Playing with nature

Playing with nature

We zigzagged through the mountainous terrain for what seemed like an eternity, and I was sure we had lost the way. Located so far from the bustling city of Madison, how could any theatre survive in this wilderness? How do audiences reach this place? As many questions besieged my mind, my guide took a sharp detour along a rustic road with the arrow pointing to the mountains with ‘American Players Theatre’ written in large font. As I looked in that direction, I was convinced this was a hoax. A theatre in the mountains-- no way! But that is what it was.

There were many who thought it was a preposterous idea. Back in 1979, it was in the middle of nowhere. A farmstead consisting of thirty-two acres of wood (mainly oak), pasture and a cluster of older buildings (house, barn machine shed, shop and chicken coop), sandy soil, rock-strewn fields and precipitous hillsides, this farm had provided a subsistence existence.  On four separate occasions, a monstrous wall of ice from melting glaciers inched closer to this land. And four times it was denied. The character of the land was about to change. Theatre was the new objective there.

In the fall of 1978, a small group of people from New York, stood  atop this hill near Spring Green. Far below, out of sight flowed the Wisconsin river. Above, a couple of hawks drifted in the currents of the air that polished the sky with a breathtaking crystalline blue. One person broke away from the group and walked down the slope to read from a passage. That voice reached the ears of those stationed above with uncanny clarity.

Amazingly, this hillside contains a near-perfect acoustical bowl. A natural phenomenon shaped by the primal forces of the planet, in sand and rock and surrounding trees. It was then that the group was convinced this to be the place where their theatre would come up, shortlisted from the 43 places seen earlier. It was a theatre dedicated to stage the classics- an open air, under the sun, moon and stars.

It was painstaking work over the years put in by performers, technicians, planners, the local community and well-wishers. As one actor says, “There were many memorable moments during those initial years. We faced challenges building a theatre in the middle of nowhere on top of a hill covered in scrub bush. Many of  us left behind our careers in the big cities to devote our lives to bringing Shakespeare to life in that beautiful outdoor setting.”

Today this theatre is largely celebrated across the country. To reach there one has to walk up the slope, though they can opt to picnic halfway in the woods. The main stage has a tall wooden backdrop and an impressive backstage. Huge productions, mostly classics, are staged here with élan. Two smaller theatres are used for intimate stagings with a limited audience. The APT has an imposing costume department with period costumes, wigs (designed and created at the centre itself), accessories that are neatly preserved, and a huge shed for constructing set designs. They have remarkable office arrangements, with seasons after seasons meticulously planned out- performances, schedules, readings, rehearsals, workshops, collaborations, performance dates, tickets and the works. 

While the shows are going on, the doors are never closed to welcome elements of nature that gently  creep in to become a part of the setting, something unplanned for. As a regular show goer remembers, “In July 1980, before the staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it rained all day, but stopped just before the show.  I was apprehensive, but I trudged up the hill anyway. As Puck made his entrance, a mist rose rolling over the stage until the fairies were knee-deep in a swirling, firefly-lit fog. It was very magical.”

A seasoned actress recalls, “I’ve always marvelled at the way nature plays her role at APT. Actual thunder and real lightning sparked through the sky as the character of the mad King Lear wandered out into the (fictional) storm, bats hovered and fluttered over the stage during Hamlet’s soliloquy, the full moon rose while Ophelia lay drowning. Nature has always been an important and talented part of the cast for me.”

Even today, as the audience throngs the hillside to catch their seats, a ritual that has been followed over the years is still practiced. After the performance gets over all the lights are switched off. The audience then looks up to take in the star-studded sky in awe. The magic of theatre is then complete. 

(The writer is a Fulbright fellow who writes about his US experiences in this series every Sunday)

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