P L A Y Festival reflections

The final week of the Play Festival coincided with the first week of actual school (real students not just teacher meetings) so blogging fell by the wayside. However, the final week of the festival was highly motivating in terms of focusing on the craft of teaching acting. This being The Year of Grotowski, and having the New World Performance Lab working and living in Akron is indeed cause for massive celebration!

We were given a demonstration of how the company develops their work and a sneak preview of their latest project called "Gilgamesh" which is, in case you didn't know, one of the oldest stories on record. The ensemble have been immersed in their Frankenstein project for over two years now, so it was fascinating to see them working with source material so far removed from Mary Shelley and those surrounding her summer of ghost stories.

Cheers to the company for consistently inviting audiences in to respond to their works in progress. I remember seeing Frankenstein in its infancy, then watching various performances of it over the course of the past two years. By the final weekend of the Play Festival, the actors reached greater depths than ever before, while the flow of the piece was nothing short of electrifying.

The festival ended with a lovely party in honor of Mary Shelley's birthday. A fantabulous time was had by all! Let's do it again next year!

Final week of P L A Y! Join in before it ends!

Wow! The final week of PLAY, the international festival of alternative theatre, is almost upon us. Beginning tomorrow night, a wealth of physical theatre events are available for Akron area alternative theatre fans to feast upon -- and you can do that literally at the final event, Mary Shelley's Birthday Party and NWPL Friendraiser on August 30.

Check out the the week's activities:

Join in the fun at PLAY! the Akron International Festival of Alternative Theatre. The schedule for the final week is:

Monday, August 24, at 7:30pm in Studio 194, Guzzetta Hall, New World Performance Lab will present an open rehearsal demonstrating the initial phase of their work on Gilgamesh, the ancient epic. Tickets are $5. Free for University of Akron students.

Wednesday, August 26, at 7pm in Studio 194, Guzzetta Hall, in celebration of UNESCO"s Year of Grotowski, join NWPL's co-artistic directors Jairo Cuesta and James Slowiak, co-authors of the book Jerzy Grotowski, for the screening of a recently released film concerning Grotowski's life and work followed by a discussion of the Polish master director.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday August 27-29 at 8pm in Sandefur Theatre, Guzzetta Hall, NWPL's internationally acclaimed production of Frankenstein returns for three more performances. If you haven't seen this production, don't miss it. If you have seen it, see it again and bring your friends. Critics have called it "a showcase of the actor's craft," amazing, provocative, and compelling.

PLAY! ends on Sunday August 29 with a "Friendraiser" in celebration of Mary Shelley's birthday! For information, call 330-867-3299.

For other tickets: online at www.BrownPapterTickets.com or 1-800-838-3006.

Come out and PLAY! All performances are on the campus of The University of Akron.

P L A Y Festival -- weekend 2

I had to work box office tonight and so couldn't watch Stairway to Paradise -- but I heard every glorious note sung by Megan Elk accompanied by hot jazz sax player Bobby Selvaggio. Tomorrow, I will get to sit inside Sandefur Theatre for the performance. Seating is cabaret style and delicious fruit drinks are available at the juice bar.

Megan has created a program from the songs of Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Kurt Weill. It is a tribute to the journeys made by immigrants to this country early in the 20th century. According to the program notes, " This work is a love letter to my grandparents -- themselves immigrants and the children of immigrants. It was from their living room stereos and kitchen radios that I first heard the remarkable melodies of these four men." Stairway to Paradise can be seen again at 8 PM on Saturday, August 22. Sandefur theatre is located in U of A's Guzzetta Hall.

Also on this weekend is a piece suitable for younger audiences and their older relatives. The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm is created and performed by Faye Hargate and Jeremy Paul of Cleveland's Theatre Ninjas. The perform "original works and interpretations that draw on elements of film, dance, improvisation, physical theater, graphic novels and music." Looking forward to seeing their work Saturday at 6 PM and Sunday at 2 PM in the Daum Theatre, Kolbe Hall, U of A.

P L A Y Festival-- gushings of a fan girl

Wow, weekend one of the P L A Y International Festival of Alternative Theatre is over and I am stuffed full of amazing theatrical experiences.

