{"id":9388,"date":"2014-11-19T14:39:14","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T19:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=9388"},"modified":"2024-07-02T14:45:01","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:45:01","slug":"a-collaborative-art-the-making-of-johnny-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=9388","title":{"rendered":"A collaborative art: the making of \u2018Johnny Johnson\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Serena<\/a>
Serena Ebhardt, right, checks in on wardrobe during rehearsals and production for the play \u201cJohnny Johnson.\u201d From left are Sam Kate Toney, Keenan Brown and Matt Verner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In professional theater, there are obvious ways to tell whether a production has been a success. Reviews. Box office sales. How long an audience applauds \u2013 or laughs.<\/p>\n

For David Navalinsky, the director of undergraduate production at Carolina, there is a more subtle \u2013 and substantial \u2013 measure: how much his students learn.<\/p>\n

Trained as a technical director, Navalinsky said his job is to be \u201ca backstage guy\u201d to oversee everything from keeping a production on budget to handling day-to-day operations to helping to construct the scenery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students are here to learn how to be part of a creative process,\u201d Navalinsky said. \u201cIf they have learned something from the production, even if what they learned is how not to do something \u2013 then we have done our jobs. In the end, that\u2019s truly the only way you can gauge success.\u201d<\/p>\n

That process of learning and discovery is now under way for \u201cJohnny Johnson,\u201d a play written by Paul Green with music by Kurt Weill, which is part of the campus-wide\u00a0\u201cA Year-Long Conversation: World War I \u2013 The Legacy\u201d\u00a0sponsored by the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and College of Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n

Based on Jaroslav Hasek\u2019s satiric novel \u201cThe Good Soldier \u0160vejk,\u201d \u201cJohnny Johnson\u201d focuses on a na\u00efve and idealistic young man who, despite his pacifist views, leaves his sweetheart, Minny Belle Tompkins, to fight in Europe in World War I.<\/p>\n

Johnson manages to bring the skirmish to a temporary halt by incapacitating a meeting of the generals with laughing gas, but once they recover he finds himself committed to an asylum for 10 years.<\/p>\n

He returns home to discover that Minny Belle has married a capitalist. He settles down as a toymaker who will create anything except wooden soldiers, his personal gesture of peace in an increasingly warlike society.<\/p>\n

The director of the play is Serena Ebhardt, a Carolina alumnus who has been an award-winning actress, playwright and teaching artist.<\/p>\n

What she remembers most about her experience as an undergraduate majoring in drama, she said, \u201cwas the sheer passion and enthusiasm for the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

College theater, Ebhardt said, \u201cis quite beautiful because it is still in a pure form.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Serena<\/a>
Serena Ebhardt, center, checks on progress with, from left, Morgan Lee, Erin Kutz and Kaia Findlay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the professional level, there are sometimes big egos to battle. But at the undergraduate level, it is more the case that the egos need a little boosting; often, the students have more talent than they know. One such talented student is Annie Keller who plays the role of Minny Belle.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a voice like nothing I have heard in my life,\u201d Ebhardt said. \u201cIt is absolutely stunningly beautiful. She may be young, she may have more to experience, but in terms of raw, pure talent, I am just blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talent among the students comes in many forms, Ebhardt said, including that of first-year student Mary Alex Staude who serves as both the play\u2019s stage manager and dramaturg, a specialist who adapts a work for the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an English and history nerd. And a drama nerd,\u201d Staude said. \u201cI\u2019m just a nerd. But a lot of the issues that we see in today\u2019s society, particularly in the Middle East, did arise because of a lot of the things that happened in World War I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staude\u2019s passion for history, and her skill working with people made her a natural choice for both jobs, Ebhardt said. \u201cI became the luckiest guest director in the world when Mary Alex walked up and said, \u2018Can I help?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the rehearsals are complete and the show starts, Ebhardt added, it becomes Staude\u2019s show to run.<\/p>\n

Ebhardt, like Navalinsky, sees undergraduate productions as an opportunity for students to test themselves and find out exactly what they can do. The Kenan Theater Company is a student-driven organization, which means students do the work.
\n\u201cAcross the board, in terms of stage management and designers and technicians, these are all students working on this project,\u201d Navalinsky said. \u201cTheater is a collaborative art, which means they must learn they cannot work in a vacuum.\u201dThere are times during that process, he admitted, when he begins to wonder if all the pieces will come together in time for a successful show. But through the years, he has learned to temper those doubts.<\/p>\n

\"Actors<\/a>
Actors catch up on their studies during rehearsal breaks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cEvery time I underestimate the students, they surprise me,\u201d he said. \u201cThey rise to the challenge and I continually learn that lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cJohnny Johnson,\u201d there are 18 actors who will perform 68 roles, and there will only be about a week for them to hone their acting because of all the other aspects of the play they must complete, including video projections, sound cues and lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have actors who are already measuring up to professionals I have worked with,\u201d Ebhardt said. \u201cIt\u2019s just that they don\u2019t have a reference point to know how good they are yet so they are a little shy and nervous to throw it out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, they have to own it. They are the ones on the stage and if it doesn\u2019t work for them, it doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ebhardt\u2019s advice to all her young actors is to believe in themselves.
\n\u201cThere are a lot of aha moments in our experience together and there is nothing more gratifying for teaching artists than to see your kids make those discoveries for themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a director, that is the greatest joy you can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performances will take place in the Kenan Theatre, in the Center for Dramatic Art at 8 p.m. on Nov. 20, 21 and 22; at 2 p.m. on Nov. 23; and at 5 p.m. on Nov. 24. To reserve tickets for the productions, see\u00a0drama.unc.edu\/johnnyjohnson. Tickets are $10 each, $5 for students.<\/p>\n

See a\u00a0video series<\/a>\u00a0about the students\u2019 experiences collaborating on \u201cJohnny Johnson\u201d:\u00a0\u2018Lessons: David Navalinsky,\u2019 \u2018Stagecraft: Julia Warren,\u2019 \u2018Lights:Katie McCabe,\u2019 \u2018Character: Byron Frazelle\u2019 and \u2018Voice: Annie Keller.\u2019<\/p>\n

By Gary Moss, Gazette<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Johnny Johnson” is a play written by Paul Green with music by Kurt Weill. It is part of the campuswide \u201cA Year-Long Conversation: World War I \u2013 The Legacy\u201d sponsored by the Institute for the Arts and Humanities and College of Arts and Sciences. The show runs Nov. 20-24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9388"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47056,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions\/47056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}