my thoughts on all this

I find it inspiring when people put their cell phones down and turn off their ipods to take the risk of connecting with a stranger, forget about themselves for a moment and relate to people without that screen that we put up so often because we are concerned with what people will think of us. I find it inspiring when someone forgets about themselves in their concern for another person, like Samantha does with Jewel, and they let their self-constructions fall to the ground in order to do what they think is right for them to do. I enjoy seeing people do something not because they feel compelled by society of by peer pressure but because something inside them tells them that it is what they should do. something that is not dictated by their preoccupations with the future, but by their moment to moment existence. It is amazing to see someone go all out for something or someone they really believe in, and to see that succeed, result in change, makes me truly happy.
On a more practical side,I have been thinking about what I wish to convey with my design. I think the main thing projections can do in this show is convey the complexity, speed and violence that our thoughts have inside our heads, as well as the way our experience of events differs from what is actually going on. I want the projections to show what is really going on in samantha's mind. I want to show her convoluted, confused thoughts, drawings coming to life in frame by frame drawn animations, I want to see things bot the way they are but the way she sees them. In the end for me nothing in the play is objectively real. Of course there are things that are obviously not real, but ultimately everything that happens is sen through the filter of Sam's perceptions, and is therefore distorted. I don't want to show what is going on when sam enters the night club, i want to show what Sam's subconscious perceives on entering: the loud music, bright colors flashing in the dark, bodies writhing and touching each other, skin, sex, sweat, thirst, that need for contact which pervades the whole play. that need which people try to achieve in the most roundabout ways, thinking that by "letting themselves go", by "losing control" they can come closer to something real, when it is only by accepting things around one's self and by being genuine that one can truly connect. Striving for connection will never lead anywhere, it is when she lets go of everything and lies down next to Gabriel that Sam finds the only true connection she has.
I would like to play with silhouettes, with projecting on the floor (although this might be impossible) and i need to know whether you (Emily) want rear or front projections to be more emphasized. that is, if you want rear projections they will be a main feature compared to any other projection (and they can be on a surface like the jonsi concert, which already has a basic design on it (windows in fact could work great) but if you don't want rear projections (and save the possible hassle of setting up a projector backstage and not letting anyone cross in front of it unless it is part of the show, which could be awesome) we need to figure out how to to what we want with several front projectors. right now i think we could go for on large rear projection that covers most of our needs plus two more crazy projections from the front using possibly the film projector. if my projector is backstage that would also let me maneuver it without being on stage or in the middle of the audience (which however might be what you want). let's talk about it, and if any of you other guys have something to say about this, don't hesitate to comment.

What inspires me..

What inspire me is....
people of every race and culture coming together, embracing each other's unique ideas, and learning from one another. The idea of finding strength and unlimited possibility in our differences. Knowledge and understanding on the deepest level of humanity. we are all one. Only love is real... like the moment at the end of the play when Gabriel and Samantha acutally touch. Communication is key, communication on the level of humanity, outside of what is palpable, but what is true experience and understanding. PEOPLE NEED PEOPLE for SUPPORT of ONE ANOTHER
more to come...

Summary

So in directing class we always have to write a summary of the play we are directing. Every semester I have struggled with this, but every time it gets a bit easier. I managed to write the summary for Dead City in about 15 minutes, which I was very impressed with. It really helped me, because this play is so full of action, to define what exactly is happening on stage. I wanted to share it will ya'll:

Samantha Blossom, an optimistic forty-something advertising agent, dreams of Jewel, a young poet, staggering home on the pedestrian path near the West Side Highway at sunrise. Cut back to the morning before - June 16th, 2004. New York City. Samantha is preparing breakfast for her husband Gabriel in her Upper East Side apartmnent. Sorting through the mail, she finds a letter addressed to him from his music manager. The scent of the envelope raises in her a panic. She moves about her day in a half-daze, running into an annoying aquaintances, then zoning out to reminece about her secret online lover; imagining a friend's husband speaking to her from the grave while at his funeral; dreaming of her dead son in a seedy basement bar. She runs into Jewel, the daughter of an acqaintance, in an online magazine offive, then again at the library, and again in a maternity ward. Same is strangely drawn to this moody intellectual, and, having been sorely let down by her rendevous with her online lover on a dock near the Hudson, decides to follow Jewel to a lesbian nightclub, hoping that some meaningful connection can finally be made. Jewel becomes belligerant, and Sam drags her back to her apartment for hot cocoa. After Jewel leaves, Sam crawls back into bed with Gabriel, quickly recounting her day before passing out. In the dark, Gabriel is drawn to reveal his saucy affair with his manager, his suspicion of Sam's own infidelity, his fantasy of making love to Jewel, how amazed he was when Sam was pregnant, and how he can't connect ot her anymore. Waking Sam up, Gabriel tells her that all he needs is something small, and they fall asleep touching each other.

My summary of the change will probably change. More to come.

Meet Katie Spelman

Check out this blog post about the choreographer of Sideshow's Theories of the Sun (for which I just basically production managed). I think her approach to using movement in theatre is really inspirational. Sarah saw the play last night, and I think she liked the dancing - maybe she'll share more of her opinion when she joins this blog.

C'est tout.

Nivan is awesome, and so is this

These people have a plan :




Holy shit. Take a look at some of the pictures. That's what inspires me as art.

Nivan shared this with me on facebook (on the behalf of Adam Blanchard). I really wish he would share it on this blog, and write a little about that, but I don't know if that is ever gonna happen.

(I really don't like that the "web" is described as "the work of horrifyingly large arachnids." It made it less beautiful to me.)

I think at the center of what amazes me about this piece is that "'The installation is based on an idea for a dance performance in which the form evolves from the movement of the dancers between the pillars,' explains For Use’s Christoph Katzler. 'The dancers are stretching the tape while they move, so the resulting shape is a recording of the choreography.'” Sure, you could trace that pattern on the floor with paint, but they thought about it three dimensionally, using an unusual medium with which we usually have an very different way of contact.

Say that last part three times fast.

As I start into what is basically a two week tech process, I find that what I love about the video is how smoothly that technical process went. Of course, I'm sure there were points where certain people would stop and question something, but they had it planned out. What is so cool about our production of dead city is that so much of that really time consuming tech bullshit we can work through in a rehearsal room. I'll talk more about that at our little design meeting. But basically, this is gonna be good.

Sleep now.

Thoughts on technology in our society.

NPR had an interesting interview with a journalist about technology and its influence in our lives. If you have a chance, take maybe 40 minutes and hear this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129384107

It seemed relevant enough to share, and even if it turns out not to be, it's at least very thoughtful. :)

Alot of Scenes...in need of scene changes

So, one of the big questions as set designer (and everyone else for that matter) is -- how do we get from one place to another with ease and... grace? The massive number of locations presents itself as quite a challenge for me; making each scene uniquely descriptive and encapsulating of that place's essence, how? Perhaps that difference can be developed during each scene, so that by the moment when the next scene approaches, all is ready to maintain the flow of the play.

What I'm trying to say is: people on stage all the time, working on scene changes while other scenes are happening. So that stagehands are actively a part of what's happening on stage and, shall we say, becoming a representation of Samantha's unconscious mind by constantly developing her next step?

What do you think?