Bolaño’s ‘2666’ Coming to the Stage, Thanks to a Powerball Jackpot
彩票頭獎(jiǎng)得主資助《2666》搬上舞臺(tái)
An actor and stage manager turned Episcopal monk who pledged last year to give away much of his $153 million Powerball jackpot to support the performing arts has made his first grant — to a theatrical production as improbable as his own story.
去年,一位演員、舞臺(tái)監(jiān)督出身的圣公會(huì)修道士承諾,他將捐出自己的1.53億美元強(qiáng)力球彩票(Powerball)頭獎(jiǎng)的大部分,用以支持表演藝術(shù)。如今,他已將第一筆捐款授予一部舞臺(tái)劇,這部舞臺(tái)劇和他自己的故事一樣不可思議。
The Goodman Theater in Chicago announced last week that its 2015-16 season would include a five-hour adaptation of Roberto Bolaño’s 900-page novel, “2666,” underwritten by a grant from the Roy Cockrum Foundation. The foundation was established to support projects at nonprofit theaters that “reach beyond their normal scope of activities and undertake ambitious and creative productions.”
上周,芝加哥的古德曼劇院(Goodman Theater)宣布,它的2015至2016演出季將包括一部五小時(shí)長(zhǎng)的劇目,該劇改編自羅貝托•波拉尼奧(Roberto Bolaño)長(zhǎng)達(dá)900頁(yè)的小說(shuō)《2666》,由羅伊·科克勒姆基金會(huì)(Roy Cockrum Foundation)資助。該基金會(huì)的宗旨是支持非營(yíng)利劇院“創(chuàng)作超過(guò)正常規(guī)模的有雄心和創(chuàng)意的項(xiàng)目”。
“2666,” directed by Robert Falls, the Goodman’s artistic director, and Seth Bockley, its playwright-in-residence, will be supported entirely by the foundation’s grant, which the theater characterized as “in the high six or low seven figures.”
《2666》由古德曼劇院的藝術(shù)總監(jiān)羅伯特·福爾斯(Robert Falls)和常駐劇作家塞思·波克利(Seth Bockley)導(dǎo)演,將完全由羅伊·科克勒姆基金會(huì)資助。古德曼劇院稱,資助金額“在一百萬(wàn)美元左右”。
Mr. Falls, whose acclaimed production of “The Iceman Cometh” closes this weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, called the gift, which the theater had not solicited, “extraordinary.”
本周末,福爾斯備受贊揚(yáng)的排演劇目《送冰的人來(lái)了》(The Iceman Cometh)在布魯克林音樂(lè)學(xué)院(Brooklyn Academy of Music)閉幕。他說(shuō)這是一份“非凡的”禮物。這項(xiàng)資助不是該劇院主動(dòng)申請(qǐng)的。
“I’ve never in my life had a foundation or corporation or individual come to us and say their desire was to give money towards work on that scale,” he said. “It’s truly unprecedented.”Mr. Cockrum, 58, has emerged as one of the more unusual donors in American theater. He studied acting at Northwestern University in Chicago and worked as an actor and stage manager for television and theater in various cities before entering the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Mass., an Episcopal monastery where he took vows of poverty, in 2003.
“我一生中從未遇到過(guò)一個(gè)基金會(huì)、公司或個(gè)人來(lái)找我們,說(shuō)他們的愿望就是資助這么大規(guī)模的作品,”他說(shuō),“它真的是史無(wú)前例。”58歲的科克勒姆成為美國(guó)最不同尋常的劇院捐贈(zèng)人之一。他曾在芝加哥的西北大學(xué)(Northwestern University)學(xué)習(xí)表演,并在多個(gè)城市擔(dān)任過(guò)電視和劇院的演員和舞臺(tái)監(jiān)督。2003年,他加入馬薩諸塞州劍橋市的圣約翰福音傳道會(huì) (Society of St. John),在那里他發(fā)誓守貧。
Until now, Mr. Cockrum who moved to Knoxville, Tenn., in 2009 to take care of his aging parents, had made virtually no public comment about his giving plans.
2009年,科克勒姆搬到田納西州諾克斯維爾市照顧年邁的父母。直到現(xiàn)在,他沒(méi)有就捐贈(zèng)計(jì)劃發(fā)表過(guò)任何公開(kāi)評(píng)論。
But in an interview on Friday, he traced the impulse behind the gift to a trip several years ago to London, where he saw Nicholas Hytner’s lavish adaptation of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” at the Olivier Theater.
不過(guò),在周五的采訪中,他說(shuō)這次捐贈(zèng)起因于幾年前的一次倫敦之行,他在那里的奧利維爾劇院(Olivier Theater)觀看了尼古拉斯·海特勒(Nicholas Hytner)的精彩改編劇目《黑暗物質(zhì)》(His Dark Materials),原著作者是菲利普·普爾曼(Philip Pullman)。
“There was a huge cast, a score from start to finish, special effects every five minutes and a very enthusiastic young audience on the edge of their seats,” Mr. Cockrum said.
