If you’re looking for a new form of entertainment this weekend, head over to Watters Theater in the Fine Arts Building to experience a “new form of theater.”
Written by Aaron Posner, “Stupid Fucking Bird” is a modern adaptation of “The Seagull,” by Anton Chekhov. It takes place in the Berkshires, and follows somewhat-complicated love stories between four 20-somethings. Aside from just the love stories, the play touches on themes of facing parents, dealing with the present and, most importantly, art and the theater itself.
Con is the son of a famous actress, Emma. She had him when she was 19 and wasn’t the parent she could have been, much less the parent that Con needed. Doyle Trigorin, a famous and so-called “genius” author, has captured Emma’s heart as well as — to Con’s dismay — the heart of Con’s girlfriend, Nina. Con’s friend Dev is in love with Mash, who works for Emma. Unfortunately for him, Mash is desperately in love with Con, who wants nothing more than for Nina to love him back, and so on and so forth. You get the point.
So yes, it’s a love triangle — or really some other convoluted shape. But it’s also a self-aware, self-referential one. The characters address the audience, they interact with the crowd, they discuss the actual theater in which everyone is sitting. Even the set is involved. Real birch trees are used, but they are hung from chains, making the audience fully aware that it’s just a set. Anne Brady, the director of the play and the head of the acting and directing program at Binghamton University, was inspired to do this by another Chekhov play she had seen earlier. Just as in the original production of “The Seagull,” for which Chekhov insisted that real birch trees be used, all of the trees used on the set of “Stupid Fucking Bird” are real.
The play frequently refers to the idea of having “new forms of theater.” Con is determined to create something different, something that will change the world. And while I’m not going to go crazy and say that this play is the next King James Bible, it’s definitely known for doing something different.
“The production selection committee wanted a contemporary play for the costume design,” Brady said. “It offered lots of opportunities for interesting explorations of the texts; I thought it would serve the University population because it was an adaptation of a classic that’s read in Russian studies, that’s read in world dramatic literature in the theater.”
And it’s definitely a contemporary adaptation. It was first staged in Washington, D.C. at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in 2013. Now, two years later, this is the first time that this play is being shown in New York, and it’s still not done. After getting permission from the agent, Posner contacted Brady and told them that he’s still making revisions, and that he would send them.
Brady said President Harvey Stenger’s been a fan of the boundary-pushing plays the theater department has staged in the past few years.
“The president said ‘I love what you do there at the theater department, it sounds edgy, I want Binghamton to be an edgy place, go for it, you have my full support,’’” Brady said.
The play is simultaneously an ode to Chekhov and a “fuck you” to the “old forms.” Hints of Russian culture can be found in the dance scene, a highlight of the play.
So if you want mindless entertainment, go somewhere else. If you don’t, then “Stupid Fucking Bird” will be shown on March 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. and March 15 at 2 p.m. in Watters Theater.