Arden Creative Development – week 1

After  a really productive first week of writing, devising and composing we have a lot of material on the table – 45 minutes worth in fact! It’s been intense, wonderful, exhausting, brilliant and inspiring to have these weeks with amazing performers (Omar Musa, Teila Watson & Candy Bowers) and a great crew (Busty Beatz, Leonie Tillman and Marriane Carter). Today we walked through the whole piece from top to bottom and tomorrow will focus in on certain moments, tracks and scenes. We have our first showing on Wednesday so we may not get to present everything – but that’s a decision for tomorrow. In the meantime, some photos from week 1:

Getting down with the Bard

As we get ready to launch into two weeks at Casula Powerhouse to develop Arden, we’ve been raiding the Bell Shakespeare costume store (see Candy preparing to channel the Bard below..!), doing beats and language work out at Parramatta Artists Studios and continuing to develop the ideas and scenes for our showing (December 11th for those who want to get out there!). I’m working with ideas around All The World’s A Stage, and thinking about the structural and dramaturgical elements….and about a clown/s being the ringleader, MC, hype man of the piece. I can’t wait to get into the full-time development to create something clever, funny, passionate and unique….

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…more soon…!

Candy does her best Bard

Developing (hopefully creatively!)

As our two weeks of intense creative development looms, I’ve been spewing ideas on to the page, re-reading parts of As You Like It, listening to various hip hop artists – Jean Grae, Common, Bryonn Bain, Wu Tang, attending production meetings and continuing to find visual inspiration. I feel as through the ’script’ is at 0.5 draft stage, though my ideas began to get so knotted that I have sent it on to Candy and Kim to add ideas, rhymes and raps before we pass it to Leonie (our dramaturg) for feedback. Instead, this week I have focused on finding musical and visual inspiration for any costume or set elements we decide to use in the showing. The more I research, the more I want to use projection and video as the visual aesthetic. Although this won’t be possible for the showing, I am hoping to find a way to give the audience a taste of the visual language of the piece. Next week I’m planning to re-read a lot of the scenes, and work on the language and dialogue. Although a lot of this will come from our devising process hopefully I can start making stylistic decisions about the use of language. More next week…in the meantime, some images that speak to the visual style…

my favourite gallery @ PS1…

NYC…I could get used to having you around…

Arrived back on Wednesday from NYC, where it was topping 4 degrees to a scorching Sydney summer day of 35 degrees. A bit of a body shock. Sydney seems small and familiar (and frankly a little unexciting) compared to the luscious cultural treats of NYC. In my last week I hit the birthplace of hip hop (the bronx), got lost in installation art at PS1 (Queens), meet with Philip Seymour Hoffman’s lovely film production people, drank Ginger and Spice cocktails at the Bowery Hotel, saw The Wooster Group off to Strasbourg (and thanked them for an amazing, inspirational time)  checked out Angela’s mixtape and saw an heart-wrenching solo performance by Bryonn Bain at Joe’s Pub. I could seriously get used to the lifestyle here! Apart from the constant FOMO (Fear of Missing Out…on something brilliant),  I made some fabulous contacts, friends and connections…and have come back Sydney feeling gooooood!

Next week is bustling with applications, Arden writing and general back-in-sydney catchups….

For those still in NYC, check out my friend Via Tania’s tunes at Joe’s pub on Saturday night…and big ups to my Arden co-creator Candy Bowers for winning Best Performance at the Melbourne Fringe!

Women and cultural diversity in theatre > Sydney to New York

Yesterday I shared a chilli hot chocolate with Kamilah Forbes, Artistic Director of the NY Hip Hop Theatre Festival (and generally awesome chik!). We talked at length about hip hop theatre, theatre and the arts in general, being a woman in theatre and being an artist from a culturally diverse background. It was an inspiring to connect someone in New York who has shared similar experiences as a woman and as an artist.

