Directing III - Come and Go

The text:

VI : When did we three last meet?

RU : Let us not speak. [Silence. Exit VI right. Silence.]

FLO : Ru.

RU : Yes.

FLO : What do you think of Vi?

RU : I see little change. [FLO moves to centre seat, whispers in RU's ear. Appalled.] Oh! [They look at each other. FLO puts her finger to her lips,] Does she not realize?

FLO : God grant not. [Enter VI. FLO and RU turn back front, resume pose. VI sits right. Silence.] Just sit together as we used to, in the playground at Miss Wade's.

RU : On the log. [Silence. Exit FLO left.] Vi.

VI : Yes.
RU: How do you find FLO?

VI : She seems much the same. [RU moves to centre seat, whispers in VI's ear. Appalled.] Oh! [They look at each other. RU puts her finger to her lips.] Has she not been told?

RU : God forbid. [Enter FLO. RU and VI turn back front, resume pose. FLO sits left.] Holding hands . . . that way.

FLO : Dreaming of . . . love. [Silence. Exit RU right. Silence.]

VI : Flo.

FLO : Yes.

VI : How do you think Ru is looking?

FLO : One sees little in this light. [VI moves centre seat, whispers in FLO's ear. Appalled.] Oh! [They look at each other. VI puts her finger to her lips.] Does she not know?

VI : Please God not.
[Enter RU. VI and FLO turn back front, resume pose. RU sits right. Silence.] May we not speak of the old days? [Silence.] Of what came after? [Silence.] Shall we hold hands in the old way?

[After a moment they join hands as follows : VI's right hand with RU's right hand. VI's left hand with FLO's left hand, FLO's right hand with RU's left hand, VI's arms being above RU's left arm and FLO's right arm. The three pairs of clasped hands rest on the three laps. Silence.]
FLO: I can feel the rings.

[Silence.]

CURTAIN

Press Release

Come and Go to make a splash in UArts annual Samuel Beckett’s Festival

Philadelphia, PA, Release February 16th, 2020. For Immediate Release. 

The University of the Arts Directing, Playwriting and Production department presents the annual Directing III - Samuel Beckett’s Festival returning Wednesdays April 4th, 11th, 15th and 22nd. These presentations are a cumulation of an entire semester's work of investigation inside the work of Beckett, where does adaptation live and how does legacy get celebrated through reimagining of his work? This course is under the artistic direction of Fadi Skeiker. The festival is excited to feature the work of Director James Bruenger in his adaptation of Come and Go. 

James Bruenger is a Director and Producer originally from Los Cabos, Mexico who grew up in Colorado, and is currently pursuing his BFA in Directing, Playwriting + Production at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. James believes that in directing and creating in theatre is a construction of imagination and text. By implementing life experiences and a sense of what is rotating around the world he is able to arrive at a presentation of any work for an audience. He began his investigation of the theatre practice from an appreciation for storytelling, since then the work has evolved into a space in hope to connect audiences to performances in an honest and impactful way. Ultimately, he hopes that audiences feel a sense of community, catharsis and creativity in my work. His missing is to continue to lead the mission to tell new stories for audiences of all walks of life.

Come and Go tells the story of three older women are seen sitting on a bench, they reflect about their past, they converse in bland, almost inaudible voices. They fill their present moment by a routine of getting up, going out, returning and sitting down. In this adaptation of the piece Bruenger is investigating the work of memory and where it resonates inside of our bodies physically. 

Featuring a cast of current undergraduate musical theatre and acting students at the University of the Arts the show will take the audience to a magical physical journey. The performance of Come and Go will be performed in a studio presentation at 1:00pm on April 15th, there will be general admission seating with doors opening at 12:50pm. 

