September 18, 2000
Julia Rodriguez Elliott and Geoff Elliott
Artistic Directors, A Noise Within
January 26: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
A Noise Within, an acclaimed theater company from southern California, is dedicated to presenting classic plays. The company was founded in 1991 by American Conservatory Theater alumni Geoff Elliott, Julia Rodriguez Elliott, and Art Manke. The company houses a resident acting troupe that performs the season's plays in repertory. Geoff Elliott directs the upcoming performance of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
GE: For me, the purpose of theater is to tell a damn good story. One of the
reasons I love the material we do is because we are working with excellent stories.
We've become a society that has lost touch with itself in terms of being together
in the same room. Live theater is so different than going to see a movie. At a play,
you are seeing real people on stage, having the courage to do something in front
of you as it happens, second by second; and you are in the same room with other living
beings--touching shoulders, breathing the same air, watching the story unfold.
During Aristotle's time, theater was like church--people went there to commune. It
was a big deal to them. And over the years we've lost that sense. The truth of the matter
is that, for me, there is something very special about live theater. It's almost
like a religion, in that you're coming to commune with other people and possibly
learn something about yourself
JRE: Live theater is such a visceral experience. When we have students in
the theater, quite often, they reach out to touch the actors. They're not trying
to be disruptive, it's just that they're not used to having that kind of human contact.
It is a whole different experience when you can touch a human being who has just
been the vessel for this great story. You feel like you're participating in the experience.
That kind of tangible energy is something the audience feel they've found on a journey
with performers.
GE: That's very true. No matter what kind of material we work with, whether
it's Shakespeare, Shaw, or Chekov, the audience is given an opportunity to watch
life unfolding in front of them. And I don't just mean the actual drama, but the
real live actors who are going through their paces. The audience gets to see a living
fingerprint--something that is only going to happen once. They can't rewind it and
watch it again. And that's the reason I think theater so vital and interesting.
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