For this article, Liz Bazzoli and Emily Townley, dramaturgs for Goosebumps The Musical, decided to frame their thoughts on the dramaturgical process for Goosebumps as dialogue. In it, they discuss their successes, issues, and overall feelings working on a TYA show.
Emily Townley (ET):
I guess I wanted to work on Goosebumps because it sounded fun and I think it's important to have fun when doing theatre. You shouldn't just do a show because you feel obligated to do it. You should have fun when doing a show. And Goosebumps: The Musical sounded a lot of fun.
Liz Bazzoli (LB):
Most of my motivation to work on Goosebumps came from a place of nostalgia. For one, I’ve always been a big fan of musical theatre and I’ve also always loved the horror genre–which Goosebumps was a gateway into.
ET:
I think the concept of horror in the media really drove our process when working on the show, like some of the aspects we really zeroed in on were camp in horror, the relationship between comedy and horror, and the history of horror overall as a genre. I think it's super interesting that we focused on that specifically because we don't often see horror and theatre together.
Horror, camp, and mystery Venn diagram created by the Goosebumps dramaturgs.
LB:
I think for me, a big challenge was that I didn't know exactly what to extract from the text when it came to research and making a formal actor packet. I feel like horror is an area of interest to me because it is such a clearly defined genre with so many, like, tropes and traditions that are carried across generations and different formats, Goosebumps being included in that. There’s so much to talk about when it comes to analyzing horror as a genre.
ET:
You mentioned the sort of problem we had when working on the actor packet– and that's just one step of the process when dramaturging a show at TTS, creating the actor packet. One of the other challenges I think we faced was initially finding something to talk about in our actor packet that wasn’t outside, extraneous research. I think that might be a problem when talking about TYA shows.
LB:
Well, I think a lot of our practice, especially as younger dramaturgs, is within a specific framework where we’re strictly thinking historically or theoretically. When you’re working on a TYA show as a dramaturg you have to expand that framework. You have to leave that JSTOR frame and think more creatively.
ET:
Especially when working with kids. I remember back in spring quarter we were working on the study guide for Goosebumps and thinking about: what do these kids need to take away from the show? You have to be conscious of two different audiences, of kids and adults.
LB:
You have to imagine the audience you’re speaking to when it comes to the educational aspect because we’ve never really interacted with the kids. And then you have to take that same energy and those same themes and translate them for an older audience and make it relevant to the rehearsal room.
ET:
We didn’t really do that with our actor packet. One of our challenges was with Emile, who we talked about in our study guide for the children but not in our actor packet.
LB:
We should have.
ET:
Yeah, that’s one of my regrets, not bringing up Emile earlier.
LB:
He’s like the issue in an otherwise pretty innocuous play.
ET:
Exactly. And it’s not like the playwright is completely at fault–it’s directly in the text of the original book. The fake night janitor is living in the school’s basement because he’s homeless and he’s depicted as the bad guy for it.
Exerpt from the Goosebumps study guide.
LB:
And he gets no resolution or redemption.
ET:
And it’s something that followed us through the production. For our talkback, the first question an audience member asked us was, what was the point of Emile having an accent? And at least in my case, scrambling to find an answer was sort of embarrassing, you know?
LB:
I think another thing with this play that was important to me is that so much of the play is built around the line of a mystery. And I think there’s a lot of consideration that needs to go into upholding a mystery. Once you read the script once, you lose that feeling of a mystery, but I think a lot of my notes were around how different people experience the story differently for the first time. Because I didn’t immediately pick up on the Brian Easter eggs my first time reading it.
ET:
It’s kind of subtle. You know, you have your gut telling you “it’s this guy, it’s this guy” but you aren’t sure until the end. It’s interesting to see how different audiences react to Brian’s reveal. Some people don’t know until that moment but there are also kids shouting that “it’s Brian!” immediately after he’s introduced.
LB:
When you’re the one making the mystery you already know the answer, but I feel that it’s so important dramaturgically to look at it as though you don’t. How you put together the clues the text gives you is like the whole enjoyment factor of a mystery.
A Goosebumps character map from rehearsals.
ET:
I think something else, one of the fun parts of working on the show, was seeing the huge nostalgia factor. I mean, so many of the audience members were like, ‘Oh my god, I remember these, I remember reading these books.’ Danny Abosch said he read the books growing up too! I think it speaks to new musicals today, as well. You look at something like Beetlejuice that’s appealing to an audience who grew up with the character but also to a younger demographic because of its pop-rock score. I think that’s the appeal Goosebumps also has; it attracts the millennial crowd who read the books as kids and a younger audience that likes this new style we’re seeing in musical theatre.
LB:
God bless Goosebumps. Against all odds, it’s still relevant.
ET:
It’s important to remember that this is a fun show. I think we often forget, especially at The Theatre School, that it's important to have fun when working on a show. You should enjoy the process, you should enjoy what you're working on. You should enjoy the work you're doing. And I think Goosebumps reminded me because ultimately I did have fun. My favorite part was being in the audience with the kids as they were experiencing it.
LB:
Yeah, I think there’s no greater audience to have in terms of reception. I think a lot of artists want that validation that kids provide by being so responsive to everything that’s happening.
To learn more about the Goosebumps dramaturgical process, check out the official actor packet below!
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