Current Perspectives

I am so pleased that I was able to see this production of Stunning by David Adjmi at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. The play was Stunning, ultimately disturbing, not only because of the work itself but because of the fact that this is such a personal story for the playwright. I don’t know how much for the story are based off of actual events but the culture of the Syrian-Jewish immigrants is very real. I thought it was a great story, a tough story but I thought it was great. 

In all honesty, I couldn’t talk about the play right after I saw it and still am not even all together what I liked or what I thought was missing, if anything, or how to describe what I liked about it other than the compelling storyline and the growth of the characters within the play. So much happened.

The play for me was like an outsiders view of a very culturally segregated immigrant group that remains so homogeneous because of its strict guidelines of conduct in regards to interpersonal relationships.

I think the story was an extreme yet truthful example of people coping within the structure of their culture. The basic ideas of marry one of your own and have a lot of kids really quickly is not uncommon among many other cultural groups. The purpose is to perpetuate the culture without changing it.

Coming from Southern Utah, this concept isn’t lost on me. The predominant culture is that of the LDS church. When most people that I know get married between the ages of 17 and 21 and within a year generally begin a family. It is also strongly suggested that their spouses be members of the church or convert and that their children be raised as members of the church as well. Also, the community is pretty small where I live and during high school I was able to see many people who wanted to challenge their upbringing but really couldn’t because of the amount of pressure put on them to be a certain way.

It is my understanding that most western religions all share these same thoughts. What is more specific to Stunning is that the people in the story are also immigrants which might understandably create an even greater need to remain a strong collective.

The stakes in this play were very high which really intensified my investment as an audience member. While I might have an understanding of the characters needing to comply with their families wishes I could never imagine how difficult it would be to even dare to be different in such a situation.

As for the production itself I liked the idea of the set and for the most part found it very effective. Although, the thing with mirrors is that they reflect. duh. but I could see the opposite side of the audience at times as well as lighting instruments that probably werent’ meant to be seen, so that was a bit distracting. I really liked the music choices and how the sound was used during transitions.

The thing I liked the best was seeing Lily’s character change from the beginning of the show to the end. She went through so many transformations and I think her journey was captured nicely with her having “ no life experience” as a naive seventeen year old in the beginning to when she says at the end “now I have life experience” as a very different person.

 I am just really glad I got to see the show.

I sit down to blog almost every other day. It seems that my computer has a constant “write” window up; yet my blogs seem few and far between.

Right now I have four different drafts, full of unfinished thoughts or random ideas for possible blogs.

I relate blogging to writing in a journal which makes a lot of sense, however, I am notoriously bad about keeping a journal. When I do sit down to write the first things that come to my mind are always the immediate. “I am cold” or “Today seemed like Saturday” or “I think I slept wrong because my neck hurts”. These immediate thoughts seem to keep me from being able to move on and write about something of more importance.

Now, I could write about these immediate thoughts, I could spend a whole blog talking about being cold but not wanting to turn on the heat because of the obvious financial and environmental consequences that would result but I don’t feel this would be a very enlightening blog for anyone else who might read it. I also don’t particularly care to spend any energy or time writing about my struggle with the cold in my apartment. I should just put on some more layers and move on. duh.

It is possible that I need to simply write the stupid immediate thoughts first before I can really write about anything that I actually would like to write about like articles that I’ve read recently or interesting things I have seen.

I recently watched Michael Moore’s “Sicko”. Why are we, the wealthiest country in the world the only country in the western hemisphere to still not have a universal health care system? The movie was presented in a very ”Michael Moore” way. Although, I wish he had included examples of people in France who cannot afford the incredible amount of taxes they have to pay there. The family from France he chose to use as an example were living in a beautiful three story house and seemed to be quite comfortable even with the amount of taxes that they are paying.  After living there for a time I came to know many more families who, while able to live, commented about how high the taxes really are and how it is sometimes difficult to pay so much. These people were not living in three story houses. 

Regardless, there are inherent flaws in every system but I would much rather be in a system where people can get care that they need and deserve. After all, this “all men were created equal”, I feel this phrase is a major part of our American ideology and right now, the “equality” part seems to be missing.

I might start more blogs with my silly and unimportant immediate thoughts, this way maybe I can write about things that I actually care to talk about.

 Here’s to next time.

It is amazing what people keep in their pockets.

March 7

Today I watched a man empty out the contents of his pockets. He was wearing an old army issue green fishing vest that was frayed at the edges and clearly well loved. This man who was older and seemed slightly arthritic started at the top right pocket an pulled out a stack of coffee cup sleeves, he must of had eight or nine of them. He proceeded to pull our chapstick, and three twenty dollar bills. He then moved across to the left side of his vest and pulled out a laminated card, a metal money clip with no money in it, some other cards and pieces of paper and another wad of bills. All of these items ended up in a pile on the table he was sitting at, not placed but tossed down spreading out in front of him.

