Stage fighting turns combat into art form

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Some people grow up fighting. Whether it’s for sport or just being the smallest kid on the block, some people are born swinging and never stop.

John Lennox, a theater instructor at Lansing Community College, was an admitted scrapper growing up, and the first time his high school theater director asked him to throw a punch on stage, he realized he knew just as much about fighting on stage as he did offstage.

Lennox took what most people consider a behavioral problem and parlayed it into a career.

Lennox started Art of Combat in 1999 after he and some of his students presented a stage fighting work shop at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Art of Combat has since expanded into an international company with fight directors working in major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Australia and Edinburgh, Scotland.

Lennox teaches stage combat classes through LCC’s theater department and has directed fights in productions at universities and theaters across the state. He’s also worked fights in films. Kyle Rowling, head of the Art of Combat affiliate in Sydney, worked on “Troy” and “Wanted.” In 10 years, Lennox has watched his fledgling company become a force within the stage combat community, he said.

“We’re brought in to create a story with our fights,” he said.

Andy Callis, lead faculty for theater at LCC, has brought Lennox in to coordinate fights in many shows that he has directed, including “Hamlet” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” Callis said Lennox brings a realism and believability to the stage combat he choreographs that Callis wouldn’t be capable of creating himself.

“Shakespeare once said, ‘when words fail, violence prevails,’ Callis said. “In a way, it’s sometimes the final outcome of a very high stakes conflict.”

Lennox uses that philosophy to govern his choreography when working a scene.

“A fight is nothing more than the point where (the characters) have lost all words,” Lennox said.

Nathan Wagner, an LCC film sophomore, got involved with Art of Combat after taking a stage combat class at LCC. Wagner said the emphasis on understanding stage combat theory as opposed to just learning choreographed moves got him interested in pursuing stage combat with Art of Combat.

He also said the company’s understanding of theories that govern combat helps keep both the actors safe and the audience convinced what they’re seeing is real.

“We understand body mechanics,” Wagner said. “When you understand why certain parts of the body are strong or weak, you know what to do if something goes wrong.”

In addition to creating an elegant fight scene, Lennox enjoys the sense of accomplishment he feels when his work helps an actor navigate through a fight without injury. As the fight services the story, Lennox feels he works with actors and directors to tell a physical story in the safest way possible.

“The possibility that they come out of this massive sword fight without a scratch makes me love my job,” he said.

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