Carthage and Webb City’s Chautauqua came to an end Monday afternoon as Hank Fincken held a workshop on “Becoming Thomas Edison” at the Webb City Historical Society Clubhouse.
Fincken’s workshop featured his step-by-step process for bringing his characters to life, theater games that taught the students how to be comfortable on stage, and the students learned how to give audience clues about the character they are playing.
Fincken, who has toured the U.S. for 20 years performing his six original one-man plays in schools, parks, libraries, festivals and universities, said in his experience playing characters and writing a play about someone from history is almost like a marriage.
“He and I are going to be together a lot, so there must be some core reason for me to really care about this person,” he said. “The complexity of the character usually interests me more than the person’s achievements.
“Controversy and obstacles overcome always fascinate me too. The ‘why’ is as important as the ‘how’. Additionally, I have to think that school textbooks ignore the details that make history come alive for students.”
Fincken, whose characters include Johnny Appleseed, Christopher Columbus, Henry Ford, J.P. Bruff and Edison, said he always begins his research by reading children’s books.
“They give me certain insights into the popular or public image of the character,” he said. “Also, they cut out the superfluous. I learn how our contemporary values interpret the man’s achievements and about the mythology that now passes as history.”
After researching in children’s books, he said he then turns to the Internet, the library and museums, reading anything he can get his hands on paying particular attention to details.
“I like to travel places where my character lived or worked to try to get a feel for his time and place,” he said. “I use primary sources when I can, but I rely even more on the historian/specialist.”
As for writing his performance scripts, Fincken said he tries to be true to the historical person himself, he tries to cover the issues that fascinate historians, and he tries to pretend his audience is mature and sophisticated because he said children’s theater is often condescending.
“When you try to write at a student’s level, you satisfy neither yourself nor the student,” he said. “You have to demand as much from the audience as it demands of the performer.”
Fincken said he writes at least three different scripts before sharing it with anyone.
“Quality readers are hard to find,” he said. “They must read with great care, while being both critical and encouraging.
“Through the years, I have been fortunate to find a teacher, a poet, a fiction writer, an editor and a dramatist to read my materials. This way, each one sees the script from a different perspective.”
Fincken said when he gets their feedback he rewrites the script again using their suggestions.
“The playwright must evaluate the suggestions just as the readers evaluated the play,” he said. “The goal is to make sure the ideas are accessible and the language explodes off the page.”
Fincken then closed his lesson and the door on Chautauqua talking about the rehearsal process and answering questions as Edison and the group viewed slides of Edison’s most popular inventions and his family.