Back to the right side, he continued pulling out items; a lighter (no cigarettes), two pens, empty gum wrappers, a small wooden figurine, and in each pocket a wad of bills crumpled and disorderly that landed apathetically on the ever growing pile in front of him.

I watched until everything was laid out on the table and then he pushed the pile together seemingly with little interest and then carefully stacked the coffee cup sleeves in a separate place on the table.

 It was fascinating to watch such a simple act, the very basic, human, personal organization of this man who I didn’t know.

It was like learning about someone from the items they carry on their person and how they treat those items. He slowly organized the money in no particular order and not even like he cared about it, then picked up the wooden figure. He took a moment to look at it and then seemed to plan which pocket to put it back in. He chose the bottom left pocket and after placing it there he patted it.

I wondered where the figure was from or who had made it, however he came to have it, that item had much more importance than almost anything else from his pockets….except the coffee cup sleeves.

Watching this man was like learning about him. Thinking about what people have in their pockets, whether it is a lot of stuff or just a few things and seeing how those people interact with those items is endlessly fascinating. 

In all of my interviews I asked “In your opinion, what is the most important skill a director can have” while the interviews I had were incredibly varied in content, this answer was the same each time. Insight. Insight into everything, but insight into what it is to be human. I think taking a moment to watch someone work with their belongings in such a quiet and contemplative way can give someone an interesting insight into a small part of being human.

The title of this blog is a quote from William Shakespeare from “The Life of Timon of Athens”. New York is one of my favorite cities because of the people that are here, I people watch.

 New York has a rhythm to it that is unlike any other city that I’ve ever been to, while San Francisco or L.A. or even international cities like Paris have distinctions that make them all special none are like New York.

No matter how many people are here it seems like there is always room for more.

I have begun documenting and writing about being here, how the city feels, how the city moves. How people are, depending on what side of Manhattan they live or work on, how people are if they live in the outer burroughs.

New York is a fascinating place and I am glad to be here again. I am off now to begin Day 2 and with Day 1 having been such a success I can hardly wait to see what happens today.

Maybe, passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action that puts as much heart, mind, body, and soul into something as is possible.

I am currently adding more people to my list of possible interviewees. After working the summer before last under Steven Cosson the artistic director of The Civilians theatre it would be great to be able to meet him again in an interview rather than as an assistant of sorts. I am interested in asking questions like”what path did you take to become a director?” “How is this business as a career?” “How can a young person learn how to be a director?” however, I am also very interested in creating my project on the development of a personal aesthetic. I want to find out things like “how do you go about choosing and analyzing a play, what draws you to a particular performance, how have you generated your own vision for the art that you do?”

I believe that half of directing is practice. It takes practice to develop a process by which you can communicate your ideas to others for what is hopefully a valid and important artistic endeavor for you and everyone involved including your audience. 

Other people would love to meet/interview include Julie Taymor, not only an incredible director with an extremely well defined artistic style but she is a woman. In directing, there are definitely fewer women than men. I would love to meet with Jack O’Brian who won a Tony for best direction of The Coast of Utopia. Another Tony winning director is Michael Mayer for his work on Spring Awakening.

It would also be nice to meet with Professors of directing, for example Elinor Renfield is the chair of the directing department for The New School for Drama she along with the other faculty members who specialize in direction could be great resources for me.

I think that meeting with playwrights as well could be of use when trying to answer the question of developing a personal aesthetic or how to read the text as a director and what in certain pieces is appealing from the perspective of a director.

I am still refining and developing more of these questions. I am really excited about this project as daunting as it is seeming right now because of Far Away taking up so much of my time lately. It will be over soon and I will be able to work more with making these contacts.

The title of this post is due to the fact that I am literally in between two rehearsals of Far Away as well as in between or torn between a few ideas on what my focus for this Ideas in Performance class should be. I know I want to do something with Directing because I don’t know as much about how directing works as an actual career or how to build your resume as a young, new person, who is a woman. Which is something that has never ever crossed my mind. I didn’t ever think that being female would have an effect on directing as a career option. I had never really given it any thought.

So, I definitely have an interest in answering the “directing question” as undefined as that is. Although, I do really love acting, so very much. It is even hard to put into words how much I love it, I actually don’t and never really have talked ever about how….important this craft is to me, or what it means to me, or how much I desire to be able to pursue it in a large capacity. I am always the last to check cast lists/I never talk about whether I am actually going to audition for something. I always sort of say something like, “I am thinking about it” or “I don’t know, maybe? possibly?” or “no” even though I don’t know that I would ever willingly give up an opportunity to audition. For no other reason but I like auditioning. Obviously the goal is to be cast, but auditioning to me is another chance to perform, even if its only for 30 seconds, you get to live that part for 30 seconds.