About the Playwright: Samuel Barclay Beckett was born in Foxrock, County Dublin, on April 13, 1906. He was the second of two sons of a middle-class Protestant couple. He studied at Earlsfort House in Dublin, and then at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen (where Oscar Wilde had attended), where he first began to learn French, one of the two languages in which he would write. A well-rounded athlete, Beckett excelled especially in cricket, tennis, and boxing in his school days. Though he continued with sports, his attention turned increasingly to academics when, at seventeen, he entered Trinity College, choosing French and Italian as his subjects. Beckett enjoyed the vibrant theater scene of post-independence Dublin, preferring revivals of J.M. Synge plays. Moreover, he had the opportunity to watch American films and discover the silent comedies of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin that would crucially influence his interest in the vaudevillian tramp. After graduation, Beckett traveled to Paris, where he met fellow Dubliner James Joyce, to whom he became a favored assistant. Inspired by the vibrant Parisian literary circle, Beckett published his first poem, "Whoroscope," in 1930, and the groundbreaking “Proust,” shortly thereafter. When he returned to Dublin later that year to lecture at Trinity, Beckett was writing his first stories, which would later comprise “More Pricks Than Kicks” (1934). Returning to Paris in 1932, Beckett wrote his first novel, “Dream of Fair to Middling Women.” Out of money, he went back to Dublin and then moved temporarily to London, where he worked on much of his next novel, “Murphy.” Still without a steady source of income (“Murphy” would not appear until 1938), he moved constantly for the next few years before settling permanently in Paris in 1937. His first French novel, “Mercier et Camier,” written between 1947 and 1950—with its wandering duo, minimalist style, and insistence on repetition—predicts the concerns and form of WAITING FOR GODOT. In this time, he also wrote his famous novel trilogy (“Molloy,” “Malone Dies,” “The Unnamable”). In 1947, he wrote his first play, ELEUTHERIA, which he would not allow to be published during his lifetime. Between 1948 and 1949, he wrote WAITING FOR GODOT. In the 1950s and 1960s, Beckett's playwriting continued with a series of masterpieces, including ENDGAME, KRAPP'S LAST TAPE, and HAPPY DAYS. He involved himself in various productions of his plays across Europe and in the United States, wrote his first radio plays, and created remarkably innovative prose fiction, including the epic “How It Is” (1961) and the haunting “The Lost Ones” (1970). Worldwide appreciation of his work growing, he received the Nobel Prize in 1969. The 1970s were a less prolific period, though he managed some new projects, including television plays for the BBC, and continued to interest himself in productions of his theatrical works. In 1977 he began the autobiographical “Company” and in the early 1980s crafted more prose pieces (including “Ill Seen Ill Said” and “Worstward Ho”), as well as more plays (including ROCKABY and OHIO IMPROMPTU). His last major work, the prose fiction “Stirrings Still,” was written in 1986. In the same year, Beckett began to suffer from emphysema. After his first hospitalization, he wrote in bed his final work, the poem “What is the Word.” Moved into a nursing home, Le Tiers Temps, his deteriorating health prevented him from writing, and his efforts were given instead to translation of his works. He died December 22, 1989.

About the Director:  Born in Los Cabos Mexico. Raised in Denver CO. James Bruenger is currently jumping back and forth to and from CO & Philadelphia. BFA University of the Arts: Brind School of Theater - Directing, Playwriting + Production 2020. Associate Artistic Director - Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre. Creative Team Credits: Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre: Associate Artistic Director - The Last Five Years (Director), Evita (Director & Choreographer) Fly By Night (Choreographer), An(Other) Evening with Kayla Ryan Walsh (Director), Next 15 Cabaret (Director). Expositions Theatrical Arts Company: Producing Artistic Director - Chicago The Musical, Carrie The Musical, Grease The Musical. University of the Arts: Momentos (Director), Don’t Stop Me by Krista Knight & Dave Malloy (Assistant Director) and Working (Assistant Director). Denver School of the Arts: The Woods by David Mamet (Director), The Little Mermaid (Choreographer), Macbeth (Assistant Director), Baba Yaga (Assistant Director), Too Much Light: Slapped With Reality (Writer/Performer/Choreographer). American Academy: Annie (Choreographer), Seussical (Director/Choreographer), Disney’s Peter Pan (Choreographer). Miners Alley Playhouse: You Can’t Take It With You (Assistant Director).

Contact info:

Name: Victoria Johnson

Organization: Brind School of Theater Arts 

Address: 320 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Phone: +1-880-706-6051