Posted: 9/2/15 at 5:11pm
Just because Mr. Hnath thinks it's a good idea to use the mics, doesn't mean it is. It doesn't mean the idea works. To be honest, IMHO his explanation is a load of rubbish.
Posted: 9/2/15 at 9:11pm
I don't think the idea worked, but it's an idea, and I like people with ideas. I wouldn't call it rubbish at all. If we don't try things, we end up with vanilla theatre. I much prefer seeing an idea that fails than the same ol' predictable crap. Theatre (and all art) must fail sometimes in order to succeed ever.
Posted: 9/2/15 at 10:17pm
Yes I agree with your sentiment. I love when new ideas are tried too!! But that is what a rehearsal process is for. They should have figured out by now that it was something worth trying, but it doesn't translate. Not every playwright is a good director. I would say this idea was "rubbish" in the sense they should have thrown it out by now. I don't blame them for trying. All of this is just my opinion. Let's see what the majority of the critics say. I still say this isn't really even a play, but a staged debate. The author is debating with himself and using these characters to achieve that goal. His concept with the mics backs this up. He goes into great detail about that. I don't mean to be crude, but if this was sex... he's masturbating. Too much playwright and not enough character development.
Posted: 9/2/15 at 10:42pm
well we don't agree at all about the play and that's fine. Hnath and presumably his director like the mics, we don't. No amount of rehearsal would change that, just as a prior production obviously did not. I thought the play itself treaded in very thoughtful territory and presented its subject exceptionally well. I wish we had more playwrights illuminating subjects as intelligently and interestingly.
Posted: 9/2/15 at 11:02pm
Yes, I do agree with much of what you say to a great extent. I enjoyed the play when I saw it... there were just some things I thought didn't work. In general I would recommend it. I do appreciate the conversation here HogansHero. At least we are debating without getting snarky with each other. lol. We will meet again when the reviews come out. I am not always in agreement with those either. But let me leave you with this... what would the play have looked like, and sounded like, without the mics for the personal conversations? Would it have held up as well? Are the mics a crutch to save a play that can't stand alone?
Posted: 9/3/15 at 12:33am
I don't think it is a crutch. If anything I think it is an impediment. And I don't think it spoils the play. It just seemed like an idea that didn't translate into something meaningful to me (as it did for the playwright). I'll be interested in the reviews. Let's see how much play the mics get.
***Although I can be forceful, I try not to be snarky. Sometimes I fail. Thanks for the convo.
Updated On: 9/3/15 at 12:33 AM
Posted: 9/6/15 at 12:37pm
I saw this production yesterday and really enjoyed it. For me- the mics worked. I understood why and how they were used; the text itself goes from a literal sermon to a not-as-literal sermon (indicated by Hnath, actually, in the text itself) so the narration from the Pastor and the use of the mics made sense. This is not a work of naturalism and so I accepted the mics, the narration, as part of the theatrical world presented onstage.
The dialogue, even in the private scenes, was not naturalistic. The language was heightened, poetic, dialectical. It would have played differently- very differently- than what was intended off-mic; and it seems it was tried, off-mic, in rehearsals and readings to very poor effect.
The play is actually in some ways a sister work to Hnath's A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney. In that case, the concept was an increasingly nonliteral, uh... public reading of an unproduced screenplay about the death of Walt Disney. Mics were also integral to the staging. Hnath is interested in taking mundane exercises of theatricality- readings, worship- and sort of breaking them up and fusing the exercise with the action.
Updated On: 9/6/15 at 12:37 PM
Posted: 9/6/15 at 3:10pm
NYTimes on The Christians and Hnath - and of course, the microphones -
"All the exchanges take place on the church’s stage, with hand-held microphones — Mr. Hnath has an idiosyncratic fondness for both microphones and the tangles of cable that often trail them — suggesting the public implications of even private conversations at the highest levels of a large church.."
Posted: 9/6/15 at 7:11pm
It's a little ironic that more is being made of the devices the actor speak into than what they're saying.
Posted: 9/6/15 at 7:42pm
Kad said: "It's a little ironic that more is being made of the devices the actor speak into than what they're saying.
And likely not Mr. Hnath's intent.
Posted: 9/14/15 at 4:34pm
And a little essay by Mr. Hnath: http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/trailers/lucas-hnath-christians/
Posted: 9/21/15 at 10:11am
Saw this over the weekend and really liked it overall. I think it's a really well-written play with a pretty fascinating subject matter (that lead to much discussion/debate with friends after seeing it) but it's dramatically unsatisfying. You're basically watching a debate at a mega church. However, that's not to say it's not enjoyable because it is. And the cast is all top-notch. The 90 minutes just flew by for me on Saturday night. I definitely recommend it.
Posted: 10/2/15 at 11:56pm
I saw this tonight and generally really liked it. I thought the mics were a metaphor for basically their positions as religious leaders. Using this instrument to deliver a message.
I was surprised at how eclectic and young the audience was.
Posted: 10/11/15 at 7:29pm
Caught the matinee today and liked it a lot, very solid clean piece of writing. Not sure how anyone can call it a debate given the scene at the end where the one character talks about his mother. That seemed to crystallize the need to believe certain things in a specific reality to me.
I thought we had an elderly walkout from the front row when the pastor mentioned a certain someone was in heaven, but turns out they either wouldn't let him go back up to the front row or he just moved further back, but the timing was exactly at that point, hehe.
I caught "Disney" at the Soho, and didn't realize until reading this thread it was from the same author. Will definitely be on the lookout for more from him...
As for the mics, I'm not sure I thought too long about it, since after they kept using them, it seemed more relevant to listen to what they were saying...
Posted: 10/11/15 at 8:40pm
I thought the mics were an interesting, but not sure who said that the TImes talked a lot about it because they didn't?
Posted: 12/6/15 at 3:28am
I saw this play tonight at the Mark Taper Forum here in LA. It's the same cast from Playwright's Horizons (different choir). I thought this was one of the best written play I've ever seen. The book? was outstanding. The main pastor guy carries the whole show! ANDREW GARMAN. He performed his ass off. This was only the 2nd preview. He had real tears more than once. At first, I did feel uncomfortable being inside a church since i haven't been in one, in like 5-7 years.. Since i realized i was gay lol It was so good! (The set design was so realistic!) This play took me to places I never thought about til tonight. I did see at least 3 couples leave (all old people).. it can be a little much for Christians (or any person in a religion) who can't handle judgment. They left so early.. they should have waited til the middle were the story makes a 180 on you. This show sucked me in and spit me out in the end. 5 out of 5. Don't miss it!
