Journals

The One Where All The World is A Brockmann Stage

October 20, 2012   

Hey journal buddies!

There are a few pearls of Hamilton-specific wisdom that I picked up along my way to sophomore year. For example, unless you enjoy the frantic moment where everyone stops to gawk at you or you fantasize about not graduating with all your friends, don’t walk on the crest on Martin’s way… Just don’t do it! Or don’t go to an Annex event at night and not end up in Howard’s Diner for late night breakfast; it’s just not excusable etiquette around here. But one that particularly made for some great memories for spring semester freshman year was that Danny Brockmann, much like the lord himself, works in mysterious ways.

If you’re not familiar with the Brockmann name, then take note; I have a feeling we’ll all hear a lot of it in the future. Danielle Brockmann, our fearless leader / director / playwright / choreographer / guru is a woman of many talents, some of which can be experienced through the theatre productions she sets up every semester through the House of Brockmann. Her shows have gained a following and are known for their provocative and dystopian disposition. But what they are not known for, and what I, the insider, am happy to report to you, the fierce process of getting a Brockmann show together.

Acting for a Brockmann piece is unlike acting for your usual high-school or college production. Where your average production might have you learning your lines to start with, a Danny show will probably have you learning them till the end, as new monologues pop forth, and alternative endings replace actual script two days before the show. So between tying apples to the railing on the barn stairs to cutting scenes out for time constraints on the day of the show, all is fair in love, war and the House of Brockmann.

So when the few who know these little quirks about being in a Brockmann show give me the look and ask me why I’d choose to do a Danny show rather than the other more conventional theatrical efforts being conducted on campus, I just shake my head. Because truth is, until you’ve sat in suspense of not knowing how the story ends till it’s almost time to perform it for an audience, until you’ve sewn Molly in her costume twenty minutes before the curtains go up, until you’ve danced in ways you didn’t know your body could dance, or you’ve called on talents you simply didn’t know you had, you’ll never quite understand that the rush is what makes the experience of being a part of the House of Brockmann. There’s really nothing quite like it! Come catch “A Leurs Yeux” in March!

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