26-27 Proposal: Monstrous Regiment

Monstrous Regiment

Based on the book by Terry Pratchett, adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs

Directed by Britt Urey

Synopsis

From HarperCollins:

“War has come to Discworld…again.

And, to no one's great surprise, the conflict centers around the small, insufferably arrogant, strictly fundamentalist duchy of Borogravia, which has long prided itself on its ability to beat up on its neighbors. This time, however, it's Borogravia that's getting its long-overdue comeuppance, which has left the country severely drained of young men.

Ever since her brother Paul marched off to battle a year ago, Polly Perks has been running The Duchess, her family's inn -- even though the revered national deity, Nuggan, has decreed that female ownership of a business is an Abomination. To keep The Duchess in the family, Polly must find her missing sibling. So she cuts off her hair, dons masculine garb, and sets out to join him in this man's army.

Polly is afraid that someone will see through her disguise; a fear that proves groundless when the legendary Sergeant Jackrum accepts her without question. Or perhaps the sergeant is too desperate to discriminate -- which would explain why a vampire, a troll, a zombie, a religious fanatic, and two uncommonly close "friends” are also eagerly welcomed into the fighting fold. Soon, Polly finds herself wondering about the myriad peculiarities of her new brothers-in-arms. It would appear that Polly "Ozzer” Perks is not the only grunt with a secret.”

Vision Statement

Monstrous Regiment is a play about war and gender, two hot button topics that Sir Terry Pratchett handles with empathy and an open mind. This is all the more impressive considering the original book was published in 2003, long before gender identity became a political flashpoint and the global resurgence of military expansionism.

I am trans. Gender has defined my life, whether I was conscious of it or not, as it has for the heroines of the titular Monstrous Regiment. Through disguising themselves as men, they are able to experience the freedom and respect denied to them as women. They grow as individuals and as a squad, giving them the confidence to do the impossible and take on the powers that be. And they couldn’t ask for a better mentor than Sgt. Jackrum, a trans man and elder queer who is doing his damnedest to keep the next generation alive, including standing up to his assimilationist brethren.

And in my 34 years on this earth, I have never known a moment when my home country was not engaged in armed conflict with another. Entire generations have reached adulthood without experiencing true peace. Pratchett’s belligerent nation of Borogravia, locked in eternal conflict over little more than national pride, feels uncomfortably familiar.

In this production, Borogravia is meant to be a mirror for our own society. That means a plurality of faces, body types, and backgrounds, not the false homogeneity imposed by a repressive regime.

As one of the core themes of the play is the exploration of one’s relationship with gender, the casting process has to be gender expansive from the onset. Sgt. Jackrum absolutely must be played by a trans man, and I would prefer an additional transmasculine performer in the ensemble to play Gen. Froc. The characters Maladict and Igor are supposed to be more ambiguous in their presentation, thus I would like to cast nonbinary performers to play them. For all but a handful of the remaining roles gender flexible casting would be implemented, to better depict the fluidity of the gender spectrum.

Seeing as there are a number of characters who are military veterans or long-serving officers, this also provides a number of opportunities for our distinguished senior actors.

While there is no content I consider particularly problematic, there are a few elements in the script that require a soft touch. Most notably, several individuals who we would now identify as trans men are outed as “women.” However, both before and after these relatively brief revelations the characters are treated as men. Likewise, a few jokes are made at the expense of some crossdressing male characters. I believe those can easily be remedied through how we present the humor, emphasizing the absurdity of the unit’s sole cisgender man believing he is the only one who could convincingly portray a washerwoman.

While minor, these elements need to be handled with care, as I don’t want our performers to feel like they’re being subjected to microaggressions as part of the production.

The script was written with minimal staging in mind, so we would be capable of putting on a full performance with little more than costumes, a handful of props, and some scene blocks. Thus, we have an opportunity to build the show from the ground up, rather than starting big and having to scale back.

Of course, this is a fantasy show, which gives us an opportunity for some lush visuals. It would be relatively simple to repurpose previous set structures for this production, considering the planned background would be a fortress not dissimilar to the one featured in Wars of the Roses. Most of the costumes are military uniforms, allowing our designers to work off of templates, while the supporting roles can easily be dressed from the Majestic’s pre-existing collection.

Terry Pratchett is a wildly popular author, and the Majestic’s previous productions based on his work have been similarly successful. Thus, we already have a built-in audience of the sizable local contingent of Discworld fans. I would also like to involve the local drag community in the production, whether as actors, makeup artists, and perhaps even performing pre- and post-intermission routines. Considering Corvallis has a thriving drag scene, we may be able to attract some of their fans, as well.

I want to direct this play to create a space for queer joy, and to depict a world where discovery is celebrated and small actions can cumulatively save the day. The beginning of the play offers us a vision of what our future could look like: perpetually war-torn and led by the blind. But so does the ending, with a chance for genuine reform and healing as a people.