The World Around Us Winter 2013 | Page 8

"Q&A With Walter Wangerin Junior"

Mahala Bonne

On Halloween night, A.U. alumni returned to Anderson University and performed the Operetta “Elizabeth and the Water Troll,” based off of the children’s book by the same name, in York Hall. It received a standing ovation. I was one of those who stood and clapped as loudly as I could.

From roughly 4:00- 5:00 p.m. that same day, I had been sitting closer to the stage and listening with music students scattered over the first few rows to Walter Wangerin Jr. speak. It was he who had adapted his children’s book “Elizabeth and the Water Troll,” for the stage himself. He was there to answer our questions. He spoke to us about his and the artistic writing process in general, working with other artists, the success of other artists he had worked with to create the Operetta, and his family.

While the woman in charge of the event had brought two chairs up onto the stage for him and herself to sit in, he rose from his fairly early into the Q&A. He spent the rest of his time on the stage either standing on or striding up and down it. He sometimes stood still with a scrunched up face, lined with wisdom, as he thought over his answers before speaking them. His answers were often stories from his lifetime of experience. He talked about when he wrote his first book, a fantasy novel that was published in 1978, which won a book award. He then spoke of how he had written all kinds of genres and recently finished a novel that would close a trilogy. He has also written screenplays and children stories for the stage, like the one that would be performed that night.

He went on for about five minutes at a time, about artists he had worked with. He not only referred to these fellow, successful artists by their first names, but by nicknames. He told us about how “Randy” was currently achieving great success in his own career, even though he had had a few dry years. Randy had written the melodies for his Operetta. They had met in New Harmony, Indiana. There they and others had started a project of reading scripts sent to them and almost producing them, over the course of two weeks. They did this by gathering directors, actors, and musicians to perform them. Students also came and did background work for them. By trying it out at Harmony they had learned how what they were doing was working or not. They would tinker with their own and others work, collaborate, and see how what they had created looked and sounded on a stage, before they tinkered with it some more.

The woman on stage with him had been there, as a singer. She helped him remember certain details when he asked her to. Some actors would be performing three different roles over a span of a few different plays. The person in head of the town had graciously given them permission to have this event in the community of New Harmony. To save money they had slept in a barn. The event still takes place there. You can go online and find out about New Harmony.

Mr. Wangerin reiterated that music and theater are always a collaborative process and told the students it was important to learn how to work with others, now. He said writing was not such a collaborative process. He said it was Randy, Mark, and he who had turned his book into a play and explained that “Elizabeth and the Water Troll” was now an Operetta. An Operetta means that every line of the show is sung. He told his audience that talents are puzzle pieces that come together in the collaborative process. He said his shows often start out being performed at universities like Anderson University and then can move on to children’s theaters. He said “this country is filled with children’s theaters.”

A student asked him if the idea for the story “Elizabeth and the Water Troll” had come from a personal loss. After considering for a few moments he said “no, not originally.” He continued to say the original idea for the story had started with him relating to the misunderstood troll. He had related to the troll, because he had felt ugly as a child.