美国国家公共电台 NPR Yale Repertory Marks 50 Years As A Theater Incubator

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: 

The movie "Fences," a leading contender for the Oscars, is based on a play by August Wilson that got its start at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven¹, Conn. This season, Yale Rep is celebrating its 50th anniversary as an incubator for many of today's leading playwrights³. Jeff Lunden has more.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE⁴: Here's James Earl Jones in the original production of "Fences."

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FENCES")

JAMES EARL JONES: (As Troy Maxson) It is my job. It is my responsibility. You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house. You sleep your behind on my bedclothes. You put my food in your belly⁵ because you are my son. You are my flesh and blood, not because I like you.

LUNDEN: The late playwright² August Wilson told NPR in 1991 that Yale Rep was crucial to his work.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

AUGUST WILSON: For me, one of the most valuable things I think that has contributed to my development is the fact of having a home here at Yale Rep and knowing that I can write a play and that the theater would be willing to produce it. I've constantly worked to reward that faith that has been placed in me.

LUNDEN: Yale Rep not only premiered 6 of Wilson's 10 plays about the African-American experience but ensured that he could refine them by getting the plays staged in theaters across the country.

Yale is different from other nonprofit theaters in several ways. It doesn't have to worry about funding because it's connected to a major university, and it was conceived as an integral part of the Yale School of Drama, says James Bundy, who, like all of his predecessors⁶, serves as both dean and artistic⁷ director.

JAMES BUNDY: The best possible training in every discipline of the theater could only be offered in conjunction with a practicing professional theater that regularly brought leading artists into the community and allowed students to work alongside those artists in a manner not dissimilar to that of a medical school and a teaching hospital.

LUNDEN: Students go to classes from 9 to 2, then spend their afternoons and evenings doing everything that goes into staging a play. Actress Dianne Wiest recently starred in Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" at the Rep.

DIANNE WIEST: My costume was made by a brilliant student. The stage manager is a student. The assistant stage manager is a student who was down in the pit with me, you know, giving me a line.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "HAPPY DAYS")

WIEST: (As Winnie) Just to know that in theory you can hear me even though in fact you don't is all I need.

(LAUGHTER)

LUNDEN: One of the students who graduated from the Yale School of Drama is stage and screen star Liev Schreiber.

LIEV SCHREIBER: I mean it's such an incredible history, that theater. And you know, just to walk around the halls and see pictures of Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards and Morgan Freeman and Meryl Streep and the remarkable⁸ Paul Newman...

LUNDEN: And remarkable playwrights like Danai Gurira, who's had three of her works done at Yale Rep.

DANAI GURIRA: It's a place where you can really go and incubate because, you know, it's so tricky⁹ with how some of the things are structured now in our industry where it's all about whose review comes out when, et cetera, et cetera. And so it was really awesome¹⁰ to have that space to just not have to think about that stuff and to get to really think about what story am I trying to tell here.

LUNDEN: One of the stories Gurira refined at Yale Rep was "Eclipsed." It eventually moved to Broadway starring Lupita Nyong'o, who was a student understudy at the theater.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "ECLIPSED"

LUPITA NYONG'O: (As The Girl) I don't know. I just think we should know who we are, what year we got, where we come from. This war not forever.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) But that's what it feel like.

NYONG'O: (As The Girl) Yeah, but it not.

LUNDEN: Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel developed her latest play, "Indecent," at Yale while she taught at the school. She says the audiences at the Rep were invaluable¹¹ when it came to honing and shaping the work.

PAULA VOGEL: New Haven is exceptional in the conversation I have with audience members. People come up. They want to engage in a conversation. They write me long letters. They go out, and they have coffee and cake, and they discuss the play. They want to be engaged in the conversation. They're not looking for the next play on its way to Broadway.

BUNDY: Which is where "Indecent" is headed this spring. Still, artistic director James Bundy says it's a play that really fulfills¹² Yale Rep's mission.

BUNDY: What are the odds¹³ that a play about censorship and lesbians would make it to a Broadway stage? That's improbable. And in fact, if you're going to make theater that's really worth making, you should probably be investing in the improbable.

LUNDEN: A new play called "Imogen Says Nothing" opens at the Rep this Friday, and an exhibition of photographs from the theater's 50-year history has just opened at the Performing Arts Library in New York's Lincoln Center. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden.

(SOUNDBITE OF VAMPIRE WEEKEND SONG, "OXFORD COMMA")

1 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

2 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

3 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

6 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

8 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

9 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

10 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

11 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

12 fulfills   

v.履行（诺言等）( fulfill的第三人称单数 )；执行（命令等）；达到（目的）；使结束

参考例句：

• He always fulfills his promises. 他总是履行自己的诺言。 来自辞典例句
• His own work amply fulfills this robust claim. 他自己的作品在很大程度上实现了这一正确主张。 来自辞典例句

13 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？