Western alum's play to debut
Karen Tableriou
Issue date: 11/12/08 Section: The Edge
Russians, Henry Ford and a botched kidnapping attempt make "Dearborn Americana" a promising new comedic play created by upcoming playwright Christian Krauspe. A Western Illinois University alumnus, Krauspe graduated with a bachelor's in theater and is currently a first year MFA student in playwriting at Arizona State University.
With the upcoming production of his play, chosen by theater department faculty members in order to fulfill their desire to do an original work, Krauspe finds himself back in Macomb attending the dress rehearsals and preparing for opening night. Although he left Western Illinois with a theater degree, Krauspe was a novice until he stepped on a stage during his first year in college.
Originally an actor, Krauspe switched to playwriting during his collegiate career.
"I really became interested in watching things from the other side of the stage," he said. Writing has always been a hobby of his, but he "never thought of (himself) as a writer … until (he) got serious." Not only does he write plays, but with his minor in creative writing, Krauspe also has a wide array of short stories under his belt.
However, it takes special skill to create a play as there are different rules involved. According to Krauspe, "Structure is key. It's something very difficult to start and compose. You … find yourself getting stuck more."
The idea for the play came to him not from any creative writing seminars or playwriting workshops, but one of Dr. Scott Palmer's western civilization classes. During an in class discussion, talk turned to the history of Russia and their obsession with Henry Ford.
"They idolized Henry Ford for his ability to industrialize," Krauspe said. "They even had a Russian word for Fordism."
A noteworthy fact Krauspe mentioned was that Ford's autobiography sold extremely well in Russia, if not more copies than the U.S.
With the play scheduled to open tonight, Krauspe is more nervous than ever.
"I have all the confidence in the world, but your baby is your baby," Krauspe said. "I wrote it so long ago; it was my first big undertaking."
Spending a lot of his time sitting at rehearsals, Krauspe is continuously taking notes as the actors perform on stage, marking down lines that don't work and sequences of actions that are confusing to viewers and performers. As the miniscule changes continue, Krauspe "hopes people get (the play)." He believes it shouldn't be so hard for the audience to connect with the play; after all, it's about "somebody whose name we see every single day."
"Dearborn Americana" is his first full-length play to be performed at Western. In previous years, two of his 10-minute plays were presented at Western's own short theater competition, BYOP, or Bring Your Own Play. "Dearborn" won the Best New Play award for full-length play at the American College Theater Festival Region III in January 2007.
With the upcoming production of his play, chosen by theater department faculty members in order to fulfill their desire to do an original work, Krauspe finds himself back in Macomb attending the dress rehearsals and preparing for opening night. Although he left Western Illinois with a theater degree, Krauspe was a novice until he stepped on a stage during his first year in college.
Originally an actor, Krauspe switched to playwriting during his collegiate career.
"I really became interested in watching things from the other side of the stage," he said. Writing has always been a hobby of his, but he "never thought of (himself) as a writer … until (he) got serious." Not only does he write plays, but with his minor in creative writing, Krauspe also has a wide array of short stories under his belt.
However, it takes special skill to create a play as there are different rules involved. According to Krauspe, "Structure is key. It's something very difficult to start and compose. You … find yourself getting stuck more."
The idea for the play came to him not from any creative writing seminars or playwriting workshops, but one of Dr. Scott Palmer's western civilization classes. During an in class discussion, talk turned to the history of Russia and their obsession with Henry Ford.
"They idolized Henry Ford for his ability to industrialize," Krauspe said. "They even had a Russian word for Fordism."
A noteworthy fact Krauspe mentioned was that Ford's autobiography sold extremely well in Russia, if not more copies than the U.S.
With the play scheduled to open tonight, Krauspe is more nervous than ever.
"I have all the confidence in the world, but your baby is your baby," Krauspe said. "I wrote it so long ago; it was my first big undertaking."
Spending a lot of his time sitting at rehearsals, Krauspe is continuously taking notes as the actors perform on stage, marking down lines that don't work and sequences of actions that are confusing to viewers and performers. As the miniscule changes continue, Krauspe "hopes people get (the play)." He believes it shouldn't be so hard for the audience to connect with the play; after all, it's about "somebody whose name we see every single day."
"Dearborn Americana" is his first full-length play to be performed at Western. In previous years, two of his 10-minute plays were presented at Western's own short theater competition, BYOP, or Bring Your Own Play. "Dearborn" won the Best New Play award for full-length play at the American College Theater Festival Region III in January 2007.
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