The Drama Division’s spring season begins with three exciting collaborations between the program’s actors, playwriting fellows, and directing fellows. The plays—Tanya Barfield’s Pecan Tan, Francine Volpe’s Appreciation, and two adaptations of works by Chekhov—will each have a workshop production on a different weekend in February.

Playwrights Cusi Cram, Tanya Barfield, Francine Volpe, and Leah Ryan. (Photo by Jane Rubinsky)

These third-year projects—so called because they feature Juilliard actors in their third year of training—have evolved as the Drama Division has grown and changed. Acting teacher and director Richard Feldman recalls that, in the early years of the playwrights’ program, there were no actual classes, but simply a playwright-in-residence, who worked on his or her own material and didn’t necessarily interact with people at Juilliard. “Then at one point, Ellen McLaughlin was the playwright-in-residence,” Feldman notes, “and she stuck with one particular class for two years and wrote a play for them. And then Tony Kushner came and that’s how we got to do Angels in America at the School.”

When Chris Durang and Marsha Norman came to direct the program in 1994, they really wanted to create a slot where they could do new work, where playwrights were writing with the students in mind—creating, according to Feldman,  “the kinds of relationships that go beyond the walls of the School.”

This year’s projects seek to do just that. All three are workshop productions of plays by current and former Juilliard playwriting fellows. Instead of fully mounted productions—as in the past few years—there will be minimal costumes, lights, and sets, in order to emphasize the work-in-process nature of each project.

Tanya Barfield’s play, Pecan Tan—an absurdist look at the dynamics of a black family in South Carolina—will be directed by professional director Kaia Calhoun. The two had never met before, but Barfield, who is in her second year in the playwriting program, notes approvingly that Calhoun has had a substantial amount of experience working with Shakespearean texts. This gives her a solid foundation for dealing with Pecan Tan’s language, which is rich in alliteration, association, and wordplay.

Francine Volpe, another second-year playwright, is working with directing fellow Alex Correia on her new play, Appreciation. Volpe wrote the play in response to the recent World Trade Center attacks, and the piece is suffused with an atmosphere of impending violence and loss. But it is equally about the dissolution of a very specific family, whose emotional shortcomings and flaws are all too real.

The final project consists of two one-acts, The Beginning of No and Pigeons, both adaptations of works by Anton Chekhov, the Russian short-story writer and playwright. Directed by current directing fellow Kirsten Kelly, both pieces are written by former playwriting fellows. The first, written by Cusi Cram, was inspired by the story, “Anna on the Neck” (which is the Russian equivalent of “pain in the neck”). Cram refers to it as a “thoroughly modern, unfaithful adaptation” of the Chekhov tale. The second play, written by Leah Ryan, another former playwriting fellow, is a punk-rock take on The Seagull.

At first glance, the three projects could not be more different. However, beneath their diverging styles is a common fascination with the idea of family. All three projects explore the difficult terrain of what the family is, albeit in wildly different ways. As Kelly notes, both Chekhov adaptations address our “expectations of what a family should be and how family informs our decisions. And they both feature really odd family structures; there’s an aching need for what’s normal.” The same could be said of Pecan Tan and Appreciation, which likewise explore the constellation of hopes, needs, and fears that make up the modern family.

All three projects also share a commitment to the development of the writer’s vision. Alex Correia, the director of Appreciation, feels his main duty is to the text: “I’m approaching it day by day, just looking for the truth of the piece. I think Volpe has written something really wonderful, and my job is to do justice to it.” But he sees the opportunity to work with third-year actors who have truly started to come into their own as equally exciting. “I’ve worked with three of them last year, as second-years,” relates Correia, “and I can tell how much growth they’ve had. It’s a collaboration with them rather than coaching them.”

By emphasizing that these projects are workshop efforts rather than polished productions, the Drama Division considers all three to be part of a learning process for the actors, directors, and playwrights involved. For the playwrights, it’s a chance to see their work up on its feet. For the directors and actors, it’s a chance to work with a live playwright in the room and to be an active force in the exploration and development of a new work.

Feldman stresses that the philosophy of Juilliard’s acting school has “always taught that we’re there to serve the playwright; the playwright is actually first.” Echoing that, Correia describes the director’s task in similar terms: “I see it as a process in order for Francine to see what she has so far, and to see whether or not she needs to make changes… Really, it’s to serve her. It’s not about my vision or anyone else’s vision; I’m there to help her out and to guide her, and make sure her vision comes to life.”

The fact that all four pieces address some aspect of the family may reflect something greater—perhaps the continuing centrality of the family in our culture and collective psyche. However, the fact that all four pieces center on an active and committed collaboration between several disciplines—that is pure Juilliard.

All three visions will come to life in Studio 301 throughout the month of February. Pecan Tan runs Friday through Sunday, February 8 through 10; Appreciation runs Friday through Sunday, February 15 through 17; the double bill of Pigeons and The Beginning of No runs Friday through Sunday, February 22 through 24. Performances are at 8 p.m., with additional 2 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets will be available at the Drama Division Office, Room 402. Space is limited and tickets must be picked up prior to the performance. For information call (212) 799-5000, ext. 251.