Spring Break
Krstansky on artistic origins
by Justine Root
Arts Editor
Arts | 12/9/08
Posted online at 11:23 PM EST on 12/8/08
Professor Adrianne Krstansky (THA) has certainly made a name for herself at Brandeis University. In addition to winning the Michael L. Walzer Award for Teaching in 2007 and acting as the teaching force behind the "Collaborative Process" (THA 32A) class, Krstansky has also undertaken such projects as directing Macbeth with an all-female cast. During an e-mail interview with the Justice, Krstansky discussed her class and her other assorted projects.
JustArts: How did you initially become interested in theater?
Adrianne Krstansky: I was always a huge reader and loved English class. We read Macbeth in my high school English class, and I absolutely was stunned by how emotional and imperfect and passionate everyone in the play was - so opposite of my experience of life going to a private high school where everyone worked very hard at looking and acting a certain way. It had a lot to do with being in control and cheerful and acting like you had it all together. ... I was -- I am REALLY going to regret admitting this, but I will-a cheerleader. The woman who ran the cheerleading squad, who was also, coincidentally, the English teacher, came up to me one day and said, "You are too smart to be doing this. Why don't you go do theater?" So I quit cheerleading, which was an utterly radical move at my high school, to go work on the plays.
JA: Are you currently working on any projects?
AK: I just finished acting in NOVEMBER by David Mamet at the Lyric Stage Company in Boston, and I am currently directing Bad Dates, a play by Brandeis alumna Teresa Rebeck at Shakespeare and Company in Lennox, Massachusetts.
JA: What is your favorite play to watch? To direct?
AK: Anything, really, that is underproduced and done by people who are getting paid, like, nothing to do it, but are doing it out of the dire need to say something. I lived in London for a while during college and happened upon a performance of a play called Through the Leaves by Xavier Kroetz going on in the basement of a bar. I will never forget it: so simple. The actors, you could tell, needed to be onstage and telling this story for a profound personal reason. It was so quiet and still and human and subtle -- I felt like I had walked into someone's home and was a fly on the wall watching. It was so intimate there was a sense that we shouldn't have been watching. ... That changed my idea of what I could do in theater.
My favorite play I've directed is Charles Mee's Trojan Women: A Love Story. I had deep personal reasons for [doing] it. I got to [perform] it with Brandeis students, and it was this amazing combination of Greek tragedy, modern kitchen sink drama, romantic comedy, musical theater and modern dance. I could still be directing that play years later and be perfectly happy discovering more and more and more about it.
JA: Do you have any other arts-related interests?
AK: Raising my son, which is the most creative endeavor I am involved in, and playing the piano.
JA: What can you tell me about the "Collaborative Process" class? Have any students come in as actors and left preferring to direct, design or write?
AK: It's the most thrilling and frightening class to teach. Students seem to completely erupt in that class and come into contact with not just powerful feelings, but also a creative force that seems to take on a life of its own. I don't know if anyone ever really "shifts" interest-I do know that most Brandeis people can do a lot of things, so even if someone labels themself as an actor, odds are they are also a fantastic writer, have a great eye for how to use space, are musical and so can deal with time onstage and have opinions and like to tell people what to do. I know, Brandeis students? Having opinions?! Hard to believe ... but true.
JustArts: How did you initially become interested in theater?
Adrianne Krstansky: I was always a huge reader and loved English class. We read Macbeth in my high school English class, and I absolutely was stunned by how emotional and imperfect and passionate everyone in the play was - so opposite of my experience of life going to a private high school where everyone worked very hard at looking and acting a certain way. It had a lot to do with being in control and cheerful and acting like you had it all together. ... I was -- I am REALLY going to regret admitting this, but I will-a cheerleader. The woman who ran the cheerleading squad, who was also, coincidentally, the English teacher, came up to me one day and said, "You are too smart to be doing this. Why don't you go do theater?" So I quit cheerleading, which was an utterly radical move at my high school, to go work on the plays.
JA: Are you currently working on any projects?
AK: I just finished acting in NOVEMBER by David Mamet at the Lyric Stage Company in Boston, and I am currently directing Bad Dates, a play by Brandeis alumna Teresa Rebeck at Shakespeare and Company in Lennox, Massachusetts.
JA: What is your favorite play to watch? To direct?
AK: Anything, really, that is underproduced and done by people who are getting paid, like, nothing to do it, but are doing it out of the dire need to say something. I lived in London for a while during college and happened upon a performance of a play called Through the Leaves by Xavier Kroetz going on in the basement of a bar. I will never forget it: so simple. The actors, you could tell, needed to be onstage and telling this story for a profound personal reason. It was so quiet and still and human and subtle -- I felt like I had walked into someone's home and was a fly on the wall watching. It was so intimate there was a sense that we shouldn't have been watching. ... That changed my idea of what I could do in theater.
My favorite play I've directed is Charles Mee's Trojan Women: A Love Story. I had deep personal reasons for [doing] it. I got to [perform] it with Brandeis students, and it was this amazing combination of Greek tragedy, modern kitchen sink drama, romantic comedy, musical theater and modern dance. I could still be directing that play years later and be perfectly happy discovering more and more and more about it.
JA: Do you have any other arts-related interests?
AK: Raising my son, which is the most creative endeavor I am involved in, and playing the piano.
JA: What can you tell me about the "Collaborative Process" class? Have any students come in as actors and left preferring to direct, design or write?
AK: It's the most thrilling and frightening class to teach. Students seem to completely erupt in that class and come into contact with not just powerful feelings, but also a creative force that seems to take on a life of its own. I don't know if anyone ever really "shifts" interest-I do know that most Brandeis people can do a lot of things, so even if someone labels themself as an actor, odds are they are also a fantastic writer, have a great eye for how to use space, are musical and so can deal with time onstage and have opinions and like to tell people what to do. I know, Brandeis students? Having opinions?! Hard to believe ... but true.
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