Thursday, July 20, 2006

Fear of what lies within

For the last 2 weeks we've been workshopping our newest project based on FEAR. You may remember posts from back in March. We're creating this one from scratch instead of doing an adaptation and that's a whole new experience for us. Hence the secrecy!

We have to work on the piece but also discover how to work on the piece. That's been the most challenging thing. What is going to spark the idea, movement, story? Images? Dreams? Situations? We learned that we're far too consensus oriented and had to force ourselves to bite the bullet and go out on limbs. So it's exciting and new and frustrating and hard work.

In the end we found some inspiration in Anne Sexton:
Inside many of us
is a small old man
who wants to get out.
No bigger than a two-year-old
whom you'd call lamb chop
yet this one is old and malformed.
His head is okay
but the rest of him wasn't Sanforized.
He is a monster of despair.
He is all decay.
He speaks up as tiny as an earphone
with Truman's asexual voice:
I am your dwarf.
I am the enemy within.
I am the boss of your dreams.
No. I am not the law in your mind,
the grandfather of watchfulness.
I am the law of our members,
the kindred of blackness and impulse.
See. Your hand shakes.
It is not palsy or booze. I
t is your Doppelganger trying to get out.
Beware....Beware....

So many of our fears are held within ourselves. Who knew they were bundled up in an ugly little old man with Truman's voice? I supposed we'd better watch out.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Revving up Iphigenia

Emily has a new draft and this one is streamlined and active and rhythmic. We've also chosen our new designer - Zane (www.zanepihlstrom.com) and I think he's going to be great. He's collaborative and fun and has a great sense of play. I hope he's ready for what he's getting into! The budget is small and the cast is going to be HUGE - male chorus and female chorus - and the timeline is tight. So we'll need all hands on deck. But I think the students are going to be a good bunch. Em and I went up to see Dreamgirls at CCNY a few weekends ago and it was really pretty fantastic. Some excellent voices, some good movers, some powerful presences. We walked out dreaming of our cast. Exciting!

Next up we do an informal reading to hear it one more time then design design and music music!

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