Statement; Producing G.R. Point

Problems posed by the text: First and foremost in my mind would be the set up of the stage. David Berry paints a simple picture with the way he describes the stage set up on paper, but then a diagram is provided a later page. This design (from the Phoenix Theatre, New York City) the set is built upon raised platforms to give some distance for lack of a better term to divide the “pissoir” which is stage right, and the living area/ bunker which leads off stage left. The “G.R.” is set on a platform up stage. Depending on the size of the theater’s stage I cannot really see how the pissoir and the bunker would be necessary. Another thing that bothers me on this that most of the action seems to happen in “hootch” (tent/living area) and there is little other action in any other setting, nor is there another setting.
Problem posed by SHSU: Picking a theater for this would strike me as a problem. The main stage would be great because of the ability to go “balls to the wall” on a set design. Here one could really help give the audience a visual feel of being inside of a forward operating base along the Vietnam/Cambodian border. Also the set designer could paint the picture of being set “outside the wire” (not inside a base, in the bush) by placing actual wire across the perineum giving another layer of realism. Then again, the showcase theater would actually thrust the audience into the action. At the end of Act one scene three and the beginning of scene four the base is attached, and the men must fight for their lives. This implied fire fight could be played out in the showcase. This has been my views on how one could do this play, but for me one of the major problems I could see facing anyone who would want to produce this play here at Sam would be that our talented pool of actors and actresses who can play a lot of different roles, but there are few actors here that can play someone who is in combat… or even in the military. To tell this story faithfully and be true to not just veterans, but to family members of our warriors who never came home the actors would have to be immersed in some sort of “boot camp” to help them find the character, and understand why the characters do what they do. My opinion as a lowly student and also as a combat veteran is that the actors chosen for the roles be placed in a training program that could be facilitated by SHSU’s outstanding military science department. Another problem that I could see would be when the pot smoking scene. I’m sure that a lot of our kid’s here know how to play getting high, but this could run afoul of the local populace here in Huntsville. I don’t know if our department has ever done a scene like that, and I’m not sure where you get fake pot but this seems to me that it could piss a lot of our law enforcement minded patrons.
Other Productions’ Solutions: Due to what little I have found I cannot fully answer this question. Though the 29 April 1979 directed by William Devane had the stage covered in some sort of rubber coating to give an earthen colored look, and little or no buildings for lack of a better term. Something like this could play out well in a theater like our showcase.
Critical Response: From little what I have found about G.R. Point is that critics have loved this piece. It covers a wide range of emotions in a short amount of time. Most of the reviews I found have little to do with the technical side, and more about the actors’ performa

Other Productions; G.R. Point

Theater/Venue
CENTERSTAGE
700 N. Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD

Month(s)/Year
1978 - 1979

Director
William Devane

September 24, 1988

By DON SHIRLEY
Theater/Venue
Callboard Theater
8451 Melrose Place

Month(s)/Year
September 1988

Director
Howard Fine

Set Designer
A. Clark Duncan

Lighting Designer
George Gizienski

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-09-24/entertainment/ca-2243_1

Producing G.R. Point; The Hovey Players

G.R. Point(2003)
Producing Organization;
Hovey Players Inc.

Theater/Venue;
Abbott Theatre, 9 Spring Street, Waltham, MA

Month(s)/Year;
November 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 2003

Director;
Michelle M. Aguillon

Set Designers;
John MacKenzie and Michele Boll
Lighting Designer; Jeremy Medicus
November 20, 2003
By David Brooks Andrews

"One would love to have heard the '60s music that's played during the intermission woven into the play as well. But none of the shortcomings obscure the fact that all of the actors throw themselves into the play and work well as an ensemble while taking on a topic that is utterly relevant to the soul and future of our nation.John MacKenzie's set of bunks, sandbags and a sergeant's desk is appropriately spare and very evocative, accented by a Michelle Boll backdrop, more impressionistic than detailed."

http://www.hoveyplayers.com/reviews/review_dba_grp.html

Feb/March 2003
by Helene Andersson, Producer
G.R. Point's success would not be complete
without... Many of the props and costumes were
either borrowed or donated to the production
http://www.hoveyplayers.com/prompter/Feb.Mar04.pdf

Producing the Paly; G.R. Point

G.R. Point (1979)
Producing Organization;

Paramount Pictures Corporation

Theater/Venue;
Playhouse Theater 359 W. 48th St., New York NY,

Month(s)/ Year;
Previews March 27, 1979 (24 previews)
Opening April 16, 1979

Closing May 13, 1979

Director;

William Devane

Designers;

Lighting Designer; Neil Peter Jampolis

Scenic Designer; Peter Larkin

http://broadwayworld.com/shows/backstage.php?showid=323395

By Walter Kerr 29 April 1979

Here, however director William Devane working with designer Peter Larkin have created a giant curve of scorched earth that looks like a watermelon rind after a fork has got through rutting it, and the actors are at once forced to trample all over it, looking for places to go, places to sit.

The corrugated effect has been achieved by rubberizing the ridges so that they will give readily beneath restlessly moving boots... in this case it also bounces right back again the minute a heel has left it, creating the impression that the war is being fought on a trampoline.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=14&did=133129662&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=1248906600&clientId=96