From the outside, Theodore Francis Green Hall is a small building on Young Orchard Avenue with no outward display of creative activity except for its proximity to the Orwig Music Library and a simple sign outside that reads "Production Workshop est. 1960."
On any given day, the two performance spaces that Production Workshop occupies in the T.F. Green appear to be nothing more than ragtag black boxes with dusty floors and random props lying around. Yet according to Emily Silverman '09, who acted in one of the five short plays that comprise the annual festival "3 Chairs, 2 Cubes," once someone becomes involved in PW, they realize "there's like this whole factory of fantasy" bustling inside year-round.
Founded by a group of students in 1960, PW is the only completely student-run theater on campus. Students do essentially everything - they act, direct, build sets, design costumes, coordinate lighting, obtain equipment, maintain the building and often even write plays.
PW produces three major plays in the fall, four in the spring and one special project or festival each semester in its downstairs space. The upstairs stage is smaller and can be reserved for any type of performance, including theater and music installations and fashion and magic shows.
The group has no formal membership except for its official board, which currently has 14 members. As the PW Web site states, "If you hear people talking about 'PW people,' they're just referring to people they often see working on or attending PW shows."
"Many people see the theater world as being cliquey, but it's not like that at all," said Alex Rosenthal '08, a board member.
Because PW runs on a lower budget than mainstage productions on official University stages, Rosenthal said, their shows are often more experimental.
"When we are choosing a show for PW, we are not looking for the same things (as mainstage)," said Charly Simpson '08, who serves on the PW board and is also the chair of the Department of Theater, Speech and Dance's Sock and Buskin board, which selects and runs mainstage productions.
The theater department has different criteria, she said, taking into account factors like the male-to-female ratio of the cast and the educational value of the play.
PW is funded almost entirely by the student activities fee, because admission to all shows is free. These funds are supplemented by audience donations placed in the "instant karma" box set up at shows, which is meant to instantly shoot out good karma when a donation is made, Simpson explained.
"Mainstage audiences attract more of Providence as a whole," Rosenthal said. "PW is more comprised of the Brown community."
The PW board selects the plays for the downstairs space from a pool of student proposals. Any student wishing to direct a play can submit a proposal that includes their reason for selecting the piece, a synopsis of the story and a staff to participate in the show's production. All chosen plays are required to run open auditions.
"They cast the theater people, but also the random junior like me who's never been in anything or the freshman who's never shown his face," Silverman, who recently acted in "3 Chairs, 2 Cubes" said.
With its versatility, the black box performance space mirrors PW's flexible and experimental character. "It's so amorphous and you can really transform it into anything that you want," said Andrew Evans '09, who is on the PW board. "It's very indicative of what we do in Production Workshop."
So far this semester, Production Workshop has presented two of the three plays selected for this semester - "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot" from Sept. 14 to 17 and "The Verge" from Oct. 12 to 15 - as well as its annual festival, "3 Chairs, 2 Cubes," which took place Oct. 19 to 22. The third and last complete play of the semester, "Stone Cold Dead Serious," will run from Nov. 16 to 19.
With its poetic language and Gabriel Garcia Marquez-style magic realism, "Dali," written by Jose Rivera, instantly caught Simpson's attention the first time she read it.
"I immediately knew that I wanted to direct it," she said.
In "Dali," Gabriela, played by Elena Lobo '08, awaits her husband Benito's return from war, uncertain whether they will still understand each other. During her husband's absence, she escapes reality by becoming immersed in what board member Tara Schuster '08 calls a "weird, supernatural, lusty world" represented by the moon, a cat and a coyote played by former Herald Opinions Editor Patrick Harrison '08, Hollis Mickey '10 and Aubie Merrylees '10, respectively. Following Benito's return, the play juxtaposes the married couple's relationship with Gabriela's surrealist interactions, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
"Rivera uses surrealism or magic realism," Simpson said. "You can debate which one."
The set for "Dali" was abstractly composed of typical household items suspended in midair and played with inside-outside space, said Adria Katz '10, who has worked on several PW sets.
"They had sand and gravel leading into the house space, which meshed the lines between the inside and the outside," she said.
Directed by post- magazine Managing Editor Hillary Dixler '08, "The Verge" was written by Susan Glaspell one year after the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the vote, was ratified. It tells the story of a woman in 1921 New England who works in a greenhouse and her efforts to escape society's patriarchal constraints.
"The set was great," Schuster said. "You were under an imposing steel roof and there were big green plants everywhere. It messed with the idea of an industrial space."
The annual "3 Chairs, 2 Cubes" festival is composed of five short plays written and directed by students. By limiting the set to three chairs and two cubes, the festival emphasizes the script and the dynamic between the writer and director. This year's festival included two dramas and three comedies, Silverman said.
"The plays weren't really thematically related, but came together very successfully," Rosenthal said.
"Stone Cold Dead Serious," directed by Adam Mazer '08, will be presented in the downstairs space this month. The play is about a boy who tries to save his disintegrating family by competing in video games, Schuster said.
When there isn't a show going on downstairs, there is usually some kind of performance in the upstairs space, including a play or poetry readings or local elementary school shows.
"The upstairs space is smaller and more intimate," said J.D. Nasaw '08.5, who recently directed a show there titled "Three." Nasaw wrote the play throughout the three-week period during which it was produced and the people he cast inspired much of the script, he said. "I thought it led to a much more spontaneous, collaborative process."
It is that laid-back attitude that attracts students like Silverman who might not otherwise become involved in theater at Brown.
"I had never done anything with PW before," Silverman said. "I sort of tried out on a whim and was exposed to a whole new world of Brown that I never knew existed."
