{"id":101085,"date":"2015-03-24T09:36:25","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T13:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=101085"},"modified":"2015-04-06T10:19:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T14:19:31","slug":"crt-explores-world-of-film-noir-in-band-of-the-black-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2015\/03\/crt-explores-world-of-film-noir-in-band-of-the-black-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"CRT Explores World of Film Noir in ‘Band of the Black Hand’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Julia<\/a>
Julia Rose Estrada ’15 (SFA) and James Jelkin ’14 MFA star in ‘Band of the Black Hand’ at Connecticut Repertory Theatre, March 26 – April 4. (Matthew Pugliese\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The actors, director, lighting and set designers, and others who produce theatrical productions typically start rehearsals with a script that guides them in what to say, how to move, and the look of the performance stage.<\/p>\n

The creative team for \u201cThe Band of the Black Hand<\/a>,\u201d took a decidedly different path for the Connecticut Repertory Theatre production that opens March 26 in the Studio Theatre by using the creative approach known as \u201cdevised theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bringing the cast and crew together with the playwright and director to use collaboration and improvisation techniques, devised theater gives everyone involved a shared role in creating the new production, with the script constantly changing as ideas are tried, rejected, and new ones presented.<\/p>\n

Combining shadow puppetry with film noir<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Band of the Black Hand\u201d began with conversations between Greg Webster, assistant professor of movement in dramatic arts, and Bart Roccoberton, professor of puppet arts and director of the Puppet Arts Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had gone to a showing a number of years ago that Bart was doing with students on Indonesian shadow puppetry,\u201d says Webster. \u201cThat concept became very interesting to me in the world of film noir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a>
James Jelkin stars as Private Dick Jack Stone in ‘Band of the Black Hand,’ devised by Split Knuckle Theatre, onstage in Connecticut Repertory Theatre\u2019s Studio Theatre March 26-April 4. (Gerry Goodstein for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two professors discussed finding a project that would bring together shadow puppetry with the physical theater movement techniques of the renowned French actor and mime Jacques Lecoq taught by Webster in UConn acting classes.<\/p>\n

Webster, a founding member and artistic director of the critically acclaimed Split Knuckle Theatre Company, took the idea to Nick Ryan, a rising playwright with Split Knuckle, and began researching film noir, the late 1940s and early 1950s Hollywood films most often centered on crime and detective fiction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent many months watching tons of film noir and drafting what could be a storyline that we could improvise and create a story around,\u201d Webster says. \u201cI\u2019m really interested in film noir because it deals with deception and people not knowing what\u2019s going on or the detective uncovering a grand scheme of darkness. The gray matter that film noir lives in is what we\u2019re moving into in American television writing with shows like ‘Breaking Bad\u2019 and \u2018House of Cards.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

An improvised storyline<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Band of the Black Hand\u201d tells the story of private investigator Jack Stone, who is hired to solve the savage murder of an investigative reporter. The backdrop for the story is a gang war where the Band of the Black Hand is taking over the city from the streets to the mayor\u2019s office. The production incorporates contemporary shadow theater techniques, striking physical theater, and music composed for the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only brief moments when there\u2019s not imagery on the screen,\u201d says Roccoberton. \u201cGreg started the process by saying we\u2019re all equals. We\u2019re creative individuals working together. We\u2019re working with six performance students and four puppetry students. Their playfulness has been refreshing. To have one of our students come to me saying, ‘I have an idea; can I try this with the lights?’ Wow! Yeah! I turned to her and I said, ‘You just taught me something.’ The students have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that shadow puppetry is used for the off-stage battles that are part of the story, a technique known as \u201cGrande Guignole,\u201d or theater of horror, inviting the audience to use their imagination throughout the production.<\/p>\n

[The audience] need to meet us, imagine things, and create the illusion. You can never give them anything as spectacular as they can imagine in their heads. — Margarita Blush<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIn realism you give the audience everything,\u201d says Margarita Blush, assistant professor of performance and directing for puppet arts. \u201cIn our forms of theater, we want the audience to give us at least 50 percent. They need to meet us, imagine things, and create the illusion. You can never give them anything as spectacular as they can imagine in their heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inclusion of the technical designers in the development of the production is also a new experience for set and lighting designers who usually receive a script with information that allows them to propose ideas for scenery and lighting, says Roccoberton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe said to the designers, you\u2019ve got to jump into the sandbox with us. Come and play and understand we are creating something from nothing. And they did,\u201d he says. \u201cThe designers have all come to me to say, ‘I\u2019m excited by what\u2019s happening.’ It\u2019s neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Julia<\/a>
Julia Rose Estrada is Julie Winter and James Jelkin is Private Dick Jack Stone in ‘Band of the Black Hand.’ (Gerry Goodstein for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The preliminary work for \u201cThe Band of the Black Hand\u201d began last year when MFA students in Webster\u2019s movement class began to explore characters and the storyline. Blush assisted in the class, introducing the use of shadow puppet techniques.<\/p>\n

At times there are four different light sources on the shadow screen creating images, Roccoberton says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to avoid, as much as possible, realism,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is a morgue scene. One of the first things you see is a foot with a toe tag. You know exactly where you are. It\u2019s a chilling moment. In another scene, Jack Stone is trying to escape, he climbs out of the window and you see the city in the background. The buildings start floating around behind him. It is living cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussing the production a week before the opening, Webster says the script continues to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on draft 5.5 now. The script itself keeps evolving and will likely continue to evolve until we put the lights out at the end of the show,\u201d he says. \u201cThe group consciousness awakens something in the players and everyone in the room where we can have all different ideas of what can happen and suddenly after hours and hours of trial and failure something appears, and everyone goes: ‘Oh yeah!’ No one can really say it\u2019s theirs. Who\u2019s to say how it got there? That is truly magical to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Band of the Black Hand\u201d will be performed from March 26 to April 4 in the Studio Theatre, 802 Bolton Road, Storrs. For information go to www.crt.uconn.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The show, which incorporates modern Indonesian shadow puppetry and jazz music, is continuously evolving as a ‘devised theater’ production.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":101143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-101085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-30 18:06:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101085"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101203,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101085\/revisions\/101203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/101143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101085"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=101085"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=101085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}