An Enemy of the People - 2020 Program

An Enemy An Enemy f the People HENRIK IBSEN'S

of the People

Directed by Scott Cox Directed by Scott Cox

SCREENING EARLY OCTOBER facebook.com/benedictinecollegetheatre

Facebook.com/BenedictineCollegeTheatre CREEN ING EARLY OCTOBE facebook.com/benedictinecollegetheatre

BY

HENRIK IBSEN

SCENES Act One: Dr. Stockmann’s living room Act Two: Dr. Stockmann’s living room Act Three: The editorial office of The People’s Courier Act Four: Captain Horster’s house Act Five: Dr. Stockmann’s study

CAST Dr. Stockmann.......................................................................Emily Sanderlin Mr. Stockmann...................................................................... Stephen Brewer Petra, their adult daughter......................................................... Kaitlin Nelke Ellie, their child...................................................................Rachel Essenberg Marty, their child.....................................................................Lillian Manuel Mayor Stockmann......................................................................... Katie Berry Morticia Kiil..................................................................... Cecelia Richardson Hovstad.....................................................................................Celina Hinkel Billing................................................................................ Brennan Hamman Cpt. Horster..............................................................................John Cybulski Aslaksen..................................................................................... Jenna Nowak Townsfolk...........................................................Claire Rankin, Ben Maruco, Landis Lehman, Moriah Lippert, John Wostenberg

PRODUCTION STAFF Director............................................................................................Scott Cox Stage Manager.......................................................................... Dori tenBroek Assistant Stage Manager..............................................................Ben Maruco Assistant Director.....................................................................Celina Hinkel Dramaturg............................................................................... Sarah Schrader Research Assistant.........................................................................Katee Imlay Scenic Designer.......................................................................Liz Fortenberry Videographer.......................................................................John Wostenberg Assistant Videography................................ Evan Gorman & Lillian Manuel Props Designer..........................................................................Joey Yoritomo Costume Designer...............................................................Caroline Christie Hair & Makeup Designer.......................................................... Jenna Nowak Sound & Music Curator...............................................Mary Kate Randolph Marketing & Publicity............................................................... Natalie Clark Social Media Coordinator........................................................ Elena Nguyen Costume/Hair/Makeup/Props Mentor....................... Anita Buhman-Wiggs Scenic/Sound/Props Mentor.............................................. Derek Trautwein

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Amber Cox • Bert RedVee • The Internets

“No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” – Plato

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR When I first read Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, about twenty years ago, I was struck by the similarity of the small Norwegian town in which it is set and my own hometown. Excelsior Springs, Missouri was established in 1880, just two years before Ibsen wrote this modern masterpiece. The small city was centered around a trove of twenty-some mineral springs and those became central to its development, its identity, and its boom years as a thriving water town. For decades, it was a destination for Midwesterners to come and indulge in the purported healing properties of the waters. When science eventually disproved the waters’ medicinal effects, the town’s economy began to slowly decline, leading to a significant period of hardship in the second half of the twentieth century. In recent years, thanks to savvy marketers at the Chamber of Commerce and the presence of the historic and enduring Elms Resort Hotel and Spa, Excelsior Springs has begun to thrive once more. We no longer claim the medicinal benefits but only the pure pleasure of “taking the waters” and our beautiful city has once again become a popular weekend destination for massages, mineral baths, and weddings. So, it struck me when first reading this play that, were it to become known that The Elms Spa was riddled with toxic water, my city would suffer a great deal. If the hotel around which much of the water community is centered were to close, the entire economy, and therefore the citizens, would suffer. If I were the city manager, or the mayor, or the head of the Chamber of Commerce, I would probably want to keep that information from reaching the public. If I were the scientist tasked with maintaining healthy water conditions, I would want to see the problem fixed, also for the good of the community, even if that meant a temporary financial hardship. It’s certainly a difficult position these characters find themselves in.

And now we find ourselves in a startlingly similar situation on a local, national, and even global level. Climate change. COVID-19. Flint, Michigan’s filthy water. Pick a health crisis. Read this play. Reflect. Dr. Stockmann could be Dr. Anthony Fauci or any whistle-blowing scientist today. Mayor Stockmann could be the Atchison county commissioner or Donald Trump. This play is alarmingly relevant regardless of your political affiliation because, and let’s not forget this, Truth transcends politics even while little people are vying for temporal power.

Dr. Stockmann finds herself in much the same situation as many scientists and scholars in today’s toxic political climate, where facts are often treated

as inconveniences and demonstrable truths are disregarded as “Fake News”.

“Alternative Facts” are much in vogue these days and too many people seem to gravitate towards whichever narrative jibes most comfortably with their worldview. But opinions are not facts and our beliefs do not alter the Truth.