In Australia, we often talk about the opportunities for both female and  culturally diverse artists being much greater overseas. And, in many ways, my experience in NYC backs that up. Everywhere I go I see artists of colour and women working on stage, behind the scenes and in creative r0les. However, although representation seems better than in Australia (hardly surprising) Kamilah was quite blunt about how difficult it is for female artists, diverse artists and artists that experiment with form and content in the theatre (as in hip hop theatre) to get mainstream work and support. Even in NYC, the exciting, cutting-edge, new voices are still confined to the fringes. The anger and frustration of female and intercultural artists in Australia is echoed on the street corners in New York and in the under-resourced theatres in which these amazing people perform.

In the HHTF program, they define hip hop theatre as work that all tackles the same question  -How are people of the Hip Hop Generation impacting the cultural landscape of our country and our world? I feel that this cuts to the essence of hip hop theatre. It’s not about using the four elements of hip hop in their pure form, it’s not about rapping shakespeare or creating a play of entirely spoken word (though it might be any of these things). It’s about the voice, the aesthetic, the politics and the world view of a new generation – and that generation is global, and hip hop is a language that speaks to them. If theatre is to move forward, and not remain frozen in some perceived “correct” way of theatre-making, it should be embracing this generation, as both artists and audiences. Theatre needs to promote new, progressive voices, leading our communities into new ways of seeing, new perspectives and new hope for our collective futures.

I’ve seen two amazing shows are part of the HHTF so far – The Word Begins and Zomo The Rabbit. The Word Begins was a passionate, poetic and important work from two talented actors/poets. Everything from race to politics to love was confronted and re-imagined in this lyrical, insightful show. I loved it. If it ever comes to a town near you…see it y’all! Zomo the Rabbit was a beautiful kids show about Zomo, a rabbit who is sent on a mission by sky-god in order for Zomo to gain power. Along the way, Zomo learns that power ain’t everything and instead discovers the four elements of hip hop. There were a lot of kids between 4-10 years in the audience who loved every second of this show. It was clever, cute and performed with charm from the very talented cast. So great to see a hip hop show for young kids.

Connecting with the HHTF has given me lots of food for thought in regards to Arden…looking forward to being in our creative development upon my return! Tomorrow I’m seeing a HHTF reading and heading to the Bronx…one week left in NYC!

Contemporary Art: PS 122, The Wooster Group & MOMA

Tuesday of this week brought the first professional meeting of my trip with PS 122 Artistic Director, Vallejo Gantner who originally hails from Melbourne (former artistic associate of Melbourne International Arts Festival & Artistic Director of Dublin Fringe).We had a great chat, and he gave me a huge insight into the contemporary performance world of NYC from an Australian perspective. PS 122 are programming really innovative works, in a similar vein to Performance Space in Sydney but with a much wider scope and more funds (the city is spending 20 million just to renovate the building – it is almost falling down around them!). They program edgy, risky, cross-form work (Andrew, video extraordinaire from The Wooster Group recently had a solo show here) They seem to be really interesting company, and a good contact as a future touring prospect for hybrid work.

Green screen shoot during Wooster Rehearsals

In the afternoon I headed back into rehearsals with The Wooster Group for another intense, creative, chaotic and often entertaining session! Things were a little tense at the beginning of rehearsals as Liz had a bit of moment about the lack of time before they open in Strasbourg (less than two weeks left of rehearsals) and couple of actors were away for a week, performing wth ERS (Elevator Repair Service, who bought Gatz to Australia). Once we overcame that little hurdle, things did move a little more smoothly. The lack of time made Liz make some hard and fast decisions about what could technically be achieved in the time available. The video work was again integral to how we progressed in rehearsals. One moment, where one actor takes over a character from another, and says his lines live to camera wasn’t working as the camera he has previously used was struck from the design. The answer? Shoot a pre-record, complete with green screen effect, right in the middle of the rehearsals, edit it, play in time with the other actors inserting lines live and voila! The Wooster Group’s ingenuity, trust for each other and creative use of technology is like nothing I’ve seen before. They have invented their own creative language, their own devising practice and then have enough faith in each other to throw that process out the window if it’s not working.

