Theater lovers will get a chance to actually peek behind the curtain this weekend.
An all-male trio will take the Pickard Theater stage in playwright David Mamet's gripping play "American Buffalo."
The production has been brewing in the mind of director Sam Plattus '12 for over six years and is the product of his independent project in directing.
"The first time I read it was my sophomore year in high school," said Plattus. "It's something I connected with very early on and I knew I wanted to do it in some way at some point in my life. It seemed like the perfect time to do it."
Plattus has been involved in theater for much of his life, though he did not begin directing until he came to Bowdoin.
"As an actor, I was very interested in not just my process, but the entire process [of theater]," said Plattus. "I started directing by accident my freshman year and I really loved it and I got a lot out of the work and it just got a hold of me to the point now that I'd rather direct than do just about anything else in theater."
"American Buffalo" will be the second full-length production at Pickard Theater this semester.
The play deals with a seemingly basic subject: a trio of petty thieves who plan to steal from a prominent coin collector.
"This is a play that is especially meaningful for an American audience," said Plattus. "It becomes even more so when times are difficult."
The play relates to everyday life as well.
"It's a show about people struggling to make their lives work and make sense and, at its most basic level, about our ideals and what they can mean for us and how they can be our downfall," said Plattus.
As an English and theater interdisciplinary major, Plattus is working closely with the department of theater and dance on this project.
While the Department of Theater and Dance's "A Little Night Music" used the Pickard proscenium stage in a traditional way, Plattus is using the space in a highly unconventional, highly charged manner.
"I wanted to break down all the barriers between the audience and the action," said Plattus. "It's not supposed to be a comfortable viewing experience."
The audience will sit at the edge of the stage facing the back of the stage, where the actors will perform mere feet from the audience. Plattus considered smaller spaces such as Kresge Auditorium and Chase Barn, but ultimately found that a different use of Pickard's traditional proscenium stage was the best option.
"I believe that Pickard is such a great space, but it is used in the same way so often that I feel like people forget its potential," said Plattus. "This is just another way of reminding people not to take performance space for granted in any way."
Technical Director of Theater and Dance Michael Schiff-Verre, Assistant Technical Director of Theater and Dance Deborah Puhl, and Production Coordinator of Theater and Dance Nicole Sirois have been working with Plattus on technical design elements for the show.
Additionally, Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Roger Bechtel worked with Plattus as his faculty advisor.
"[Bechtel has] been really helpful because he's worked on this show and he knows it well. We have meetings once every week or so and they serve the purpose of me bouncing ideas off of him," said Plattus. "One of the great things about the way independent studies are done here is that it's really about the student doing the work and having the faculty and the staff there to make sure they don't run into too many problems."
The rest of Plattus's production crew consists of students employed by the department, including Stage Manager Nora Krulwich '11 and Assistant Stage Manager Josh Zalinger '13.
Kevin Kowalko '12, Nate Houran '13 and Xander Johnson '14 star in the play.
After an exhausting casting process, Plattus selected the three actors who best fit his vision for the show and whom he thought could handle the difficult language.
"Working with the language of Mamet has been wonderfully exhausting," said Johnson. "Sometimes the sentences follow the rules of grammar and sometimes they don't. The language is difficult, but not without reason. It makes the dialogue feel real. Although learning it and memorizing it is difficult, it is very rewarding to perform."
Plattus said he feels similarly about the language, naming it as one of the things that struck him the most when he first encountered the play.
"There's something about the play that has to do with the language that gets lost in translation when it's summarized, it's the kind of play that needs to be experienced," said Plattus. "Something that I really felt directing this show is that there's a large difference in even just reading the play and seeing it performed."
Houran said he found the language initially difficult, though through the process, has come to really value it. As a way of explicitly conveying the language of the play, Houran wrote in an e-mail to the Orient in character.
"Anything you do, you're always you're gaining. You're acting, you're not acting, it's there, it's that, his is just that but presented with the language, you know what I mean?" wrote Houran. "Someone's taken what's life and just spun it around the way they want it, and you're the actor you just have to run with it."
"American Buffalo" will be performed tonight at 7 p.m. and tomorrow at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Pickard Theater in Memorial Hall. It is free and open to the public.
Tickets are available at the Smith Union Information Desk or at the Wish/Pickard Ticket counter before the show.