After some minor technical difficulties on our end, we had a energetic discussion with Dr. Jane Barnette, resident dramaturg at Kennesaw State University. We learned a lot about her interdisciplinary approach, which ranges from feminist studies in Grimm's fairy tales to yoga as pedagogy.
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Dr. Jane Barnette from Kennesaw State University offered great advice and opinions. Her approach to dramaturgy was particularly interesting. Dr. Barnette stressed the connection between the audience and the performance. She talked about the public reaction to theatre being an important factor because plays not only finish thoughts but also generate questions.
Dr. Barnette also covered dramaturgy and race issues on stage, something that University of Arizona never sees due to our student population. It was interesting to discuss the political consciousness of theatre and its role in influencing the public.
I thought it was very interesting to hear about Dr. Barnette's adaptive processes during this skype session. The most interesting subject for me was the idea of dramaturging the purpose and the use of the "n" word in her programs adaptation of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.
As many know, the "n" word has been revoked from the new publications of this story. However, during the adaptation process of this theatrical version (written and produced to be an educational tool and experience for school children) Kennesaw decided to keep the original word in their production . Dr. Barnette informed our class that as soon as schools were aware that Kennesaw's version of this adaptation would be utilizing the forbidden word, they began to drop their appointments for the touring production. However, Dr. Barnette used this situation to help advance the practice of dramaturgy, and alongside a student, utilized the website they set up for this production to essentially dramaturg their justification of using this word.
This example goes to show that no matter how big or small the root of a problem could be for a production, the utilization and practice of dramaturgy is an essential problem solving tool in the theatre.
To piggyback on Faith's comment, I'd like to talk about the censoring of Huckleberry Finn too.
The "n" word is very strong and racially charged, but it was used differently in Twain's time than it was now. Respecting the text and leaving it was an important decision. I'm glad that Kennesaw did that, and the impassioned way Dr. Barnette spoke about it was very cool.
It will be up to future generations to decide the fate of Huck Finn as a whole, since it's being phased out of schools more and more due to its controversial nature. I, on principle, like to fight for the rights of banned books. But at the same time, I just don't like Huck Finn.
I'd be curious to have a detailed conversation about "Why this play now?" , since I can think of several more relevant classics to our social and political times. But I digress from the main point: theatre should feel confident enough to stand up for its artistic vision regardless of outside influences (like ticket sales). In a perfect world, anyway.
Random side note: Did you know there's a version of Huck Finn where they replaced the n-word with "hipster"?
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