Welcome to the Casebook!
What is a casebook?
A casebook compiled by a dramaturg provides actors in a show with resources, references, and a glossary, all with the intent of “filling in” the world of the story and characters and making them feel more real.
What is a dramaturg?
A dramaturg’s job is to help a show’s director and actors create the best show possible. Dramaturgs are ‘experts’ on the play, its production history, and general story elements such as structure, character, time, and place.
(Coming in Summer 2022!)
Director: Jessica Fernando
Spring 2022
(Coming in Summer 2022!)
Idris Goodwin - bio
December 10, 2021 - Bethany Dickens Assaf, Dramaturg
When introducing an artist of the stature and enviable, myriad talents of an Idris Goodwin, it’s difficult to know where to even begin (he is a playwright, breakbeat poet, director, public speaker, educator, organizer, the Director of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, I could go on). Rather than continue to strain for an acceptable hook or opening sentence, I will happily bow out and let Idris Goodwin introduce himself to you:
““Goodwin has the contemporary rhythms of language in his bones, and he brings them to the stage both as a performer and playwright.” ”
As indicated in the video, poetry and music is more than a motif in Goodwin’s work - the musicality of words are a driving force. Goodwin himself was a rapper as a young man growing up in Detroit, and his love for hip-hop rings true and aching.
Many of his characters can only communicate their true selves through music, poetry, or MC-ing; for example, in American Prom, Goodwin chooses to have a queer character recall her traumatic ‘coming out’ story in bursts of rap. Similarly and heart-breakingly, in How We Got On, the sampling of a tough coming-of-age story lends it a bittersweet pastiche of greatness. Finally, in From the Mouths of Monsters, Michelle discovers the exhilarations and pitfalls of poetry’s ability to create new identities.
In fact, it is quite conceivably this love of musicality as a vehicle for authenticity that draws Goodwin to coming-of-age stories - in these plays, the quest for identity and a ‘voice’ is inextricably connected to poetry, music, and the four-pillared culture of hip-hop. As plays focused on teenagers, the works CFCArts is presenting are most internally-focused on what hip-hop can bring to artists as we quest for identity; Goodwin’s later works, like the 2021 play Hype Man, are focused on what artists can give back to the world through social justice.
This idea of generosity and others-centeredness is subtler but percolating in these three plays: it is found in the idealism of American Prom, the destructiveness of misused ability in From the Mouths of Monsters, the acceptance of How We Got On that, as individual artists, we are all part of something greater.
““There is an assumption of a world of possibilities in his characters that is deeply uncynical.””
So what does all this information mean for you, the actor?
First: embrace the musicality of Goodwin’s dialogue. Don’t shy away from his gorgeous phrasing. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to let it carry you along - don’t force naturalism onto it if it doesn’t feel right.
Second: study the roots of hip-hop. Understand the unique power of this movement, particularly in the areas of cultural expression and change.
Third: open your heart to these works’ audacious hope. These plays contain intense conflicts around topics like race, gender, homophobia, neglect, and mental illness. In the situations this play describes, hope is a bold and brave thing. Don’t be afraid to embrace it.
For more on Goodwin’s bio, including some highlights from his resume; check out this 2020 article: https://www.coloradocollege.edu/newsevents/newsroom/idris-goodwin-named-director-of-the-fine-arts-center.html#.YarDw_HMJQJ
References:
https://americanrepertorytheater.org/media/in-conversation-with-playwright-idris-goodwin/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3179501/bio
https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/06/11/the-way-idris-goodwin-moves/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/theater/black-history-month-kids.html