Maegan Clearwood
Dramaturg/Writer/Educator
OLNEY THEATRE CENTER
Dramaturgy Apprentice, 2013-2014
"The beauty of bodies in motion provides Colossal with an aesthetic power that informs the entire evening... For this gratifyingly high level of unity and spirit, everyone involved deserves the game ball." -- The Washington Post
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Articles on hypermasculinity and the history of American football
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"On its surface, the multibillion-dollar industry seems totally incongruous with the themes and aesthetics usually presented
on the American stage, so perhaps it is no surprise that theater and football have seldom collided. But as Colossal
explores, this sport is visceral, cathartic, stunningly theatrical—qualities that the onstage players underscore with every
tackle and swerve."
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COLOSSAL
Spring 2014
By Andrew Hinderaker
Drected by Will Davis
"Director Jason King Jones’ concept behind the production is innovative; layering in thematic elements both subtle and overt to more fully develop the ideas behind Shakespeare’s musings. Imploring the use of these symbolic elements and infusing them into the scenic design, lighting schematics, and costumes makes for a well-rounded and thoroughly articulated artistic vision."
-- DC Theatre Scene
The Tempest
Summer 2014
Drected by Jason King Jones
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Articles on 17th century magic, performance history, and exploration
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"When looked at through a wider lens, this little play offers much more than magic spells and masques: it is an emblem for an entire period of discovery and enlightenment, seen through the eyes of one incredibly powerful and conflicted political figure. Prospero’s craft is rarely referred to as magic; it is more often called his Art, capitalized in the Folio edition where the play was first printed. Prospero’s powers are more than incantations and drawings in a book; they are his life’s work, the culmination of years of study, and not only in spell casting—like any good magus of his time, Prospero was learned in the entire spectrum of Renaissance studies, from mathematics and astronomy to music and literature."
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"The scathing irreverence of “Avenue Q” sounds even spikier 11 years after the show’s Broadway debut. One must credit the sheer genius of its “Sesame Street”-busting premise, but kudos also go to Olney Theatre Center’s zippy revival, staged with well-calibrated abandon by artistic director Jason Loewith." -- The Washington Post
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Articles on puppetry, subversive humor, and production history
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Lobby Display (image left)
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Interactive blackboard asking audiences why "It Sucks to Be You."
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Dramaturgy Note
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"It boils down to the most iconic and most controversial element of Avenue Q: its ability to offend. Although making nostalgic cartoons adult-friendly is a somewhat recent phenomenon, puppets have been, historically speaking, a grownup pastime. Until about a century ago, when American artists started delegating puppets as a strictly children's form of entertainment, they were most commonly used to bring to life stories and ideas that were taboo for human actors -physical violence, cursing, and, of course, sex."
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Avenue Q
Winter 2014
Directed by Jason Loewith
"It’s the first time in Olney’s history they’ve done a Wilson play and director Jamil Jude’s deft touch with Wilson’s story-rich, rhythm-drenched dialogue suggests they’ve been missing out on a grand opportunity. The production is everything you would want in a staging of a Wilson play—atmosphere, fierce camaraderie between the actors, musical speeches and bewitching storytelling."
-- DC Theatre Scene
The Piano Lesson
Winter 2013
By August Wilson
Directed by Jamil Jude
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Including August Wilson's influences, a character chart, and artist Q&As
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"Although The Piano Lesson returns to Wilson’s eternal stomping grounds, it is, more than any of his other Century Cycle
plays, a transitional story... For a story that takes place entirely within the four walls of the Charles family’s cramped house, The Piano Lesson is teeming with movement – even its setting is in flux. The play takes place in the midst of the Great Migration, the
mass movement of African Americans from their Southern homeland to the urban North."
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A lovely and lyrical reminiscence by a great American artist about his coming of age in Depression-era Alabama. Abandoned by his parents at age 7, he was taken in by a kindly elderly cousin named Miss Sook, who called him Buddy and became his best friend in all the world.
