Director Note
Greetings from the Theatre Program! If this is your first time in the theatre with us, welcome. If you are a seasoned audience member of our work, welcome back. To learn important context and the history of the play, please refer to Caitlynn Barrett's fabulous dramaturgy note below.
I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you some very exciting news. The play you are about to see involves over 30 students. They are actors, stage managers, costumers, make-up artists, stage hands, property masters, carpenters and designers. It's an exciting time to be a theatre artist. Especially in our program. Our team has worked extremely hard putting in long hours over spring break and well into their evenings after school. Our students are taking on demanding positions and are rising to the occasion. What makes us unique is our focus on 'working as a professional'. Professionalism is the buzz word around here and students are able to explore their creativity in a rigorous and rewarding atmosphere that prepares our students with the necessary tools for success in our industry.
I would like you to join in my excitement for the SUNY Ulster Theatre Program and its endeavors. It has been an exciting semester for our program. In just 3 months, we've hosted Brendan Burke (Producing & Artistic Director of Shadowland Theatre in Ellenville), Kelly Kinsella (an award winning solo performance artist from NYC), and traveled to the HUMANA Festival of New American Plays at the Tony Award Winning Actors Theatre of Louisville. At the festival, students saw 5 original pieces and attended seminars and workshops which gave them the opportuntiy to network with fellow theatre students, interns, directors, award winning playwrights and directors.
Please enjoy our show and be sure to stay connected with us on facebook at "SUNY Ulster Theatre Department"
-Stephen Balantzian
Dramaturgy Note
For those who are unfamiliar with dramaturgy, a dramaturg is in charge of doing research and script analysis for a play. As a dramaturg, I researched the 1930s extensively and collected information and photos for our director and cast members during the table talk process.
Waiting for Lefty, Clifford Odets’ first published play, is a series of vignettes, or small scenes, relating to a taxi cab strike during the Great Depression. Our show takes place in 1935, where one dollar was the equivalent to seventeen dollars today. Originally staged by The Group Theatre, Waiting for Lefty is a prime example of an agitprop play. Agitprop, or agitation propaganda, was a popular form of drama in the 1930s. Agitprop theatre generally emerges in times of crisis and seeks to rally or influence the views of their audience members. The vignettes alternate between a cabbie union hall meeting and flash backs of the union members and their struggles with desperate conditions, personal relationships, morality, and racism. In the 1930s, 25% of Americans were out of work; the taxi cab industry was hit particularly hard and many workers’ wages were cut drastically due to the harsh conditions of the Depression. In 1934, 2,000 taxi cab drivers stormed Times Square in an effort to receive better pay, giving Clifford Odets the inspiration for our show.
As the cast and crew went through their scripts, I was in charge of answering any questions they had regarding the time and conditions their characters were faced with. I personally found the dramaturgy work for this show to be incredibly interesting due to the personal accounts of the Great Depression that I got to read throughout the process. Seeing the hardships so many people faced on a daily basis, made me very thankful for the things I often taken for granted in my own life.
-Caitlynn Barrett
