Why would you want to update "A Doll's House"!?!?!

From MET Producing Director Tad Janes:
Originally, the MET company decided we wanted to produce "A Doll's House" and we were just looking for the right translation. After reading some of the "older, crunchier" translations (no royalties- there!), I started to veer off into some of the more recent translations because I thought they would play better to a modern American audience.
.
CUT TO: Last January, the MET had our annual winter retreat in South Carolina and we had the honor of housing a "guest artist," Vibeke Havre a theatre artist from Norway who studied in London and was working in Barcelona. During the week, MET company members and Vibeke bounced games, exercises, philosophies, and fun around and we had a very productive, enlightening, and successful retreat.
.

First rehearsals for all MET shows include a potluck dinner with cast, production crew and MET friends and a first reading of the script. For A Doll's House, MET board member Dan Kuebbing and his wife Sharon graciously invited us to hold this special night at their home. We had a fabulous dinner and a wonderful time being together. At the table, clockwise from the top: Kayte Williams, Tad Janes (director), Vibeke Havre (translator), Lorrie Tripp (props), Jim Page (Krogstad) and Joe Williams (documentation). Standing behind the table is Karen Paone.

.

Soon after the retreat, the thought dawned on me: Instead of paying royalties for a translation, why not pay a translator? So, one evening at Cafe' Nola, a group of our company members sat around and discussed the feasibility of this idea. We knew Vibeke knew Norwegian, did her thesis on "A Doll's House" and was a theatre artist that we respected and one who shared our aesthetic. After some creative financing sessions, we realized that it would cost the MET about the same to bring Vibeke to the US to work on this piece as it would to pay for a translation. It would also allow the MET to "put it's stamp" on the translation and production, and open up possibilities for further productions of the script, both from the MET and from outside theatre companies. AND, it would give us a great opportunity to work with an international artist and create excitement for this 129 year old play!

.

Around the table, clockwise from left: Gené Fouché (Nora), Merch McDonald, Milee McDonald, Sharon Kuebbing, Tom Majarov (sound designer) and Michelle Simms (Anne-Marie)

.

But what about the "update?" Women have more rights now! It's not "shocking!"

Vibeke was really interested in the concept of updating the script to create a "modern American" version of the script. I became really interested in this concept as well! So, although the play is really about the empowerment of a woman- it's also about the family relationship and how traditional roles are changing. Some thoughts and ideas about how it might fit into 2008 would be setting it in a place like Saudi Arabia- where women do still play a much "lower status" role than men- but, we knew casting that for us would be difficult. Also, the thought of taking on the roles from "inside the trailer park" would work! But, we felt that we visited that often in last year's season.

..

Jim Hochadel and Brian Irons (Torvald) chat on the Kuebbing's back porch. The view was amazing!

.But, do some women still have the "traditional role" in families these days? Are there families where the husband is an "Alpha male" and the thought of running a household without a wife terrifying? Do some women in today's society get married early, opt out of higher education, raise a family, have the "model home" yet find themselves trapped? Would a woman leave this situation?

Tom Majarov, Karen Paone, Mark Barnhart and Lorrie Tripp

.When we began to ask questions those and other questions, we find that this play can still be very accessible for a modern audience and would fit well in our current climate- not to mention issues like health care, the mortgage crisis, living beyond your means, etc.
.

We settle in for the reading in the Kuebbing's comfortable living room.

How did you meet Vibeke in the first place? Actually, Vibeke was on a Rotary exchange. This is program where Rotary International brings people from other cultures to a host country for 4-5 weeks to gain an understanding of that culture. I met Vibeke through the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek. I was charged with showing her around Frederick and taking her to some the theatre venues. We hit it off because we found we had a similar background- although I grew up in West Virginia, worked in Chicago, now in Frederick; she grew up in Bergen, Norway, worked in London, and was now in Barcelona. We also both have a strong connection to ensemble based theatre.

. Gené Fouché, Julie Herber (Kristine) and Jim Page. Dan Kuebbing sits behind the couch.
.

During her Rotary trip to Maryland, she kept changing her itinerary to come back to Frederick. Once to visit our ensemble Saturday morning workshops, once to see "Urinetown," and, eventually, Gene' and I would meet up with Vibeke and her partner, Richard, in Manhattan for dinner and a show some weeks later. We've kept in touch, and that year we invited her to the South Carolina retreat, but, she couldn't come. The next year she did! And that loops us back to the beginning of the story!!!