 |
A
Born Performer
As one
of her final projects at Smith, Jenna Augen ’07
has taken on the sizable task of directing Sir Peter Shaffer’s
blockbuster play Amadeus, which won the 1981 Tony
Award for Best Play, ran on Broadway for more than 1,200
performances, and was made into an Academy Award-winning
film. Augen, who is an experienced actress, singer and violinist,
has appeared in numerous Smith theatre productions and has
directed several Shakespeare plays. Her production of Amadeus runs
April 19 through 21, and April 25 through 28, at 8 p.m. in
Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets
($7 general public, $5 students/seniors) are available by
calling 413-585-2787. Augen recently responded to questions
about directing Amadeus, her work in the theater, and
her impending departure from Smith.
The Grecourt Gate: Why did you
choose Amadeus as your last Smith project?
Jenna Augen :
I always knew I wanted to direct a main stage my senior year
of Smith. The question was just…what?
I needed something I really adored, and with which I was
totally connected. I was in music theory my sophomore year,
and during one class we delved in to Mozart. Listening to
Mozart’s music has always been by far the most emotional,
soul-searching, soul-satisfying, opening, profound, intense
aesthetic experience for me. We were listening to the second
movement of his Clarinet concerto and I was weeping and immediately
afterward I thought Eureka! I had grown up with the film
and seen the play on Broadway twice and I knew what show
I had to do. Not only does the play ask huge (often I feel
they are too big) questions of its audience regarding its
own humanity, but it also requires that they sit and experience
music together. What I love about theatre (well, what I love
about theatre is a lot) but one of the things I
love about it is the charge of hope that comes with the fact
of many people coming together to experience something. Music
communicates directly to the emotions of an audience. A melody
is worth a thousand words in that sense. Of course each individual’s
interpretations can be very different, but the idea of sitting
people down and playing them the Contessa Perdono and the
Adagio in E flat for Thirteen Wind Instruments; that is very
important to me because Salieri is right: a terrible crime
has been committed and continues to be committed -- we are
neglecting our arts. And our artists. We are also guilty
of accepting the less-than-stellar and the unoriginal as
our standard in many aspects of our society and culture.
Not that good, old-fashioned entertainment is not totally
satisfying, but there is something we are missing and ignoring
in our indulgence of the satisfying. As a culture, it does
seem as though we have stopped seeking and striving for the
extraordinary.
A scene from Amadeus at Smith |
Gate: What are the challenges
in directing this play?
JA: Well, of course there are the
general challenges of directing any show. I never knew until
recently how important and difficult just coordinating the
schedules of 13 people was, let alone coordinating schedules
with a design team. As a director you really do have to be
on top of every aspect of the show. I went into this very
happy-go-lucky: “Oh, I have all these ideas and all
this passion, and a great cast….everything will be fine.” But
there is so much more to directing than directing. So much
so that, while tackling the play creatively has been and
continues to be a gigantic challenge, it is, at the moment,
the least of my worries. Handling all the technical
aspects of the show and everything outside of it at the same
time has really thrown me for a loop.
Gate: What
can audience members expect to experience at this production
of Amadeus?
JA: That’s a dangerous question to
ask me. I feel as though I don’t want to speak for
anyone or make any general statements because, at the end
of the day, everyone gets something different out of a performance.
But what everyone will experience when they come to see the
show is Mozart’s music. Shaffer wrote a play
that celebrates Mozart’s work without reservation.
The Gate: How
did you become interested in acting and directing?
JA:
Vivien Leigh, one of my all-time heroines, has a quote
that describes it perfectly. She said, “I
can scarcely remember when I first thought of going onstage,
because it was such an accepted fact throughout my childhood.
I never imagined myself in any other career and I was fortunate
enough to have understanding parents: all my education and
early life was shaped to that end.” That describes
me to a T. My grandparents were performers, musicians, and
my mother is a gorgeous singer and marvelous performer herself.
My father is not a professional performer (not unless you
count the brilliant lectures he gives on molecular biology
all over the world) but he is completely enthusiastic about
the arts. My parents gave me a really solid, wonderful education
in music and theatre from the ground up and when the bug
expressed itself, they were nothing but encouraging and helpful.
I have performed all my life. My interest in directing only
really came to the fore in college. I had always sort of
done it in an unofficial capacity (had often directed myself,
certainly) in high school, but my real interest in it, in
the theory and practice of it…of playing that role
in a production, definitely didn’t become a real possibility
until Smith.
Gate: What do you plan to do with
your theater skills when you graduate from Smith?
JA: Right now I am still waiting to hear
from a couple of graduate acting programs. I have a callback
for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London as soon as Amadeus is
over. I am hoping to train in one of those programs but if
that doesn’t work out, I will move to a city (most
likely New York) and see how far I can get! Part of me really
wants to do just that, to get on with it, and another part
knows I need a safe environment where I can concentrate on
theatre 24/7.
Gate: How has your Smith experience
informed your interest in theater?
JA: I
have grown up at Smith. And it has been an excellent place
to grow. My work as an actress is certainly informed by
the people I came in contact with here. As for theatrical
training, Smith is a wonderful place to discuss and think
about theater because the professors and the students are
so beautifully schooled in theory, form, style, and history.
I’ve learned so much about my own
aesthetics and philosophies just by being exposed to so many
others. I have also learned more about the way I work both
as an actor and a director from every production I have been
in here. Smith has been invaluable to my growth personally
and professionally.
Gate: How do you regard your upcoming
graduation from Smith?
JA: With wholehearted gratitude and pride
and with absolutely no regrets.
|
|
