David Manis and January LaVoy in Measure for Measure, 2007. Photo by Andrew Murad.

Director's Notes

Society's views on morality, chastity and sexuality alter with the times.  In Measure for Measure, there is a strong and enduring theme endorsing responsibility to action, freedom of choice, and knowledge of the world, measured by experience and understanding in lieu of lonely theory and cold philosophy.  Shakespeare sends us and his characters on a journey.  Hopefully, we arrive at a new place or a familiar place made new by our perception.  I believe this “new place” will reveal to us an overwhelming sense of Shakespeare's humanism.  There, justice is tempered by mercy and forgiveness.  There, we find a balance of good and evil, masculine and feminine.  There, seeming inconsistencies lead to truth. 

  I was intrigued by and fell in love with this play years ago.  Then my father passed away.  He loved westerns, both reading the books and watching the movies.  I had a dream.  It was a western version of Measure for Measure.  I was reminded of the dream when I saw an episode of Deadwood, the television series.  Having had a previous experience with directing Measure for Measure, I was aware of the considerations in shifting the setting of the play.  There is evidence in the text of a terrible war having been waged.  Rulers (in the play called “Dukes” or “governor[s]”) of smaller jurisdictions are meeting to negotiate their power and authorities in the face of a divisive, larger force.  I arrived at the decision to set the play in a period of American history following the Civil War, circa the 1870s.  The terrible bloodshed of the Civil War infused the old and new American landscape.  Hostilities still existed, peace was tentative, and the American Expansion had begun.  There was a permissiveness in the pursuit of liberty and fortune that led to the idea of a “wild west.”  Inflated reports of the West traveled worldwide, romanticizing the myth that was evolving.  My research took me to the territory of New Mexico where a vast emigration was occurring, in part, as a result of the events of the Civil War – former slaves were seeking sanctuary and hope for a new future, as were Union and Confederate soldiers now thrust together.  One fact which struck me was the influx of the Germans and Austrians, particularly Jews, to Santa Fe , who would prove to be very influential in the tremendous economic prosperity of the region.  The sway of the Catholic Church in the area was also powerful, and I began to see the friars and nuns of our play in this world.  Most towns at this time boasted a plethora of brothels and saloons and suddenly Mistress Overdone and Pompey were filling my dream.  The girls that worked in these establishments were referred to as “soiled doves” or “frail sisters” – harken to the latter two words as you listen to our play.  There are many more specific analogies that I discovered in my research, but they are too numerous to mention here. They all encouraged me in my vision that was developing along the Santa Fe Trail . 

  Then in Geoffrey Ward's book, “The West,” I was intrigued with an essay by the historian Richard White.  He suggests history is often written to justify the present, disguising the shame and guilt that were evidenced by the real facts and events.  Can we not look at history with a critical eye and openness in order to understand the choices that were available and shape a kinder future for ourselves?  Measure for Measure is often a terribly maligned and misunderstood play.  When you actually listen to the text, assumptions that have been made about the characters and the story are challenged.  For instance, to appreciate the Duke's actions, we need to investigate his choices and imagine the consequences of his making other decisions – decisions that other characters, we, and the world might want him to make.  I know this may seem ambiguous, so I encourage you to scrutinize our play carefully.  Ambiguity is not necessarily a negative, but an incentive to further questioning and to wiser action. 

  As to the myth of the Wild West that my father loved, history, better considered, reveals a terrible assault on the environment and horrific genocide of Native Americans and Mexicans.  Barbarous acts forged the American Expansion.  Justice was measured out violently, with the notion of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 

  In Europe however, the territory of New Mexico was known as the Land of Enchantment .

  I invite you to enter into our dream.  The characters in our story encounter challenging events that I know will resonate with our present world. 

  Possibly the society in Measure for Measure, will attain some hope of harmony and balance – even as they are faced with thousands of beast-drawn wagons rattling toward them. 

“Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.”  – Hamlet, IV.v

– Jack Wetherall

“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ... Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” – Romans, 9:15-18

‘Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.' – Matthew, 7.1-2

Sonnet 129

Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame

Is lust in action; and, till action, lust

Is perjured, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,

Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,

Enjoyed no sooner but despisèd straight,

Past reason hunted, and no sooner had

Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait

On purpose laid to make the taker mad;

Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;

Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;

A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;

Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.

All this the world well knows; yet none knows well

To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

– William Shakespeare