"Artistic Director Jason Loewith along with veteran theatre director Alan Muraoka, who is known for his TV work for Sesame Street and making his Olney debut, assembled a talented cast and creative team to deliver a tightly-staged, colorful spectacle in which the story showcases the best of humanity but at times presents a dark reality. He uses a Red Cross shelter following the storm as the setting in the present to symbolically remind the audience of the effects of such disasters on the population, which have been all too common in Haiti." -- MD Theatre Guide
"In less competent hands, this material could become fodder for the Lifeline channel, but the prolific playwright Lauren Gunderson knows better than that. I and You, a finalist for both the Steinberg and Susan Smith Blackburn awards, is leavened with knowing wit, and Gunderson’s appealing characters have not forgotten the joy of being young, notwithstanding the savage circumstances of their lives. In Gunderson’s hands, I and You is not simply a play about super-articulate kids dealing with a horrible illness; it is a validation of the human experience, and of the triumph of life over death." -- DC Theatre Scene
"“How to Succeed” is the best kind of old-school musical comedy, thanks to a peppy and impish book (by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert) and a savvy score by “Guys and Dolls” composer Frank Loesser. Director Jason Loewith unleashes his cast on a big, sleek set (by James Dardenne, who also designed the projections) that suggests the bustling industrial power of World Wide Wickets — the pressurized setting of the show — while leaving ample room for big production numbers." -- The Washington Post
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Articles on Haiti and source material
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Lobby Display (see image to left)
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Visual guide to historical iterations of the musical's four gods
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Program Note
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"These outwardly insurmountable
events rarely result chaos, as the media likes to portray....If any country can understand this paradox, it is Haiti. Once dubbed the Jewel of the Antilles, this tropical backdrop for Once On This Island went from being the most lucrative colony in the world and home of the only successful slave rebellion in history to the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Over the last two centuries, Haiti has been plagued by disaster – political insurrections, hurricanes, and most recently, earthquakes – and yet, somehow, it has managed to retain a remarkably vibrant culture. Storytelling is at the heart of this cultural resilience; despite years of hardship, Haitians continue this narrative ritual, retelling stories of magic and realism, triumph and defeat, life and death."
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Once on This Island
Fall 2013
Directed by Alan Muraoka
I and You
Winter 2014
By Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Eleanor Holdridge
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Articles on Walt Whitman and chronic illness
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"Many of his contemporaries described Leaves of Grass as self-indulgent, a 52-part declaration of his physical and spiritual miraculousness. The very title of the longest poem in the collection, “Song of Myself” (initially titled “Walt Whitman”) exudes egocentrism, and he continues this self-celebration throughout the piece.
“I” is not the only character in Whitman’s story, however. The poem traffics all of America, narrating stories of everyone
he meets along the way, from the gray-headed printer to the bride unrumpling her dress. Whitman praises himself,
certainly, but it is hardly narcissism; in his language, love of self is synonymous with love of humanity, nature, and all of life. In true transcendentalist fashion, Whitman believed in his own beauty, but also in the interconnected beauty of 'you' and 'we.'"
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How to Succeed...
Winter 2013
Directed by Jason Loewith
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Articles on 1960s corporate culture, source material, and the American dREAM
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"If the musical's narrative is more fairytale than reality today, why do we still core about Finch's rise to the top? Unlike audiences of 60 years ago, we hove no reason to believe that our hero's story is true, so why is it still so captivating? Perhaps it is the very improbability of this story that makes it endure. The American Dream is, after all, just that: a dream. The achievobility of this ideal shifts with each generation, but it continues to populate our world, from TV shows and films to popular fascination with corporate prodigies like Mark Zuckerberg. How to Succeed embodies the dazzling, if unrealistic, peak of this rags-to-riches mythos; we know there is no formula for success, that window washers cannot suddenly become junior executives or foll in love with their secretaries consequence-free. We may not believe in these fantasies wholeheartedly anymore, but we certainly still want to."
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