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October 2007: John Ammerman

Envisioning Theater in Black and White

Emory’s resident theater company, Theater Emory continues its season-long focus on war with "Slapping Bernard," an original work written and directed by Emory Professor John Ammerman, which tells a story of suspicion, disappearance, betrayal, murder, love and compromise during the Nazi occupation of France. Presented in the style of a black and white film noir, “Slapping Bernard” follows the adventures of a Parisian film company that is enlisted by the French Resistance to use its latest motion picture as a signal to initiate the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, second in command of the Nazi SS. This two-act play runs about two hours in length and features both student and professional actors. Performances are in the Mary Gray Munroe Theater, Nov. 8-10 and Nov. 14-17 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. The Nov. 14 performance is the Pay-What-You-Can-Night (subject to availability; only at the door). Tickets ($18; Discount Category $14; Emory students $6) can be purchased online at www.arts.emory.edu or by calling the Arts at Emory box office at 404-727-5050.

John Ammerman, an Associate Professor in Theater Studies at Emory and a Resident Artist of Theater Emory, is a professional actor, director and writer. He has performed over 80 roles in his 28-year performance career. Ammerman has also written and performed solo pantomime works, multi-character works and a one-man play, “ Booth, Brother Booth,” which was presented at the Globe Theatre in London, England. He is an Associate Artist with the Georgia Shakespeare Festival and a member of Actors Equity Association. Ammerman holds an MFA in performance from the University of Georgia and a BS in Drama Education from Central Michigan University . He is also a former student of the French mime artist, Marcel Marceau.

Ammerman on his latest play “Slapping Bernard”

Q: Why did you decide to create this play in the style of a black and white film noir?
A: Three years ago I wrote and directed a play that was in the style of a black and white silent film. Once I started working on that piece I decided that, if I had a chance, I’d like to do a second play in this black and white style but as a dialogue play. I kept throwing around the idea here and there before I finally came to an agreement with Theater Emory to write a play that would be done in the style of black and white film noir. I wanted to experiment with the idea of the audience actually experiencing a three-dimensional black and white story.

Q: Why did you choose 1942 Paris as the setting for this play?
A: WWII has always been a very interesting time period for me. Since most of the footage of the war is in black and white, we as an audience are already accustomed to looking at things from that period in that way. Film noir has many of the same effects as the black and white footage, particularly in the use of shadows and darkness, so that’s when I decided to set the play in 1942 Paris.

Q: How is “Slapping Bernard” different from your first black and white experiment?
A: “Slapping Bernard” is the continuation of an experiment in a slightly different way since I am now using a different style and period from that of the first play, which was set in the time of the 1929 American stock market crash. The first play was in the style of a silent movie. To accommodate the performance on stage there were title cards and a musical score, which was played live like in the movie theaters of that time. The music was present throughout the entire work and changed to reflect the mood of the play. On the other hand, “Slapping Bernard” is more in the tradition of films like “The Third Man” with Orson Wells, with touches of “ Casablanca” and other detective film noir.

Q: Without giving too much away, what can audiences expect from this performance?
A: I think they can expect, first, to see a three-dimensional black and white form of film noir on the stage. Also, this is a story about the French resistance during the Nazi occupation of Paris, so they can expect to see a variety of themes including mystery, murder and how people survived under the brutal regime of the Nazis in occupied Paris. The play really contrasts the comic elements that spring from the action in the Paris film studio along with very serious issues about how people survived under the occupation of that period. The play also deals with moral, political and philosophical issues.

Ammerman’s Research Interests and Future Projects

Q: What are you current research interests? Plans for another project?
A: I used to be a professional mime artist and had my own one-man-show that I toured with about 20 years ago, so I think my next project will be something in the realm of pantomime and the use of mime as a solo performance or with a small group of performers. I think I want to get into some solo performing again by taking some old pieces that I did and expanding them into some longer stories. I’ll be going back into an art form that has really lost its appeal and interest in the United States in a lot of ways. I’m not trying to single-handedly revive pantomime, but I am interested in revisiting this very specific art form and seeing what I can do with it many years later after having been away from it for so long.

Q: Outside of Emory, what other theater projects are you involved in?
A: I just finished directing a play at Theater in the Square called “The Persians.” I’m also directing a production of “Doubt,” [by John Patrick Shanley] which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2005, at the Springer Opera Housein Columbus, GA, in the spring.

Just For Fun

Q: Talk a little bit about studying mime with Marcel Marceau.
A: I had two experiences with Marcel Marceau. First, in 1980, I was admitted into his school in Paris. I went to Paris but had to leave after being there for only a week because of a family emergency, so I lost my chance that time to work with him. Then, in 1984, he started an American school (American Mime Center Marcel Marceau) and I had the good fortune of being in the first class. There I studied for a much shorter period of time than I would have in the Paris school but we had great deal of access to him. For me artistically it was a life changing experience. The school really pushed me into a new level of performance in terms of philosophy and technique. The experience changed me as a performer and has been an influence on me ever since. It was an incredible opportunity and I certainly absorbed as much as I could.

Written by Jessica Moore
Communications Coordinator
Arts at Emory

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