Wow, it even makes me nervous talking about this on a blog. How I feel about acting is really private for me.

So, I can’t write about that anymore but I will say that the other things that I am passionate about, like that I would consider a career in right now are 1. Travelling in (almost) any capacity and 2. Photography (but not weddings, familys, or babies)

I think that whatever career path I choose I can still travel/photograph stuff/act in some capacity/ and skills that directors use come in handy in all sorts of areas. I don’t think I have to choose only one thing to have an interest in ( I also really like about a million other things and am finding new stuff to like all the time) ( did I mention I am seriously taking up juggling? ;)) The point of choosing something for a career though is picking what you want to spend the majority of your time doing.  I obviously have time to think about this, which is good.

For the sake of Ideas in Performance I think it would be wisest to deal with directing and I can possibly incorporate some of the other things into questions that I ask or how I put together my project or how I conduct my research.  So, this blog has helped me (albeit in a round about way) figure out that I will focus on something to do with directing for the focus of my project.

Pangea was the supercontinent that existed about 250 Million years ago before it broke apart to form the continents that we know today.  Something that I was thinking about as I finished Geography today and something that we have been talking about lately is how much the world (”the world” according to our western perception) is changing mostly with the internet. All of this new communication that we are able to access, so instant, so immense, has shrunk our world a lot. A book by Thomas Freedman called The World is Flat basically explains how much technology has effectively changed us.

There were a lot of articles recently about things that have become more or less obsolete with our technological evolvment vinyl records and VHS tapes for examples. It is strange to wonder how much the world will change in the next decade and how we will think then. I wonder becasue people in general used to be much more aural. We listened to music differently, radio programs, theatre, there was no television. Once we got tv and film we became much more visual. It is fascinating.

Through communication we have gone back to a sort of virtual Pangea. We are all closer together with Facebook, Myspace, these blogs than ever. Pangea at our fingertips.

I was reading something one of my friends from home had written. She played French Horn with me and is now a music teacher in northern Utah. She said in her writing that she thought music was the most expressive art form. The most expressive. I don’t disagree that music in particular can be extremely expressive and emotive however, this made me think about all the other art that we do. I am someone who does or has done and extensive amount of theatre, music (vocal and instrumental), photography, dance, painting, and pottery. I am not much of a poet but I have dabbled, there are other smaller things that I won’t put on this list but I feel like I have experienced a few different kinds of art, enough that I can contribute to what the ”most expressive” art form is.

I honestly don’t think that any art lacks expression. There is something in the reason for an art existing that I believe, is innately expressive. However I do think that there is a difference between visual art and performing art. Part of this course, Ideas in Performance has to do with the question of performance. When comparing two things like a scene from a play and a painting it is easy to say they are both artistic and that both can have an effect on the viewer. I think that the difference is you will never get to see that very same piece of theatre or scene ever again. Performance art, musical performances included, are ephemeral. While the painting or sculpture can be seen again and again that one performance can’t. As an artist in performance it could be thought that you only have this one opportunity to effect this specific audience in whatever why you intend to. Yes, there will be another audience but it won’t be the same one, ever.

It is an interesting thing to think about. Also becasue from looking at a photograph one day and then looking at it weeks later or years later it could effect a person differently. Interesting. This is something that can possibly explored more in the class.

“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” 

~Amy Lowell 

In my searching today for interesting things and inspiration to begin developing this 2 minute “Where am I” digital story I happened upon this great site call culturevulture. Currently there is a really interesting article on a one man show by Danny Hoch called Taking Overat the Berkeley Rep theatre. A theatre that I visited a bit while I lived there. It looks like a good show that is actually about the gentrification of the Williamsburg section of Brookly N.Y. To me it sounds similar to Bridge & Tunnel which is a one woman show written and performed by Sarah Jones that closed last August in NY. Both of these shows are performed by people who play multiple people whose stories all come together.

Bridge &Tunnel was amazing. I was most impressed with how believable all of the characters that his one woman played from a young Korean man who performs poetry to an older woman who is a Polish-German-Lithuanian-American Jew. The performance was incredible to me, not just her performance and exceptional skill but the way it was written was fantastic I thought it said a lot about our American culture.

I would be interested to see Danny Hoch’s show in Berkeley. These shows are very interesting because it is one person having perspective for 8 or so other people who are all of different background than the actor. It is really very intersting.

I would love to create a one woman show for myself sometime and try to get it produced. It would be an experience. My digital story actually is like a one woman show about myself…..hmmmm, some inspiration? I think so!

Ok, I like that, I will spend some more time thinking about that. I really can’t wait to get back to the city. I love/miss Manhattan a lot. It is a great place to be, different from anywhere else. It is something I think that you can feel once you’ve been there for a while not as a tourist. It will feel good to be back.