“演員陣容十分龐大,從頭到尾都有配樂(lè),每隔五分鐘就有一次特效,觀眾都很年輕,特別熱情興奮,”科克勒姆說(shuō)。
But after the curtain fell, he felt “rather sad.”
但是大幕拉上后,他感到“非常悲哀”。
“I knew that the lack of government support made such productions all but impossible in the United States,” he said. “I made a mental note that if I ever got some dough, I would try to do what I could to support nonprofit theaters being able to do that level of production.”
“我知道,由于缺乏政府支持,美國(guó)幾乎不可能有這樣的演出,”他說(shuō),“當(dāng)時(shí)我心想,但凡有些錢,我一定會(huì)盡力支持非營(yíng)利劇院排演這種水平的劇目。”
Then came the “liquidity event” last summer, as he put it. Mr. Cockrum established the foundation and installed Benita Hofstetter Koman, an experienced arts administrator he knew from their days together at the Actors Theater of Louisville, as the executive director.
去年夏天,科克勒姆有了“流動(dòng)資金”(科克勒姆的原話),所以設(shè)立了基金會(huì),安排貝妮塔·霍夫施泰特爾·科曼(Benita Hofstetter Koman)擔(dān)任執(zhí)行理事??坡且晃唤?jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的藝術(shù)管理人,他們?cè)诼芬姿咕S爾演員劇院(Actors Theater of Louisville)共事過(guò)。
Mr. Cockrum, who has also made a personal gift of $1 million to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, declined to give the size of the foundation endowment. Applications can be made by invitation only, and are reviewed by him and Ms. Hofstetter Koman.
科克勒姆還向田納西醫(yī)學(xué)中心大學(xué)(University of Tennessee Medical Center)私人捐贈(zèng)了100萬(wàn)美元。他拒絕透露該基金會(huì)的捐贈(zèng)規(guī)模。只有受邀后才能申請(qǐng),由科克勒姆和霍夫施泰特爾·科曼審核。
Starting last fall, he and Ms. Hofstetter Koman visited a number of nonprofit theaters, which he declined to name. At the Goodman, they saw two plays and heard about Mr. Falls’s long-brewing plans for Mr. Bolaño’s novel.
從去年秋天起,他和霍夫施泰特爾·科曼參觀了幾家非營(yíng)利劇院,他拒絕透露這些劇院的名字。他們?cè)诠诺侣鼊≡嚎吹絻蓚€(gè)劇本,得知福爾斯醞釀已久的改編博拉尼奧小說(shuō)的計(jì)劃。
“2666,” which became an international publishing sensation after its release in Spanish in 2004 and in English translation in 2008, would not seem like an obvious candidate for the stage. It spans 100 years and features various characters drawn to the fictional Mexican border city of Santa Teresa (loosely based on Ciudad Juarez). Those include three academics trying to track down a reclusive German writer, a widowed philosopher, an amorous police detective and an American journalist reporting on the mysterious murders of hundreds of women.
《2666》的2004年以西班牙語(yǔ)出版后,成為國(guó)際出版界的轟動(dòng)事件,英譯本2008年出版。它似乎不太適合改編成舞臺(tái)劇。小說(shuō)的時(shí)間跨越為 100年,各色人物被吸引到虛構(gòu)的墨西哥邊境城市圣特雷莎(大致以華雷斯市為原型),包括努力尋找隱居德語(yǔ)作家的三位學(xué)者、一位鰥居的哲學(xué)家、一個(gè)多情的警探和一位報(bào)道數(shù)百名女子被神秘謀殺的美國(guó)記者。
Mr. Falls became aware of the novel during a visit in 2006 to Barcelona, Spain, where he was intrigued by promotional posters for the paperback edition featuring hundreds of pink crosses in the Mexican desert. He set about adapting it, eventually collaborating with Mr. Bockley and staging a reading in 2012.
2006年,福爾斯去西班牙巴塞羅那旅行時(shí),注意到了這本小說(shuō),他被平裝本的宣傳海報(bào)迷住了,海報(bào)上是上千個(gè)粉色十字架豎立在墨西哥沙漠上。他開(kāi)始著手改編,最終與波克利合作,2012年舉辦了一個(gè)劇本朗誦會(huì)。
“I had been struggling with it for years as a passion project, not knowing whether it could ever be staged,” Mr. Falls said in an interview. “When Roy told me about the kind of work he wanted to support, I said, ‘Roy, you’re talking to the right guy.’ ”
“我在這個(gè)項(xiàng)目上花了多年時(shí)間,投入了很大的熱情,卻不知道最終能否上演,”福爾斯在采訪中說(shuō),“當(dāng)羅伊告訴我他想支持這種作品時(shí),我說(shuō),‘羅伊,你找對(duì)了人。’”