Adrian Hall Explores The Poetry and Prose of Robert Penn Warren

Adrian Hall Explores The Poetry and Prose of Robert Penn Warren Jean nie M. Woods He learned that the world is like an enormous spider web and if you touch it, however lightly, at any point the vibration ripples to the remotest perimeter and the drowsy spider feels the tingle and is drowsy no more... These words of the late Robert Penn Warren are especially significant to stage director Adrian Hall. They state the principal theme of Warren's novel, All the King's Men, which Hall has been adapting for the stage for the last four years and they also reflect Hall's belief that theatre is meant to explore that intricate web that connects us in the world. Hall defines theatre as a confrontation in which the actor and audience are brought together, joined in time and space to struggle with universal questions. This article is based on exclusive interviews with Hall in Dallas, Texas, January 4-6,1990, during the opening week of his production, Prologue to All the King's Men.1 This production (including the choice of project, the venue and the production process) was the result of significant changes in Hall's career. For a quarter of a century (1964-1989), Hall was the artistic director of the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. From 1983 to 1989, Hall split his time between Rhode Island and Texas, where he was also artistic director of the Dallas Theater Center (DTC). In May of 1989, Hall retired from Trinity, only to be notified a few weeks later that his contract would not be renewed at the DTC. Thus, after twenty-five years of devotion to institutional theatre, he became a free-lance director. Before taking over the helm at Trinity Rep, Hall had been an active force in the Off-Broadway movement of the late 1950s and '60s. But he quickly tired of the commercial exigencies and lack of stability for the artist. Hall was able to make his first long-term connections with other artists at Trinity where he developed one of the finest permanent acting ensembles in the country. He established an artistic home and gathered artists about him who understood the priority of process over product. In Providence he developed his craft and sacrificed the recognition he would have received in New York. In 1986, Time said "within his profession, Hall... is a revered, almost legendary figure, esteemed both for the brilliance of his productions and for his odds-defying, inspirational leadership, but to most of the theatre-going public he is unknown" (Henry 96). 127 128 Jeannie M. Woods Hall's new-found independence has proven to be a blessing. He now has an opportunity to gain the national recognition that often eluded him in Providence and Dallas. He is in demand at regional theatres throughout the country. He has directed two successful productions at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre— Measure for Measure and Rebel Troops Deep into Chad—and is planning projects in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. He has returned as guest director to the Dallas Theater Center where he staged his own adaptation of Λ Christmas Carol. In the spring of 1991, he will direct King Lear at the American Repertory Theatre with F. Murray Abraham in the title role. Hall's independent status is allowing him to devote himself to projects he really wants to do, without having to worry about how they affect the season offerings, the marketing plan, or the fund raising efforts. The Prologue to All the King's Men was just such a project. The Dallas Theater Center allowed Hall to make use of its intimate 50-seat In the Basement theatre that Hall and his designer, Eugene Lee, carved out down below the DTC stage that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. Thus, Hall could focus on a small-scale creative project, concentrating his energies on the work and his artists. This article investigates Hall's unique process for developing a text from narrative sources through collaboration with actors, designers, and dramaturgs. Exploding the Text The subject of our conversations in Dallas was Hall's conception of the theatrical text and his techniques...