There was so much video work happening in this rehearsal that I got co-opted into helping out – documenting and logging the rehearsal video, and helping light the green screen shoot. There are a lot of people in rehearsals (about 20-25!) but sometimes it’s all hands on deck! After rehearsals, it was off to NYTW for Aftermath – a documentary play about Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Despite being a little sentimental at times, there were some remarkable insights into the Iraqi perspective on the war. It was beautifully performed by a strong cast predominately Arabic actors – it has been fabulous to see so many performers of colour on stage here. In fact every production I have seen so far has had a least two performers of colour, and just generally a huge amount of diversity on stage. I love it!

Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Prints

Yesterday I hit MOMA in mid-town Manhattan for a contemporary art fix. Depsite the crowds in the morning, it was wonderful to see such a large variety of contemporary art, some really famous modern art pieces and some of my favourite artists. New Yorkers really have it good when it comes to art and culture!

Today I’m working on Arden and heading back to The Wooster rehearsal room this afternoon…

One day in NYC: DUMBO, NYTW & Lepage

“Free yourself from whatever cage the industry builds for you”
- Robert LePage

Monday of what is shaping up to be my busiest week in NYC found me at DUMBO this morning, the Brooklyn arts precinct that houses St Ann’s Warehouse & Galapagos Arts Space among others. I met the lovely Laura Roumanos (St Ann’s general manager) for a quick coffee and tour of this very happening, and visually unique area.

Then it was onto New York Theatre Workshop for one of their rehearsed readings, which their artistic associate (who I am meeting later this week) had invited me to. The piece was a solo show by Saverio Guerra, an Italian-American actor best known for some TV sitcom work. Entitled Adoptation, the work was extremely personally, detailing his and his wife’s experience adopting a child. The reading was very simple yet extremely funny, raw and moving. Despite Saverio’s obvious nerves, he is a natural story-teller and the captured the small audience completely. I hope the show gets up somewhere because it’s a riveting hour in the theatre. I was extremely impressed that NYTW have such a comprehensive reading program of new work. There are two-three readings each week to an invited audience and I’m looking forward to my meeting with them to talk about how the program works.

I finished off the day at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), listening to Robert LePage (one of my all time theatrical heros!) in conversation John Ralston Saul about cultural identity. True to form, LePage was inspiring, insightful, modest, passionate and beautifully articulate. His process is unique, and extremely conducive to his creativity. I can’t express how wonderfully it is to witness an artist mould the industry to his creative process rather than allowing the industry to dictate the terms. His dislike for a “purity” of language and theatrical culture makes him a true revolutionary artist immersed in the 21st century. I took so many useful notes – I’ll try add some more posts throughout the week. Tomorrow (apart form heading up the Empire State Building!) I’m meeting the Artistic Director of PS 122, heading back to the rehearsal room with The Wooster Group and seeing Aftermath @ NYTW. Wheww!

Robert Frank; The Americans

Robert Frank (American, b. Switzerland, 1924) Trolley—New Orleans, 1955

Yesterday I spent the day at the Met and was particularly captured by the Robert Frank temporary exhibition. It’s been 50 years since Robert Frank’s The Americans (with introduction by Jack Kerouac) was published and changed the landscape of American photography. Frank made a cross country road trip in 1955-56, capturing images of post war America in the process. Frank was interested in the people, rather than the places; subjects that ‘lived’, faces that told stories. The candid, confronting and moving nature of the photographs shocked American when the book was first published – it was criticised as being anti-American. Subsequently the book has been recognised as a masterpiece of street photography. Frank’s ability to capture the essence, the complexities and the subtext of a country, and a period of time is an evocative reminder of the essential importance of art in understanding ourselves – personally, politically & culturally.

Brooklyn by Photo