"Seeking a Newer World"
Part III in a series exploring the history and characters behind Signature’s world premiere of Crossing, by Matt Conner and Grace Barnes.
If you missed the first few, click here to view Part I: Freedom Trains
and click here to view Part II: Mothers & Sons.
Here is a sneak-peek of Crossing's talented travelers in rehearsal!
“Why
couldn’t we have met at another time?” the Wealthy Man (year: 1929) asks the Woman
With Flowers (1977)as they sit side-by-side nervously waiting for the train
to arrive in Crossing’s station. Although
they are from different decades, they share a sense of disconnection from their
families. They also share a love of poetry, particularly of Lord Alfred
Tennyson’s Ulysses. One of them looks
toward the future with despair, the other with hope, but like all of Crossing’s characters, they meet in the
middle and continue their journey changed.
The World of 1929: The Wealthy Man
“Sail
to the end of the world and change my name.
Let
my wings unfurl, nothing will be the same,
Sail
to a different me, someone whom I’ve never seen.
Set my spirit free.”
“Men hollered and screamed, they clawed at one another’s collars. It was like a bunch of crazy men. Every once in a while, when Radio or Steel or Auburn would take another tumble, you’d see some poor devil collapse and fall to the floor.”
The
Great Depression had begun.
Changing family ideals furthered the sense of disorder. The liberal ‘20s introduced the idea of “companionate marriages,” meaning that wives and husbands should share their personal lives, domestic responsibilities, and the work outside the home. Although this meant more equality for women, it was also threatening and confusing for someone raised in the Victorian ideals of a patriarchal family structure with the husband as the head and breadwinner. What was a man’s true role in his family?
Changing family ideals furthered the sense of disorder. The liberal ‘20s introduced the idea of “companionate marriages,” meaning that wives and husbands should share their personal lives, domestic responsibilities, and the work outside the home. Although this meant more equality for women, it was also threatening and confusing for someone raised in the Victorian ideals of a patriarchal family structure with the husband as the head and breadwinner. What was a man’s true role in his family?
The
World of 1977: The Woman with Flowers
"The
world has a way of always changing,
Slowly
shifting, slightly rearranging,
Sometimes
making no sense at all.
It’s
unpredictable.
They’re little miracles."
The 1970s continued the social upheaval of the
‘60’s. Anti-war protests turned violent in the Kent State Massacre, and the
Watergate Scandal eroded faith in government. And on November 18, 1978, “Reverend”
Jim Jones led 900 people in the largest mass suicide/murder in history. Jones
was a master manipulator, fooling politicians, his congregation, and his many
female companions. His “People’s Temple”
willingly moved to Guyana,
where they drank Kool-Aide laced with cyanide.
"Jonestown" after the mass suicides
Despite these disturbing events, opportunities for women were increasing, particularly in the field of medicine. With the Title IX Act banning discrimination by gender in schools, the number of women physicians was on the rise. Self-help books written by women for women, such as The Feminine Mystique and Our Bodies, Ourselves, allowed women to educate themselves about their own health. The feminist movement also encouraged women to have their own identity apart from being a wife and mother. The American family looked very different than the previous decades. Divorce rates were rising, and more women were “working moms.”
Ulysses
Nearly 200 years, but still getting airtime. Ulysses, featured in 2012's Skyfall (dir: Sam Mendes.)
Victorian poet Lord Alfred Tennyson penned Ulysses in 1833 upon hearing about the death of his best friend. Bowed by grief and his financially struggling family, Tennyson dreams of following the path of the wandering Greek hero Ulysses from Homer’s Odyssey:
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die…
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Crossing
directed by Eric Schaeffer
music and lyrics by Matt Conner
book and additional lyrics by Grace Barnes
October 29-November 24
directed by Eric Schaeffer
music and lyrics by Matt Conner
book and additional lyrics by Grace Barnes
October 29-November 24
For more information, including ticketing, click here.
#sigcrossing
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