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Anne Bogart
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War of the Worlds, a new theatrical work conceived and directed by Columbia School of the Arts professor Anne Bogart, opens the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2000 Next Wave Festival on Oct. 4.
The piece, which Bogart describes as "a theatrical meditation on Orson Welles and his life," created a stir at the 2000 Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville, Ky., earlier this year, and was a hit at the Edinburgh Festival in August. It takes its name from Welles'1938 panic-inducing radio adaptation of War of the Worlds (Invasion from Mars) by H.G. Wells, a dramatization that convinced many listeners that Martians were actually invading New Jersey.
"When I started out on this piece, my central question was 'When did news become entertainment?'" said Bogart. "For me, that moment came when Welles made his infamous 1938 broadcast. Eventually, the piece became more and more about Welles himself, and the question of 'how do you ever know a person?' Welles was a brilliant storyteller, a master manipulator and changed the details of his life as he related them to different people depending on what he wanted from them."
War of the Worlds uses the same structure that Welles used in Citizen Kane, explained Bogart, "doing to Welles what Welles did to Hearst. He is seen through the eyes of other people. It's the story of a man told in a kind of dream logic that allows you to spin backwards and forward in time."
Asked about David Thompson's recent observations in The New York Times that Welles' creation of the central character in Citizen Kane in many ways reflected Welles more than it did William Randolph Hearst, Bogart agreed.
She described Welles as a brash young man who thought a lot of himself and therefore rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Yet after working on the piece she found she liked him more rather than less. Referring to the popular portrayal of Welles as a genius who failed to live up to his potential after directing his masterpiece, Citizen Kane, at age 24, Bogart said, "He was not a tragic person at all-he had a terrific life, created some terrific work, stayed at great hotels, and ate at great restaurants. The only tragedy is that Americans don't own him or recognize him enough."
Bogart, who has been hailed for her own "Wellesian flair," has earned a reputation as one of contemporary theatre's most innovative and influential directors. The Los Angeles Times wrote earlier this year that Bogart "has quietly started a revolution," in her departure from the traditional American Method approach to acting. Bogart created War of the Worlds in collaboration with playwright Naomi Iizuka, who wrote the script, and the SITI Company, the theatre ensemble that Bogart co-founded and serves as artistic director.
An associate professor of theatre arts in Columbia's School of the Arts, where she teaches directing, Bogart is the recipient of a 2000 Guggenheim Award. Her upcoming productions include Room, based on the writings of Virginia Woolf, to open Nov. 1 at the Wexner Center in Ohio, and bobrauschenbergamerica, written by Charles Mee, to open at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in March 2001.
War of the Worlds makes its New York debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 18th annual Next Wave Festival, which includes 13 music, theatre and dance events. For further information or tickets, the public may call 718-636-4100.
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