Mayor Stockmann has every right, indeed a duty, to be concerned with the economic well-being of her town yet by ignoring—in fact obscuring—a clear and present threat to community health, she will ultimately play a larger role in the town’s eventual decline. She ignores the health crisis in order to preserve temporary power and financial stability. As her excessively moderate supporter, Mrs. Aslaksen, says, “When a person has material assets at stake, she can’t go thinking of everything.”

Again, regardless of your political persuasion—even if you are like me, without a party—it would be impossible to miss the parallels between our current crises and those Ibsen depicts here. The American president has actually renewed the popularity of the play simply by so frequently speaking its title to denounce those who disagree with him in the population and the press. And yet, Ibsen neither presents a one-sided takedown of capitalism nor a simplistic attack on society. It is nearly impossible to side one hundred percent with either of the central figures in this play. When Dr. Stockmann is opposed, her liberal idealism turns to potentially eugenic zealotry, and she loses everything. Mayor Stockmann resorts to financial fear-mongering and attempts to control the press in order to save the economy but also her own position. Both find themselves in difficult positions, believing that they are in the right, and neither is able to emerge as truly heroic.

Economic health and environmental health are both crucial to our survival and should not be at odds with one another, but as we see in Ibsen’s play, the clash between them has been raging for well over a century. Will human beings ever learn to work together toward a better future or will partisan politics, economic pressures, and the prejudices of the ruling majority continue to keep us thrashing in irreconcilable conflict? What actions do we need to take to “save the country”? Is it possible to be a “hero” anymore?

Who, or what, is the real enemy of the people? Only through listening to one another, exercising empathy, and trying to build bridges instead of walls can we thrive. We have to stop viewing our fellow citizens as our enemies and remember that we share a common humanity.

Scott Cox, Ph.D. | Director

“The majority is always wrong; the minority is rarely right.” – Henrik Ibsen

DRAMATURGICAL NOTE The nineteenth century was a time of rapid change, especially in technological fields. This innovation was exciting to people, and they wanted to see it mirrored in their entertainment. When people went to the theater, they expected spectacle. They wanted to see a melodramatic storyline that showed amazing special effects more than they wanted to see a well plotted story or compelling characters. Skilled writers turned more frequently to the form of the novel rather than plays to explore those more complex themes that the stage no longer showed. This is the world in which Henrik Ibsen would write his groundbreaking plays, bringing complex psychological realism to the forefront of theatrical production and earning him the title, “the father of modern realism.”

Henrik Ibsen was born in Skien, Norway in March of 1828 to affluent members of the merchant class. His greatest joy as a child was playing with his puppet theatre, and he was determined to go out into the world and become educated. At the age of 15, he left home and became an apprentice to an apothecary; through his friendship with actor and theatre manager Ole Schulerud, he began writing plays. Six years later, he made it to Christiana (modern-day Oslo) to go to university. Unfortunately for him, he failed the entrance exam; fortunately for us, he found himself in the theatre. After working various jobs in Norwegian theatre, his disenchantment with his fellow Norwegians led him into self-imposed exile. While bouncing around between various European countries, he wrote some of the plays he is most known for today: A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and An Enemy of the People.

An Enemy of the People, written in 1882, was his response to the reaction from his previous play, Ghosts. Ghosts, like many of his plays, dealt with the dark underbelly of vices that plagued society. But a play surrounding incest, euthanasia, and venereal disease was too much for the sensibilities of nineteenth century audiences to handle; Ibsen was labeled as immoral and the play as abominable. From this criticism, An Enemy of the People was born.

The character of Dr. Stockmann, a man standing alone against the criticisms hurled at him for telling the truth, is based on Ibsen’s personal experience after Ghosts. This play shows the hypocrisy that exists on all points of the social and political spectrum, and addresses a variety of issues that we still deal with today: environmental interests clashing with economic ones, the role

of the media in the knowledge and opinion of the public, and the personal and societal consequences of whistle blowing. Our production is set in the year 1919, in the wake of World War I and a few short years after universal Norwegian suffrage. With the traditionally male roles of Dr. Stockmann, Mayor Stockmann, Mr. Hovstad, and Mr. Aslaksen being played by women, our production explores how women might react in this situation, with the added pressures of maintaining their newfound social and political power and being taken seriously in a field dominated by men.

With so many issues to keep track of, watching this play can be as overwhelming as watching the news. Opinions and facts are thrown around, and no one person has the perfect solution to this very difficult problem. In this, Ibsen shows us a world not so far removed from our own; the father of modern realism strikes again, leaving you with much to contemplate and question once you finish watching.

Sarah Schrader | Dramaturge

CONNECT WITH BENEDICTINE COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE & DANCE

Instagram: @bctheatredept Facebook: @benedictinetheatre

An

ENEMY

THE

of the

People

VISIT

by Henrik Ibsen

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The

Good Doctor

by Neil Simon

FALL 2020 SEASON facebook.com/benedictinecollegetheatre