Frankenstein finds the NWPL cast in top form, the piece has sharpened its glittering edges and draws the audience in to the core of the creative forces that came together in the making of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Having watched this piece develop over the past almost three years, I can appreciate the organic nature of its creation and see that the flow of the acting has never been more precise with nothing wasted.

If you are looking for a scripted version of the Frankenstein novel, this is not the place to find it. You will find an ensemble of actors who push their own and each other's limits beyond anything you might imagine.

And speaking of the imagination, Looking for Alice is NWPL's ongoing children's theatre piece. I usually have problems with adaptations of Lewis Carroll's masterpiece. This one stayed true to the master of children's fantasy. A cast of five portray the key figures in Alice's adventure underground via the rabbit hole. Again, the acting here is superb. Each character is clearly delineated and utterly charming! Costumes, sets and props were delightfully rendered. I understand this production is ready for touring and available for schools and community groups. Contact NWPL for further information.

Next weekend, P L A Y continues with two different productions. Frankenstein will return for three final performances on August 27, 28 & 29. Hope to see you there!

Stairway to Paradise August 21, 22 at 8PM in Sandefur Theatre, Guzzetta Hall, ($15, $10 under 18 and UA Students)

The Beetlebug and the Bad Worm August 22 at 6PM and August 23 at 2PM in Daum Theatre, Kolbe Hall, ($10, $5 under 18 and UA students)

Opening Night at P L A Y Fest in Akron

New World Performance Lab rocked the audience for Thursday night's P L A Y Festival opening. The applause was long and very appreciative. Lots of great buzz going round the lobby after the show while waiting for the actors to emerge.

The women of the company emerged in fabulous cocktail wear, ready for the opening night reception. Drop whatever you are doing and go make reservations to see what these women do in Frankenstein: a De-monstration. Truly unforgettable mind-blowing work!

Below are from left to right: Megan Elk, Debora Totti and Jamie Hale.























Then on to Bricco's for the after show opening night social event. What a wine list! And very nice buffet as well. Company members mingled with friends, fans and physical theatre aficionados. That's Chris Buck, Frankenstein himself, enjoying a well-deserved liquid refreshment.























Below: Jairo Cuesta, undoubtedly the greatest actor I've ever been privileged to see perform, has a quiet conversation with a NWPL patron in a dark corner of Bricco's. Jairo is a master acting teacher as well, who has profoundly influenced my own teaching. My students spend hours and hours each year working the space and their awareness within it doing exercises I learned from taking many workshops over the years with Jairo.























Tonight at 8 PM -- Frankenstein, a De-Monstration, Sandefur Theatre in Guzzetta Hall, U of A
Saturday at 10 AM -- Looking for Alice, Terrence Cranendonk's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale. In the Daum Theatre, Kolbe Hall, U of A

P L A Y Festival opens tonight!

Looking forward to a weekend spent with Mary Shelley, her monster, and her friends with whom she spent one summer in Switzerland trying to write ghost stories. Only Mary succeeded. New World Performance Lab's Frankenstein is a montage of physical actions that grew out of the company's examinations of both the Frankenstein story and the story of the renegade artists who gathered by the lake to spin supernatural tales for each other.

This piece has taken years to create, which is one reason to love NWPL. They create their work from scratch and work it hard and take the necessary time to develop it until they are ready to share it. Every now and then, they let the outside world in to take a peek, sometimes via open rehearsals and then each subsequent showing reveals new layers and depths. I have seen Frankenstein grow and develop as the actors with director Jim Slowiak create, refine, and clarify their work. I posted a 2007 review of it here. Looking forward to seeing how it has evolved in two years.

For those who want to celebrate the opening of the PLAY Festival, $20 tickets will get you into the after show reception. You can order tickets online here.

Frankenstein (A De-Monstration)

If you live in or around Akron, do not miss this production. New World Performance Laboratory is back with another presentation of their ongoing work, Frankenstein (A De-monstration) at UA's Sandefur Theatre. You can see it once more this weekend on Friday, Oct 26th at 8 PM and again on November 1-3.

Do not expect to see anything conventional, because with this company the conventional is a dry husk that is shed again and again. They are in search of the essential. They don't "pretend," they do their actions and in the doing reach the audience in ways we hardly ever experience in the theatre. NWPL's co-directors are James Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta. We are so fortunate that Akron, Ohio became the home to a theatre whose roots reach directly back to the work of 20th century theatre revolutionary, the Polish Laboratory director Jerzy Grotowski.

