Other than the fantastic graduate and undergraduate shows produced by the UCSD theater and dance department, there is another remarkable, albeit lesser known, element of UCSD’s performing arts greatness: the “cabaret.” Besides giving students the opportunity to create or perform whatever their unbridled imaginations and efforts can produce, the “cabaret” also gives broke college students a chance to see fresh, collaborative works for free.
The theater and dance department parcels out performance spaces and specific dates during each week of the quarter to students who want to produce shows. Those students seek out a cast and crew, rehearse and then, mostly through word of mouth, draw in audiences to see their finished products.
This weekend, the small thrust stage in Galbraith Theater will house Tennessee Williams’ “The Notebook of Trigorin,” directed by Earl Warren College senior Michelle Trachtenberg. In this widely overlooked work, Williams reworks Anton Chechkov’s “The Seagull” into an illuminating play about unrequited love, betrayal and other human relations, using his poetics to shift the perspectives on the characters and reveal what Chechkov never did.
“To enjoy ‘Notebook,’ you can never have seen [Chechkov’s] play before and still know the characters and the plot,” Trachtenberg said. “I mean, who hasn’t experienced a broken heart?”
Trachtenberg came across this play at Barnes and Noble and then convinced a cast and crew of some 16 people to work on it with her.
Abandoning the traditional practice of auditioning, Trachtenberg approached each person independently for their particular role.
“It was a brave choice,” said junior Allison Dana, who plays the officious Arkadina. “She placed a lot of faith in me, so I wanted to step up to it.”
Senior Brian Swarberg, who plays Trigorin, said Trachtenberg approached him enthusiastically.
“Her excitement and drive and constant propositioning got me wanting to do it,” he said. The play features a very talented cast, some recognizable from previous department shows and some who are as yet unrecognized, such as Warren senior Dylan Seaton, whose role of Constantine will be his first lead in a play.
“Michelle is awesome,” Seaton said. “She’s made me a lot better actor just in the course of a few weeks.”
Amid encouragements like “Slap me some skin ‘cause that was the best!” and “Give me those lungs, honeybuns,” Trachtenberg’s rehearsal process is infused with the feeling that everyone is being encouraged to achieve their best under the director’s charismatic and innovative eye. In the midst of rehearsing a scene, Trachtenberg exclaims, “That was such a brilliant moment — she started and suddenly all of you leaned in. It was fucking brilliant! Oh my god, my heart!”
Tender moments like these are not uncommon. There is a noticeable community relationship in the process between these peers, and this collaborative aspect must have played a large factor in what has led to some very touching achievements during the play.
Trachtenberg’s “director’s note” reads, “I love emotion, anything that gets my blood bubbling will command my attention. Tennessee Williams does this for me tenfold.” Indeed, the play is full of emotional nettles that prick at you amid Williams’ beautiful language. The young and disconsolate character, Masha, says, “When there’s nothing else to say, people always say ‘youth, youth,’” to which Trigorin responds wistfully, “How tortured you are by it. And by love, unrequited. Well. Youth, love, they’re worth the price.” The price of this performance — merely two hours of your time — is also worth it. “The Notebook of Trigorin” shows this weekend only, at 8 p.m. on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29 in Galbraith 157.
