Over the years, the Florida SouthWestern State College theater program has churned out a legion of talented thespians thanks, in large measure, to the inventiveness of theater professor Stuart Brown. Brown has the uncanny ability to force budding stage actors out of their own heads and into the minds of their characters. Case in point: Brown’s selection of Václav Havel’s dark comedy, “The Memo,” earlier this month.
Cooper Stone was a member of Brown’s cast. He said that Brown was looking for a play that expressed the theme of our changing world.
“This is the longest I’ve seen it take him to pick a play, but eventually he picked this one, which I am actually quite glad for because it’s very topical,” said Stone.
Topical is good. That means the plot, characters and themes are relatable – not only to the cast and crew, but the audience as well.
The play is set in a sparse office somewhere in time, where an upwardly-mobile Deputy Director is implementing an efficiency drive without the approval or apparent knowledge of his superior, Andrew Gross. At the heart of the drive is a new language called PTYDEPE [pe-tee-de-pay], which an eponymous memo describes as scientifically created for precision of expression and economy of effort:
Ra ko hutu d dekotu ely trebomu emusohe, vdegar yd, stro reny er gryk kendy, alyv zvyde dezu, kvyndal fer teknu sely. Degto yl tre entvester kyleg gh: orka epyl y bodur depty-depe emete. Grojto af xedob yd, kyzem ner osonfterte ylem kho dent de det detrym gynfer bro enomuz fechtal agni laj kys defyj rokuroch bazuk suhelen...
Performing in any play encompasses numerous facets. Actors must memorize and deliver lines. They need to learn where to be onstage, how and when to interact with the other actors and props, and be able to identify and react to verbal, sound and lighting cues. But what distinguishes a proficient actor from a compelling, mesmerizing, enthralling performer is the ability to inhabit the character and react to unfolding events as if they had no clue about what’s about to happen or what another character is about to say.
Sounds simple, but it’s far from easy.
Some aspiring thespians never master this part of their craft. But with “The Memo,” Brown found a way to force the issue — place his cast of talented students in an absurdist situation where they have little choice but to buy into the play’s premise.
It does not get more absurd than to have to learn, digest and deliver lines that incorporate this efficiency-driven farcical language called PTYDEPE. It removes any inclination that a young actor may have to inject their own thoughts, feelings or experiences into the role. It’s just the words on the page, their character’s mindset when hearing or saying those words and Brown’s direction.
But Brown undoubtedly had another reason for choosing “The Memo” – pacing.
“This is one of the fastest moving plays that I’ve ever been a part of,” noted Stone.
The action in “The Memo” was, indeed, quick and unrelenting. Each member of Brown’s cast was compelled to invest completely in their character’s role in advancing the story - or risk being left behind. As a result, they learned invaluable lessons in scene study, elocution and other important intangibles that will make them better actors now and in future productions.
Of course, Brown made sure that his cast had time to reflect upon the play’s overarching themes and relevancy to current events.
“We really needed to buckle up to consume all of the themes that the playwright was trying to get across,” noted Stone.
While the play was written in 1965 and first translated into English in 1967, it is surprisingly reminiscent of events taking place throughout the federal bureaucracy under Elon Musk’s imperative to make government more efficient and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. But beyond Musk and DOGE, “The Memo” stands for the proposition that anachronistic rituals, practices and red tape prevent most bureaucracies from efficiently and effectively accomplishing the goals and mission they were created to achieve, a perception that persists among most lay people.
“There are some absurd situations that have been happening recently that are a little hard to laugh at just because of how much weight they hold,” Stone conceded. “However, in ‘The Memo’ we thankfully got just to the edge of comedy without crossing that line.”
MORE INFORMATION:
The original 1965 play was actually titled “The Memorandum.” However, when Canadian translator Paul Wilson published a new translation in 2006, he titled it “The Memo” at the playwright’s request.
One reviewer called “The Memo” Monty Python meets “Office Space” in the “Twilight Zone.”
At the time Václav Havel wrote “The Memorandum,” Czechoslovakia was part of the Soviet Union. A dissident, Havel ended up in prison following a failed attempt to liberate Czechoslovakia from the Soviet Block in 1969. Two decades later, Czechoslovakia succeeded in gaining its independence and Havel became president of his country, a role he retained when Czechoslovakia morphed into the Czech Republic in 1993.
In addition to playing the part of the devious and self-serving Deputy Director Max Balas, Cooper Stone also functioned as stage manager for “The Memo.”
Tomas Jaramillo played Director Andrew Gross, Alisha Hunter was Shelly, Josh Malpica was Victor Kubs, Ian Buttion played JV Brown, Mia DiRis appeared as Alice, Frank Ruggiero was Frank, Logan Harmon was Ken Masat, Joseph Murway was Syd Kunc, IsaBella Ginart played Talaura (Tallie) and Josh Malpica was Mr. Suba.
In Czech, the word Ptydepe has been used to mean incomprehensible bureaucratic jargon, or newspeak intending to hide its true meaning.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.