puts a macabre twist on a pop ditty about dancing close at a club: “While ya’ll standing on the wall/I’m the one getting bodied.”
Mann chose the song, in part, for its banality. “That’s what’s going on in your life today. There’s a war going on and yet we’re still just kind of putting on MTV like ‘It ain’t no big deal,’” said Mann. “It’s just sort of something happening in the background, the same as the Beyoncé.”