by Taste of Death on Tue Dec 03, 2019 10:28 pm
From Professor of Theater Arts James H Bierman:
What in the World? was selected as the winning play among the scripts submitted for the annual Dharma-Grace Foundation playwriting competition by a committee composed of four senior members of the Theater Arts faculty. It clearly stood out among the scripts submitted, and had the full support of the selection committee. The only consideration that was raised in our discussion of the script was that it was likely to be difficult to recruit the seven African-American actors called for in the original draft of the script. That consideration was put aside for two reasons: the first was that the play was, in our consideration, clearly deserving of a production, and the second was our hope that this production might serve as a catalyst in increasing the participation of students of color in our program and our productions at UCSC in the future. Needless to say, we had high hopes for the production.
I hadn’t met Nick Domich at the time I read his script, but I had the distinct impression that he was clearly familiar with the urban milieu depicted in the play. From my first reading of the script, I imagined that he had to be from Sacramento, where the play is set, and that he had some close contact with the homeless community there. Both of those suppositions turned out to be true.
Nick’s depiction of the urban homeless community in his play is written with great authority, conviction, confidence, and a gift for finding the telling details of the poverty that casts its shadow over the lives of his characters. While there is ample room for pessimism regarding the effects of poverty on Nick’s characters, What in the World? conveys a sense of uplift that I consider fundamentally spiritual in nature. In the end, the inhabitants of the world Nick created treat one another with kindness and compassion, along with a knowing appreciation for the restraints they are facing. The action takes place during the Christmas season, and the hope that characterizes that season lingers despite the sad realities and events of the drama. The two policemen and the hospital nurse who function on the edge of this impoverished world share in the supportive values that are expressed in the milieu of the play.
It appears to be a sad fact that the victims of the poverty depicted in What in the World? are disproportionately people of color, substance abusers, or mentally ill. These demographics are there in Nick’s play, and they are mixed in with lightness and humor, no matter how oppressive they are.
What in the World? is a beautiful and engaging piece of dramatic writing, and there is much to be learned from it. I find it hard to comprehend what was in the minds of the students who forcefully closed down its production at UCSC, but I hope to enter into discussion with them over the issues that have so greatly animated them. Above all, I hope that, one way or another, the play will get the audiences and the attention that it deserves – if not at UCSC, then elsewhere. At this juncture, my hopes for the present production are that it will be allowed to complete its run at UCSC, and that we will be able to have a thorough and civil discussion of the issues the play dramatizes. The strong reactions that the play has generated could provide an admirable learning opportunity for both students and faculty, and I hope that a forum can be found to take advantage of that opportunity.
I would like to add that the process of creating the current production of What in the World? has not been an easy one. The difficulty we experienced in casting the roles, the re-writing needed to accommodate the changes in the cast, the emotional demands of developing those roles, and the limited resources available for the production, all added to the complexity of mounting the production. What has resulted from the hard work of the play’s cast and crew should serve as a demonstration of their dedication, their ability to overcome obstacles, and their faith in the play itself. Particular recognition should be given to Brian Carmack, the play’s director, for his inventiveness and resourcefulness, and the energy he put into pulling this difficult project together.
"It was already late. Night stood murkily over people, and no one else pronounced words; all that could be heard was a dog barking in some alien village---just as in olden times, as if it existed in a constant eternity." Andrey Platonov