At a school like Tufts, "Self-Evident" is a dream come true. Not only does Bare Bodkin's new play resonate on a political level, but it is also student-run and student-written. "Self-Evident" is the brainchild of senior Doug Foote, who originally wrote it as his senior project for his communications and media studies minor.
Foote used his own experiences studying abroad in Prague, along with his political science background, to write the story of Jake Silver, a young American living in Prague for two years until circumstances call him back to the States. His brother is a politician running for Senate whose career takes an unexpected turn, forcing Jake to reevaluate the state of both his personal life and the life of the country.
"It's about multiple people trying to deal with American politics, the American dream and problems with those ideas," said senior Elizabeth Harelik, a member of the show's cast.
Foote decided to write the play while taking a playwriting class this past fall. "That class was a really positive experience, and I knew I wanted to continue with it after fall semester," Foote said. "I'd done a little screenwriting, but this was the first time I really dove into it."
Once Foote had pieces of the play done, he brought his idea to Bare Bodkin, which specializes in producing student-written plays. "He came to us with big chunks of a first draft," Harelik said. "I remember reading it and being really excited." Junior Jenny Gerson, who is directing the play, agreed. "It was very well-written and relevant," she said. "Thankfully we had the resources to put in on when it came up."
Once Bare Bodkin decided to fully stage "Self-Evident," Foote and Gerson got together to discuss how they imagined the play might look. "Doug and I met and talked, and we shared a similar vision," Gerson said.
From there, Foote turned over the reins, but it wasn't easy to leave his work in someone else's hands. "It's very important to have the self-control to stay away," he said. "At least for the first part of the rehearsals. Then you can make notes, and the director can choose to accept them or not to."
Foote said that although letting his play go was a challenge, it taught him a lot. "You can look at it from two sides," he said. "Handing your play off is always hard, especially when you imagine things differently from someone else. But miraculous things can happen when they see something in the script that you didn't."
The experience was equally gratifying for Gerson. "The play is his words and my vision," she said. "It was a different process but just as rewarding. It was great to be able to consult him - imagine putting on an Arthur Miller play and being able to just call up Arthur Miller."
Other members of the cast were equally enthusiastic. "I'm mainly just very excited to see [Doug's] script get staged," said senior Margaux Birdsall, who plays the ghost of Alexis de Tocqueville. "I want it to go well for his sake as well as the play's."
Birdsall noted that the depth and relevance of Foote's play made it easy for everyone to get excited about it. "It deals with a big issue with young American voters of this time: disillusionment," she said. "It's the idea that the personas behind politics shape policy. And you see in the play that an environment of hatred leads to killing, and an environment of hope creates change."
Above all, the play examines how principles that seem obvious can slip through the cracks when the grittier parts of life and politics get in the way. "Lincoln recognized that something could scream at you ... and still be ignored," one of the characters says at the end of the show.
The play represents a shared effort by writer, cast and crew to bring those principles under the microscope for an audience. And given today's political climate, this message should make it self-evident that this is a play worth seeing.
