Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1982 - 16

by Theodore Shank

An unusual feature of Stuck, A Freeway Comedy by Adele
Edling Shank is that it requires five real cars in each of its two
acts and is set on a California freeway. Because the play
demands a production style which the playwright calls hyperrealism, nothing short of actual cars and the appearance of a
real freeway would do. The premiere production, which I directed for the Magic Theatre in San Francisco in October 1981, was
presented in a World War II warehouse on a pier which extends
the length of two football fields into San Francisco Bay.
Inside the warehouse an enclosure was especially constructed to form the performance and seating area. The space, 68'
long by 45' wide by 20' high was enclosed on the sides with
plywood panels covered with carpet padding. The ceiling and
ends were of black cloth. One end could be opened using a
pulley system to allow the cars to be rearranged during intermission. Within this space ninety-nine spectators sat in three rows
on each side of the two-lane freeway. The first row on each side
was elevated 3' above the road surface, and each of the other
rows was raised an additional 3' so the spectators looked down
into the space at a steep angle.
The steep rake of the seating gave trC! spectators an unusual
perspective of highway and cars whie-h aided in creating an
increased psychic distance for the spectator somewhat akin to
looking down on a street from a window in a building. It is a
perspective which subconsciously puts one in the removed
position of observer rather than actual or psychic participant.
One is safely out of danger, beyond involvement.
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Theatre Design & Technology

Stuck was the playwright's third hyperreal play, and I have
directed the premiere production of each. Initially we were
attempting to develop a theatrical equivalent to the school of
painting variously called hyperrealism, photo realism, and super
realism. Painters such as Robert Bechtle, Jack Mendenhall,
John Kacere, Don Eddy, Ralph Goings, and Richard Estes put
emphasis on the materialism in our culture by painting in morethan-usual objectified detail which helps keep the spectator's
focus on the surface materiality of the objects representedoften cars, storefronts, or rooms in middle-class houses.
As with the hyperrealist painters, the accumulation of detail in
our productions creates a distance which tends to keep the
focus on behavior, on appearance, rather than on psychology,
social analysis, or emotion. Traditionally, realism in the theatre
has been used to draw the audience into a subjective relationship with the characters, their desires and predicaments. The
spectator becomes psychically absorbed into the fictional world
rather than being distanced from it. Instead of perceiving acutely
the events presented, the spectator is psychically suspended
awaiting what is about to happen. In our hyperreal productions
the use of accumulated detail is an attempt to create a distance
which puts the spectator in the position of observer or voyeur
rather than psychic participant. In this condition each audience
member is forced to focus on present events and is able to
perceive them more keenly. Spectating becomes more an act of
perception than emotional involvement. It is as if one were
looking through a window watching unknown people and graduUSITI Summer, 1982

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