"A great spark that leaps between the author and the reader - if you can put a soul in that spark - I guess that's what literature means. It's as great as having a great gulp of wine or being in love," said playwright Allan Dreyfuss.
An Ann Arbor resident for the past four decades, Dreyfuss reveals this love of reading and literacy in his play, "813: American Fiction," which won First Place in the 1998 Community Theatre Association Playwriting Contest. Dreyfuss' new play will come alive for the first time tomorrow night as part of the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's Premiere Studio Series, a new performance series which features original plays by Michigan playwrights.
Titled after the library system of Dewey Decimal Classification, "813: American Fiction" provides a glimpse into the small fictional town of Haskill, Michigan during the '70s, where dedicated librarian Jane Press faces the challenges of maintaining high standards of literacy in a paper mill town beset by unfavorable economic conditions.
"What I want to do is excite people about the joy of literacy and to encourage them to get into the corner with a book, to get out of yourself and your surroundings and travel with that book," Dreyfuss said, adding that the impetus for this play came from a colleague who had worked in a paper mill. "Just the idea of all those books, all that paper," was what inspired Dreyfuss to create the world of Haskill and Jane Press as a tribute to the joy of reading.
The "wrinkle" in the story, according to Dreyfuss, comes from the chance discovery of the lost diary of Haskill's Nobel prize-winning novelist Walter Emmons Halliway. In the time that has passed since his death, the town has attached itself with pride to the Halliway myth, adorning t-shirts and pillows with this literary figure, and speaking of the good ol' days with "Wally" - a name which Halliway, as everyone who knew him was aware of, detested.
Preserving the posthumous reputation of Halliway and safeguarding the culture and economy of Haskill is Jane Press' ultimate challenge, as she also deals with the intentions of three desperate suitors.
"There are a lot of sweet stories going on in this play. There is not only the love of reading, but also three men who say 'I love you' to Jane Press," said director Wendy Sielaff.
Sielaff said that she is focusing on the love-story aspect of the play in her production concept, making references to the personal history of real-life literary legend Hemingway. "There are several plots going on, but it's always fun to focus on the love story," Sielaff said, highlighting the entertainment value of the play for all audiences.
Sielaff also mentioned the excitement involved in producing a new work and said she hopes that this play and the Civic Theatre's Premiere Series will send student playwrights the encouraging message that "if you write a play, it can be produced."
"It's a great opportunity for a director and a cast," she said. "We get to be the first people to create Jane Press and the Halliway Public Library. No one can say 'Oh, we've seen this before.'"
Dreyfuss, who has sat in on a few rehearsals to anticipate the opening of "813: American Fiction," also commented on the excitement of seeing the play - his first full-length play to be produced - go up for the first time. "It's the director who really calls the shots," Dreyfuss said, adding that even he does not know what will be presented on the stage tomorrow night. "That's why it will be so thrilling."
"Everyone has a different wrinkle," he said. "No one knows what will go into the wastebasket and what will survive. That's why the theatre is such an interesting thing."
"There are a lot of creative souls in Ann Arbor," Dreyfuss said, noting the rich culture of our own Michigan town. "It's just that the real commodity in everyone's life is time." He said he hopes that students will be able to spare some of that time to be "reminded that not all books are textbooks and notebooks."
The tribute to literature in "813: American Fiction" comes directly from the playwright's own passion for reading.
"When I was drafted to WWII, the only thing I took in my pocket were 15 or so Shakespearean sonnets. You realize the glory of the words when you're in a lousy place," Dreyfuss said. "The beauty and the encouragement one derives from the words and their wide-encompassing impact lasts for a long time."
10-20-99
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