[SML] Theatre-in-the-Round Productions

[taco at peak.org]

Melodyland Theater in the Round, Anaheim, California was part of my childhood. It's long gone now, but the name surfaces sometimes. 
I remember seeing the Jefferson Airplane there, 1967. The Grateful Dead opened for them. I knew absolutely nothing about either band. (I do now.) The stage rotated, so they faced all the audience at different times. They hung some sheets behind the drummer, to have a place on stage to aim some of the light show at. Most of the light show was splashed on the audience and the outer walls, which meant that you could sort of see much of it. 
I remember seeing the Smothers Brothers there. I don't recall if the stage rotated, but I do remember that there were microphone sets placed at three or four locations, so they performed parts of the show facing each corner of the audience. They also liberally ad-libbed, finding places in their routines to move away from each other to different mics, or join up again, or follow each other around. I had the records. I knew those weren't regular parts of the routine. It was delightful. 
I remember seeing No Time For Sergeants there, probably in 1964. Probably with Jerry Van Dyke, and probably with Arte Johnson. I recall the lights coming up and seeing them hanging from the grid on the parachute cords after they jump out of the airplane, slowly twisting this way and that. 
I remember how you could always see some of the lights shining, because they came from opposite you, or off to your sides, and being fascinated by that. Funny that decades later, I became a light designer. And that the lights would go out on the stage, and come up in an aisle, following an entrance, and that by the time those performers hit the stage, the set would have completely changed. And that at some shows, they would walk you through an illustration of how such changes were done, showing you the technicians sneaking down aisles, the set pieces breaking down, the use of the little bit of fly space, the choreography of lights and pieces and manpower to make it all work so quickly and smoothly. 
I remember seeing Joe E. Brown in Harvey there. A masterful and moving show. He did something I have never forgotten, something I marvel at the memory of to this day, something that influences every choice I make as an actor or director. He brings in the portrait of the rabbit that he had commissioned. It's a wrapped parcel, and he unwraps it and reveals it. And he has a long rambling unfocussed monlogue, which is about how people could and should get along, and ought to treat each other better. But, in this production, he isn't preaching, or moralizing, or talking to the audience, or giving advice. His speech is an afterthought, just mumbling to himself haphazardly while he works. What he's *doing* is removing and folding up that brown parcel paper the portrait was wrapped in. He's slow and gentle and careful, and utterly focussed on that paper, getting the edges straight, and checking them, and easing into each crease, and checking again, and babying it into position, and making sure everything is happy before moving along. He's not showing the painting, or talking to the audience. He's treating that throwaway wrapping paper with all the respect and love and gentleness and care that it's possible to give. And the audience is loving it, because he's so intent, and it's so unimportant, and in the meantime, the whole heart and soul and message of the play is being laid out for them in his monologue. I have never seen an actor's choice of stage business so perfectly support his speech and his character. I try to make choices like that. 
I saw other shows there, but nothing else stuck in my head the way these did. 
Theater in the round is a challenge, but I do not believe it is a limitation. 



Can anyone give me suggestions on good theatre-in-the-round productions they have seen? 

Daniel L. Miller 
Associate Professor of Theatre 
Dakota Wesleyan University 
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