Trinity Square Theater Repertory Acting in R.I.

Michael Lucheme is resident lighting and set designer for Trinity. He is also a member of the acting company.

Trinity Square Playhouse is a small, 300-seat theater on the second and third floors of a church in Providence, R.I. When its production of Moliere's Tartuffe was seen by the translator of the play, Richard Wilbur, he gave some indication of why this small theater has been given the New England Theater Award for 1965:

"It is the best production of Tartuffe I have ever seen. It is much clearer to Moliere's intent than the New York production. It is spirited, and in the right spirit; very lively but not unfaithful. Trinity Square is the perfect setting for this production...a good repertory theater production makes Broadway look like an amateur hour."

Despite small sets, improvised props, and a few ancient stage lights which date back to vaudeville days, Trinity Square Playhouse has a magic of its own. The magic is in its personality--a composite of the directors, actors, and designers.

Direction

The director, Adrian Hall, is forceful; and has a new approach to acting. More and more actors are getting tired of the dominant modes on Broadway: Lee Strasberg's regurgitation of Stanislavski's Kazan's "emotional method acting," and the rest. At Trinity, the actor has nothing imposed upon him. "When you come on stage, you bring something with you," Hall says.

And that "something" must come from the actor. Here, the craft of acting is explained to its creative depths, and each actor is an individual artist, within the bounds of ensemble acting--that is, without upstaging anyone else. The simple precept of acting--"If you can believe yourself, then I'll believe you"--rules at Trinity Square.

Of course, it's not so simple, as any young actor knows. Try becoming John Hale in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Physical behavior is difficult enough; but the real problem is internalization. How does a minister in 1960 feel when he finds his faith to be false? How does an actor in 1965 believe in this own interpretation of such a character?

Development of a character

Hall's method is to draw out as many interpretations from the actor as possible. By eliminating those which are not convincing and keeping the few that work, he can eventually construct a successful character.

Take John Hale as an example. Hale's personality is probably the most difficult to capture because he changes from one to the next. During the three months covered in the play, Reverend Hale changes from an eager, confident minister into a disillusioned and broken-hearted failure, with little or no faith. "Now, you cannot change too rapidly in this scene, or I won't believe you," Hall says. And from then on, it becomes a trial and error process.

Hall can sit through the same scene twenty times in one afternoon, and "see" each scene for the first time, as an audience. He can pick up the key changes, and the falseness in the inflections and pauses, and the actor begins again. "Does that word bother you? Why?" he will ask.

Different approaches are tried, and the scene is run without concern for projection. "Try it in normal conversational tones; we'll bring it up when you're more confident." The theme of the scene seems to be obscure, so it stops. "Now I know that Mr. Miller has not written a good, clear scene here, but it is up to us to make it clear. You (Hale) are here to interrogate Goody Proctor, and even though you only address John Proctor, I must know that you have come to interrogate her."

Experimenting

Over and over, a few sentences are said, and Hale experiments. He addresses John Proctor and looks to Elizabeth for her reactions; but his reactions can only be as proportionately large as hers must be larger. Other tools must be found. Hale tries dividing the sentence between husband and wife. The whole ensemble must work to make Hale's purpose logical, but it comes, as much as it can, from the actors.

The Hall tries his hand at experimentation. A word, or phrase is deleted. Perhaps he reblocks the scene to include Elizabeth more into the line of action. If he feels he must illustrate the example--and he is a very fine actor himself--he will get on the stage and act some of the points out. To break the scene down, he divides it into "beats": one action leads to its resolution, then to another action, and so on. The actors resume their roles gradually, beat by beat. Then larger units are pieced together, until they work more smoothly.

The basic interpretations, however, are still left to the actors. "I'm sure you can find any number of answers, but boy, as the artist, must make the choice. What motive is the closest to the real person, and which works best for you?" Hall is always working within the interpretations that come from the actors.

Just how successful are these techniques? Reactions to his New York productions before coming to Trinity last year are good indications. His production of Tennessee Williams Orpheus Descending prompted the author to say, "I think Adrian Hall's brilliant staging has found the key to what I believe is my most difficult work."

Acting

Sean O'Casey, who say Hall's production of Red Roses for Me, commented, "I have had so many lifeless productions of my work that I never thought to see them survive; I had not reckoned with a young director named Adrian Hall."

Good directing is useless without good actors. One of the best indications of the quality of Hall's direction is the actors who have come to Trinity to work with him.

Richard Kneeland came directly from Hollywood, and before that had been acting on Broadway opposite such performers as Sylvia Sydney in Sweet Bird of Youth. J. Frank Lucas played major roles with Pat O'Brian, Tallulah Bankhead and Tony Randall. He created the role of Henry Drummond in the world premiere of Inherit the Wind.

William Cain studied and worked with Walter Kerr and Alan Schneider. He left the title role of the Off-Broadway play, Jericho Jim Orson was the leading soubrette with the American Savoyards, where she performed the complete repertoire of Gilbert and Sullivan in New York and on tour. Robert Van Hooten joined Trinity after playing the Father in the Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie. And so on.

Why do such actors come to Trinity Square Playhouse? They seem to feel that they have the freedom to explore their art to its full extent, there, rather than just become names. As soon as ac actor appears on Broadway, he is never again hired as an actor, but as a personality--the personality he made successful upon the stage.

There is also more security at Trinity Square than on the New York stage. As Bobby Van Hooten said, "If I acted the role of Pickering in My Fair Lady for two years, I would have 50 offers, perhaps, for Pickering type roles. But as soon as my contact is up, I don't know where my next job comes from." At Trinity, there is year-round acting, to insure the repertory actor of year round employment. And the challenge of a new role every month is an exciting and challanging experience for any actor, young or old.

Design

Hall's trial and error method is applied as firmly to designers as it is to actors. In Glass Menagerie, for example, the set and lighting were changed three times in as many days. Hall considers lighting the most important technical aspect of a show, followed by sets and costumes.

Lighting must be changed first when it does not conform exactly to the original diagrams and when Hall, having seen the effect, decides to modify the original idea. More than his respect for the potential of lights in creating effects, Hall is prompted to emphasize them because of the small budget which limits the size of his sets.

Trinity Square Playhouse is ambitious, but it is still a small theater, with only 20 people on its payroll. Still, what it lacks in style, is made up for--apart form the question of talent--by the spirit and determination of everyone involved. There is no room for division of labor. Actors help set up scenery, and even Adrian Hall is now painting and nailing sets, as a new play goes on the boards