Director of A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes and third-year M.F.A. in Theatre candidate Caley Chase sits across from a camera, eagerly recounting her collaborations with actors and designers, the ways the script encourages original choreography and movement, how the set and live sound effects draw audiences into the play. Chase’s excitement for the spectacle of this production is palpable. She shared all of this and more in a recent interview about Kate Benson’s A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes, on stage in the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre October 10-20, 2024.
When asked what this athletic event of a play is about, Chase answered, “A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of The Great Lakes is a play about a family having a holiday dinner, and that holiday dinner is called by sports announcers.” Digging deeper into the themes of the play, Chase shared, “It’s a play about the way family, tradition and ritual has an impact on your physical body, what that does and how we overcome that.”
In telling this story, sport and movement serve as a metaphor and a heartbeat, setting the tempo of the play. While the literal actions of the Wembly family are described by two sports announcers, the movement serves as a reflection of the internal lives and thoughts of each character. Developing unique movement for the cast was a multi-step process, starting with research conducted by dramaturg, Hannah Nelson. Chase stated, “[Nelson] tracked every reference in the script to what sport it was referencing. And it was through that tracking, I think, that we realized there is so much we get to make up.”
That “making up” — that creation, Chase further emphasized — was prompted by the playwright Kate Benson in her playwright’s note in the script. “Kate Benson,” explained Chase, “implores us all to ‘make it new.’ She says every time you do this play, it’s going to be completely different, and part of the invitation of the script is to figure that out.” Chase continued, “There are no stage directions. [Benson] omits them all. Few sentences are complete, but we do have the action constantly being described by sports announcers.” This allows for the action of the actors on stage to become a playground of experimentation and innovation, according to Chase.
“Some of [the movement] is based in references to sports,” Chase explained. “Some of it is a language we have created on our own. So it’s really been like a large collaborative effort.” Chase expressed excitement at “how capable and game this group of actors is. They have even kind of impressed themselves with their ability to pursue this new type of movement. They have certainly impressed me time and time again.”
Design also plays a significant role in welcoming audiences into the world of A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes. The scenic design, created by designer Joshua W. Martin with assistant designers Brittney Barton and Alik B. Clay, has “transformed the [Oscar G. Brockett Theatre] into this gymnasium of a sport you’ve never seen before,” shared Chase. “The audience [is] part of the play that is happening. You are inside of the sports arena. You have court side seats. That closeness, that intimacy, that immersion feels really right and really exciting for this play.” Chase went on to describe Violet Clemons’ costume design, completed with assistant designers Layla Crear and Allison Normin Johnson, as “grounded in an absurd version of reality,” providing “a wonderful sense of contrast and also like a deepening of character for each actor.”
“It’s gonna be wild,” Chase shared excitedly when discussing lighting design for the play. According to Chase, designer Gavin Strawnato and assistant designer KP Pierce have created spectacular lighting looks based on research about how lighting shows up in sports arenas. The lighting also goes on a journey throughout the evening, reflecting the trajectory of the play itself.
The team is also incorporating live foley to immerse audiences in the world of the play, performed live by foley performer Jax Schuck. Sound and foley designer Cooper Smither developed these live sound effects, with the help of assistant designer Kyle Trehan. “[They’re] using food and using dishes,” shared Chase, “using all of these things that make these really intimate, exciting, grotesque evocations happen in the moment.”
“[It was] a massive collaborative feat,” Chase added, summarizing her experience working on A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes. The thing she finds most exciting in things that are “so boldly collaborative” is that the audience sees “in the production, all of the people who have made it.” Chase stated, “in that multiplicity of voices, in that sweeping collaborative spirit, we invite more people into the world… One of the great opportunities of making plays inside of a university is that we all get, with massive amounts of support, to attempt things we’ve never done before. And that has been a through-line of the collaboration. How can we in this play, through this play, with this play invite each other, challenge each other, inspire each other to do things that are new to us, and perhaps then create something new together.”
A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes
October 10-20, 2024
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
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Written by Mackenzie Mann
