Article for 2014 Apr 09

2014

2014 Apr

Apr 09 Wed

Jigsaw Music Theatre is embroiled in civil war. Barely nine months ago a schism emerged and tore the group apart. One side stood by the time-tested Jigsaw standards and swore allegiance to an able director, an adroit writer, and a musical mastermind. The other side carved their own standards in the Jigsaw image and their oath of loyalty was to a capable director, an adept writer, and a musical maestro.

Those dissenters, those rebels, those wearied yet unweary resisters, they abandoned the Jigsaw name and looked for a new appellation. They sought to make dramas that were hard-hitting but beautiful and quirky, and sought a name to match while still alluding to their homeland, Chester’s Garden Quarter. The name: “Quartz”.

They had a name. They had a cause. They lacked a script. Where does a new drama company go? What directions do they take? How can they be true to the principles they hold dear while not doing everything the old Jigsaw way?

Meanwhile the soldiers who kept the Jigsaw name going were advancing, forging ahead, devising the scenes they’d use as weapons, revising the skills with which they’d throw such weapons.

Quartz were still in the quagmire of their identity crisis. They imagined themselves as different characters, each short-lived; they assumed ephemeral roles. Fires are fun to play, your body undulating like flames, the occasional arm flicking out like a spark. Then again, it’s not a worthwhile exercise to have a drama with no characters with proper emotions and back-stories. What is a play without people acting as people?

“Just act yourself,” their director suggested. “Take a copy and pass the rest along,” announced their writer. “Repeat after me,” said their composer.

Eventually the coin dropped. Quartz finally knew who they were. They had a map to the battle-field. They marched.

They worked and worked and toiled and toiled. They trained their biceps to launch their choreography like javelins. They trained their voices for the manifold war-cries, the words of passion and strivings. They trained their entire souls and bodies for theatrical battle. They trained their entire souls and bodies for the showdown.

Jigsaw arrived at the battle-field first. Quartz arrived moments after. They looked at each-other as they made their final preparations.

And the apathy of humanity toward dramatic tragedy was their common enemy.