Marat/Sade actors learn to portray insanity

A group of people formed two circles facing each other. They made faces at each other by sticking out their tounges and contorting their features, making sounds like, "Ah," and "Hoo." Then they switched partners and repeated the process. "Was it fun?" asked Chris Hariasz, their director, asked as he clapped hands, signaling the end of the exercise. This is just one of the many exercises which are part of a normal rehearsal for the play Marat/Sade. The play, whose premise places the inventor of Sadism in an insane asylum, is a collaborative project between Intuitions and Penn Players. The opening date for the show is set for April 2, but rehearsals are already in full swing. The full name of this unconventional play by Peter Weiss is The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. For obvious reasons, most refer to it by its shorter title. Hariasz, who shares directing responsibility with 1986 University alumnus Seth Rozin, said Marat/Sade addresses the issues of the perennial struggle between individual and communal views and "revolution and evolution." Marat/Sade is still in its infant stages of production. Many actors are currently changing characters. They emphasized that the script written by Weiss is just a skeleton and the actors are free to create their own roles. Building character is what this primary stage of rehearsal and theater exercises is all about. During one improvisational session, the actors improvised the roles they would be playing in the asylum. They lined up against the walls of the room with their eyes closed. When Hariasz clapped his hands, they started moving. Some sat passively, alone, some talked in groups, some knocked over objects, some shouted at each other, some sang and some danced as they tried to discover their own place in the asylum. "Let's talk," Hariasz said, after clapping his hands again to end the improvisation. The actors sat down in a circle and shared their past acting experiences and how they saw their roles devoloping during the improvisations. Chris Roberts, a College junior and cast member, said that he enjoyed the improvisations because they had a natural, as opposed to an imposed, timing. "You can drool on yourself," he said. Kent Davis, a College senior who plays the role of Marat, was highly enthusiastic about improvisation. "It's fantastic," he said, but added, "It's really hard work. It's like going back to the playground." Cast members also stressed that the improvisations were a good way for the actors to get to know each other and to feel more comfortable as a group. Davis described it as a "bonding experience." One of the more striking aspects about this production is not just that it is a the rare collaboration of two performing groups on a full length play, but that it is a collaboration between directors. Both Rozin and Hariash have a lot of experience with University theater. Rozin, a former member of Penn Players, owns his own theater company, InterAct. Hariasz, who is a production supervisor for the Theatre Arts Program, immigrated to the United States from Poland eight years ago. He said that he emigrated primarily for political reasons. Despite Hariasz's apparent political interests and involvements and the revolutionary theme of Marat/Sade, he said that he chose to direct this play for other reasons. "It is a wonderful piece of theater," Hariasz said. Hariasz said he was attracted to Marat/Sade because it incorporates music, dance, song, and a political subject which he said is still relevant. But there are some drawbacks. Marat/Sade is an extremely difficult play to perform. It requires a large cast and for many of its members to play the roles of characters with serious mental diseases. "It is a challenge," said Hariasz. "We don't even know whether it's possible [to perform this play]." This play is also unusual because of the large time commitment required by its cast. Auditions took place in December and rehearsals began at the beginning of this semester. So far, the cast has barely touched the play's scipt during rehearsals. The actors are still involved in the process of identifying and solidifying their asylum roles. Work on the play began over break. The directors gave members of the cast a packet of background readings including basic historical information about the French Revolution and the title characters. They also suggested that the actors watch such films as, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus. Both of these movies involve scenes which are about mental disorders and mental hospitals. The directors also encouraged the actors to research basic information on mental disorders.

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