Let me begin this blog post with a disclaimer. This is not a review. I'm a Drama major here at IC, and I've been involved in IC Theatre Arts' production of Top Girls since long before it started rehearsals. I would be remiss to think that my involvement doesn't bias my opinion, so while I saw Top Girls' opening night performance Thursday night, I am not here to write a review of the production. Instead, I offer you an inside look.

I had the pleasure of being the Top Girls’ dramaturge. The joke in the theatre world about dramaturges is that no one actually knows what they do. In my experience this is fairly accurate, so I'll take a moment to explain what that means. The duties of dramaturges vary by production and by director, at least in the world of academic theatre. My role in the Top Girls team, however, was to provide a historical perspective. I did a lot of research about the play, about the time and place in which it was set (1980s Britain), and about the playwright, Caryl Churchill. I wrote up a packet for the actresses in order to provide them with a jumping off point for their own historical research. I also attended many rehearsals and answered any questions the actresses or director had, and I wrote a note for the production's program.

With all that under my belt, I came to IC's production of Top Girls on Thursday night with a unique perspective. I had a working knowledge of the process the show had been through to get where it is now, but I was not as directly involved with the final product as the actresses, the director, or the designers had been. I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in the audience to watch a show I had worked on, something that is rare for me, as my usual position in a production involves being backstage. It was a fascinating experience, and I was pleased to discover that my involvement in the production did not stop it from surprising, interesting, or moving me.

I was reminded while watching Top Girls that it is a particularly challenging show, both to perform and to attend. One of the reasons I admire Caryl Churchill is that in a world that frequently asks us merely to watch and enjoy a play, she defies the norm and expects a lot from her audiences. Churchill expects playgoers to be pay careful attention, she expects them to be thoughtful, and most importantly in Top Girls, she expects them to be patient. Following the trend of the many audience members who walked out on the 2008 Broadway revival of Top Girls, the 15 audience members who left during IC's intermission Thursday night did not live up to her expectations.

I understand audience members’ reluctance to sit through Act Two. The show is long - about two and a half hours - and it ran even longer Thursday night due to minor technical difficulties backstage. Much of this production's length is due, I think, to the first scene. Churchill is famous for the technique of overlapping dialogue she established in scene one, which is notoriously difficult to stage and to understand because of that overlapping dialogue. Director Norman Johnson makes an admirable effort (and I think he succeeds) at slowing down the dialogue and making the first scene understandable despite that, but it does make for a long scene. The rest of the first act doesn't help impatient audience members, either. I imagine it is confusing for anyone who doesn't know the show, as it jumps between time periods and switches tacks in the blink of an eye. Wandering around at intermission, I saw a lot of bemused faces. Those audience members who stayed, through, were rewarded by the second act, as I'm sure Churchill intended them to be.

In my biased opinion, IC has put on a wonderful production. I hope that you all take the time to go to one of the remaining performances. I hope that when you go, you stay for both acts. Top Girls may not be what you expect it to be. It will be challenging to watch, and occasionally, it will be challenging to understand. You may love it, or you may not like it all. But this dramaturge promises you that Top Girls will make you think.