Hedda Freeman Audience Dramaturg Site

A Note From Our Director: 

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Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler has always been one of those plays that’s haunted me. Not haunting in a ghost story kind of way, but haunting in the many ways in which it seems impossible to fully understand. From the first time I read the play in grad school to the first time I saw a staged production, I always empathized with Hedda. For me, her longingness for a different and more fulfilling life stood at the forefront. Yes, the problematic decisions that she makes throughout the play and the ways in which she manipulates people in search of power are there, but I recognized all of that as merely a result of her larger state of being. Imagine my surprise when many of my classmates didn’t read or see the same Hedda that I read and saw. Imagine my further surprise years later when a female student said to me: “Ugh, I hate Hedda. She’s such a b*tch. Why should I care about her?” After picking my jaw up off the floor and really thinking about her statement, I realized that she might be right. Not about all of it, but about that last question: “Why should I care about her?” The answer of course is centered in context. The original play was written and first performed in 1891 Norway, a time and place in which women existed for marriage and motherhood with little to no autonomy of their own. What was Hedda to do? This modern and contemporary woman that’s resigned to a future, a marriage, a life, and maybe even a child that she never imagined for herself. It is very difficult with our contemporary and American lens to fully understand Hedda as she was originally written and performed, as that time and audience are both very distant and foreign to us.

 

 

Once I made the decision to direct Hedda Gabler, I started reading various adaptations of the play in an effort to find one that might help me contemporize this particular story for a modern audience. Through all of this reading, I found only one adaptation that I liked. But the more I read it, and the more I began to imagine how I might cast it, the more questions that started to arise. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to cast a woman of color in the role of Hedda. I told myself, “it’s 2021, there’s absolutely no reason why a woman of color shouldn’t have the opportunity to tackle one of the most complex and challenging roles ever written for the stage.” But the more I imagined this contemporary production coming to life, the more I realized that by casting a woman of color in this particular role I was actually telling an even more complex story. A story that deserved further thought, nuance, and a voice other than my own. I immediately called one of the most talented playwrights I know, Kamilah Bush, and I said “Hey! I have an idea. What do you think?” I will be forever grateful that she shared this vision for a newly imagined piece.

 

 

Through a lot of conversation, a lot of long hours over zoom, a lengthy shared google doc, and the joy that comes from reconnecting and collaborating with a friend; Kamilah and I developed our own adaptation. A contemporary retelling that we believe honors Ibsen’s original intent for the play.

 

 

“It was not my desire to deal in this play with so-called problems. What I principally wanted to do was to depict human beings, human emotions, and human destinies, upon a groundwork of certain of the social conditions and principles of the present day."

 

-Henrik Ibsen

 

 

So, what are the social conditions and principles of the present day? How do those conditions and principles inform our actions? Our emotions? Our destinies? Like Ibsen, Kamilah and I didn’t seek to definitively answer any of these questions for you, or to solve any “so-called problems”. We merely sought to start, or rather continue, a conversation.

 

 

And as the centerpiece of that conversation, Kamilah and I offer you a Hedda for the 21st century. A strong black woman aware of the power of her blackness. Aware of the danger of her blackness. Surrounded by whiteness. Carrying the expectations of those who’ve come before her. Struggling with depression and suicidal ideation. Burdened by the stigma surrounding blackness and mental health. A strong black woman with nothing to lose.

 

 

It should be stated that Kamilah and I view Hedda Gabler at its core, as a suicide play. If you search for any one thing that causes Hedda to do what she inevitably does, you’ll come up empty handed. It’s an avalanche. A rolling tide. Her depression, combined with her propensity for suicidal thought, provides her with an everlasting escape route. And if you’re unafraid of such an escape, how much more willing would you be to flirt with danger? To push that envelope right to the edge? Perhaps even over it.

 

 

You’ll notice that the artwork for this production boasts a black American flag waving boldly in the wind. For centuries, black flags have been flown by opposing forces in battle to announce that “no quarter will be given”. In other words, they’d rather be killed than taken prisoner.

 

 

Enjoy the play.

 

 

-Justin P. Cowan