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THE
PLAYWRIGHT WHO STARTED ME SHOOTING
Every theatrical photographer needs a philosophy to start with.
In my case, the starting point was the plays of Romulus Linney.
by Jonathan Slaff
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| Romulus Linney (front) with the actresses playing his "Three Poets" at Theater for the New City in 1989. L-R: Mary Foskett (as Hrosvitha), Kathleen Chalfant (as Anna Akhmatova) and Adrienne Thompson (as Komachi). Photo by Jonathan Slaff. |
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Poster
for "Just Folks," 1978 |
Romulus Linney, whose plays ranged from Appalachian tales to studies of historic women poets to accounts of the Nuremberg trials, died January 15 at age 80. I was press agent for most of his productions at Theater for the New City and his plays were the source of many beginnings for me.
I always thought that Theater for the New City's Artistic Director, Crystal Field, recruited me to be press agent for TNC because she wanted a new press agent for Romulus Linney. I couldn't say that Linney's was the first play I represented, because that was one by Bloolips (Bette Bourne et. al.). But his "Heathen Valley" (1988) was the second, if my memory is correct.
Romulus must have been pretty special to Crystal, because over the course of twenty years Theater for the New City commissioned six of his plays and presented the world premieres of eight. TNC was Linney's home for new work, I would say, starting in 1978 with "Just Folks" and ending in 1998 with "Gint."
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TRUE CRIMES (1996) -- Fred Burrell, Cheryl Haas. Photo by Jonathan Slaff. |
The Post had called Linney "one of the best kept secrets in the American theatre, a playwright of true literacy and one with a unique vision. He is a writer in the grand tradition, using the techniques of high theatre to deal with great ideas. His plays achieve size without pageantry through the heroism of their thoughts, the substance of their passions and the striking quality of their stylizations."
I "sold" a story to the Times about Linney to coincide with his production of "Three Poets"at TNC in 1989. It was the first time I'd succeeded in placing an article in the Arts & Leisure section. When I asked the Culture Photo Editor, Lonnie Schlein, about the paper's photo plans for the article (I thought they would send a photographer), he said, "Why don't you shoot it?" So I did. The pre-production photos of "Three Poets" were my first pictures taken with studio flash and my first photos to be published in the Times.
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| THREE POETS (1989) -- Komachi, played by Adrienne Thompson, is courted by a nobleman, played by Scott Sowers. |
Romulus designed the pictures with me. Fortunately for me, he could think dramatically in simple images. Working with him on "Three Poets," I learned a lot about his aesthetic. He was drafted after his graduation from Yale Drama School and while serving in the armed forces, had been stationed in Hawaii. When he had an extended leave, he was able to finagle a flight to Japan, where he saw Japanese theater for the first time. He was deeply influenced by the lean, simple, economical imagery of Japanese arts. That experience defined his vision for the theater and his work as a director throughout his career. You couldn't understand Romulus' work, I learned, without understanding its simplicity.
Nowhere was the influence clearer than with his production of "Three Poets," which had started out--at least partially--as a way to write a play about the Japanese poet Komachi.
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| SPAIN (1993) -- T. Cat Ford (front) plays a subject of the Inquisition, Fred Burrell (rear-laft) plays Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, and Peter Ashton Wise (rear-right) plays an emissary of the Spanish King. Photo by Jonathan Slaff. |
The publicity pictures I created with Romulus were rather true to his plays. In his plays, a plainness was part of their art. Even in his Appalachian plays--plain people, plain art.
Looking back on these publicity images now, I am surprised at how visual themes of the plays run through their images. The white mask of Komachi is echoed, sort of, in the blanched face of Anna Akhmatova as she is interrogated by her Stalinist persecutor.
These pre-production pictures of Linney's plays, which we made together, are my little tribute to Romulus.
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| THREE POETS (1993) -- Kathleen Chalfant played poet Anna Akhmatova and John Mackay played a Stalinist interrogator in "Akhmatova," one of three short plays comprising "Three Poets." Photo by Jonathan Slaff. |
PRODUCTIONS WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ROMULUS LINNEY
AT THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Just Folks, 1978
Heathen Valley, 1988
Three Poets, 1993
Spain, 1993
Oscar Over Here, 1995
True Crimes, 1996
Mock Trial, 1998
Gint, 1998
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