COME GOOD RAIN BY GEORGE SEREMBA DRAMATURGICAL PORTFOLIO
Production History
Premiere
Come Good Rain took playwright George Seremba nine years to write (“George Seremba Come Good Rain”). The play first debuted in Toronto in 1992 at Factory Theatre's Studio Cafe produced by Jim Millan and Crow’s Theatre as a part of the Flying Solo series (Seremba, 2019). Crow’s Theatre specialises in producing new innovative works their mandate stating that “Since 1983, Crow’s Theatre has persevered as a leading force in new play creation in the Canadian theatre landscape”. Crow’s Theatre therefore acted as the perfect starting platform for Seremba’s work to jump off of as it focused on launching a strong, new coming voice in the world of Canadian Theatre.
Premiere Context
During its premiere in 1992, locally, Toronto was experiencing social unrest of racial injustices and took to the streets to protest police brutality in what is now known as The Yonge Street Riot of 1992. Ignited by a video of “four police officers caught on video beating black driver Rodney King, a few hundred Canadians took to Yonge St. in solidarity with King and to protest police brutality here” (Paradkar, 2017). This acted as the contextual and historical background through which the play was first performed, allowing the audience to connect with the play's thematic messages around social, political, and racial injustice with what they were immediately experiencing.
In our context...
Dramaturgically, it is important to consider how the vision for this production of Come Good Rain works in tandem with the artistic mission statement of where it is being produced: since this production is being produced at the Undergraduate Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies (CDTPS) at the University of Toronto, it is important to consider that the primary mission of the institution producing and funding the production is to educate, with the CDTPS describing itself as the “perfect place to experience and to become involved in cutting edge research, innovative pedagogy and artistic practice” (“Welcome to the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies”).
Therefore, this production of Come Good Rain should consider one of its goals to be to educate its audience through innovative artistic practice. It may be helpful for the creative team to engage in educational exercises that will allow them to obtain a stronger contemporary understanding and personal connection throughout the process of rehearsing the play that will aid in enhancing the overall accessibility of the production for its university student target audience: for example, the CDTPS states that they invest in facilities that specialise in performance and technology and it may be helpful for the creative team to make use of these facilities (“Welcome to the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies”).
A Choice Worth Considering
Whilst Come Good Rain takes its primary form in that of a stage play, Seremba has also had the opportunity to develop a radio play adaptation which was aired in May 1993 on CBC Radio’s Vanishing point, as well as another radio adaptation which was aired on BBC World Service in London (Seremba, 2019). These adaptations are important to consider and reference as the creative team explores their current adaptation. Are there other technological mediums that aspects the play would lend itself well to adapt to? Could this be explored through the technological labs that the CDTPS has access to?
Come Good Rain in 2020
Now, in 2020, Come Good Rain has toured its way around the world and has made its way back to Toronto where it began. Just as it was important to understand the local and global political climate of its premiere, it is also important to understand the current social and political climate of its Toronto revival and the deep connections and similarities it shares to the climate of the 1992 premiere.
Further Productions and Awards
Since its debut in Toronto, Come Good Rain has since been performed 160 times by Seremba himself all over the world. Most notable locations include “Canada, the United States, England, Ireland, and Israel”(Bemrose, 1997). Generally, the play has experienced great success everywhere it has been performed: in 1993, the play was officially published by Blizzard Publishing Inc. and Seremba had the opportunity to bring the play back to Toronto for an extended run at Canadian Stag.
In 1994 Seremba won a Dora award for Outstanding New Play (Seremba, 2019). It is important to consider what universal themes have allowed for audiences worldwide to connect to Seremba’s story. While the play itself explores Seremba’s specific autobiographical story it’s exploration of politically induced trauma, trauma of oppression, and the fatal consequences of social oppression are ones that have been experienced to various degrees and explored in many different contexts universally.
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It is important to consider how the historical context of the play’s first premiere compares and impacts this revival: the locals of Toronto are currently living through the social uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement. Much like the response in 1992, the movement in Toronto was largely triggered in response to the killing of George Floyd in the United States, whose death was a result of police brutality.
This sparked protests throughout the summer of 2020 against racism both locally and in solidarity with Floyd. The parallels between the 1992 riot and 2020 protests are important to consider when restaging Come Good Rain in Toronto, as they pose a question about how the themes of the play change and transcend over time, and how it is important that this is an ongoing exploration through every part of the creative time during the conception of the revival.
Important to Remember
It is also important to consider that when the play was first produced in 1992, only 12 years had passed since the occurrence of the play’s events. In 2020, audiences are experiencing the story 40 years later. Not only are audiences more distanced from the horrific actions of Obote and Idi Amin’s regimes, but a new generation of audience members and artists that weren’t alive during 1980s or perhaps even during its first production during the 1990s are experiencing Seremba’s story, and/or adding their artistic impressions and interpretations to the work. It is important to consider the implication of producing a piece of work that deals with content that can now be experienced as a historical rather than contemporary event. How does this change artistic perception?