In this pieced and stitched together response to Mary Shelley's work, we are privy to the creation of the monster story and perhaps into the inner workings of the roving band of creative intellects that burst out of the British Isle in the But there are more monsters lurking within the dynamics of the Percy/Mary /Byron relationship and we are taken up by the very breath and heartbeat into the actions. I was very conscious of my own heart pounding as the actions intensified, which had the unusual effect of allying me with the monster. It seemed to me my heart wasn't my own at that part, and like the monster I could only wonder at the the strange organ beating inside me. It takes an amazing amount of energy and focus to create something so charged with shocking electricity.

I could not get over the shoes worn by the cast. All were wearing the most uncomfortable and unsuitable shoes, except for Frankenstein/Shelley (Chris Buck) and The Creature (Jairo Cuesta) who both were working in bare feet. Lord Byron (Justin Hale) in high heels and The Man (Alex White) in medium heeled pumps worked their change in status to perfection. The Woman (Debora Totti) wore men's dress shoes, while Mary Shelley (Megan Elk) and Elizabeth (Jamie Hale) wore tortuously high heels. This all added up to heighten the gender issues that swirled around the life and times of Mary Shelley and her comrades in art.

The costumes (Inda Geib), lighting (Christ Hariasz) and set (Benjamin Hardin) enhanced the patched-together theme of the material, which could also be a metaphor for the group's creative process. Material used for this production includes Mary Shelley's novel and journals, the poetry of Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, Milton, and texts drawn from Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women, The Rainbow by DH Lawrence and original material written by the actors. There are references to and lines from classic horror films.

I was fortunate to see the first rendition of this piece last spring. It has grown tremendously, and yet still has that initial fire and astonishing power that made me want more at the initial viewing. I'm definitely going back for another look this time round. NWPL always delivers masterpieces that reveal more and more the deeper you look into them.

Entering the New World Performance Laboratory

Oddly enough, I've found that it is easier to keep up with the blogging when I'm in production with a show and not so easy when I'm not in production. Although putting on a show can be all-consuming, it is also a time of heightened self-discipline and days that are organized into effective routines. But after the show is over, suddenly I'm faced with all those mundane tasks I've been putting off until "after the show is up." I find myself with long lists of Things To Do, like changing the oil in the vehicle, mowing, laundry, various errands, working in the house and digging in the garden.

I did manage to get over to the University of Akron on Thursday night to catch up with the New World Performance Lab. Six company members gave us a rare glimpse into the process that fuels their work. We were treated to a condensed version of some of their warm-up work, as well as a preview into their latest work inspired by Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. According to director, Jim Slowiak, the new piece also explores the real life relationships of Mary Shelley with her husband Percy and their comrade in art Lord Byron.

After the performance, the audience was invited to a talk back session with the company, a multicultural group, whose members rehearse four hours a night, five days a week. This is not an easy commitment for any of them, but it was clear that work within the company provides something not easily obtained elsewhere. For one thing, co-directors Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta are teacher-directors with direct lineage to Jerzy Grotowski, having served as the great Polish theatre innovator's assistants during his years in Irvine, CA and later when he moved his center to Italy. Both are co-authors of a new book which gives vital details into Grotowski's life and principles that were tested in his Polish Laboratory Theatre.

Thursday night, we entered another laboratory, in which the work of Grotowski is not reproduced, but rather added into a mix of possibilities, from both original and external sources. We began to understand the difficulty of the work of the actor as we were given a rare glimpse into the group's creative process.

The warm-up began with individual stretches that morphed into contact improvisations with each other and ended with a challenging game of catch two sticks while running through the space and counting randomly to 20. If anyone drops the stick or if two or more people call out a number at the same time, the count must return to 1 and continue until 2o is reached cleanly. This is very hard to do, but the point is the doing rather than the winning. Many different skills are being honed during this practice, building up of stamina and attentiveness to the self and the others for example.

Once the actors were primed, they re-entered with costume pieces and props. They had each developed "actions" based on their response to Frankenstein. One audience member described what we saw as similar to "watching art." I understand what she meant, although this art is definitely kinetic, rather than static. There are rich visual images that flow, transform, appear or disappear, odd connections and contrasts revealing themselves in each moment. The company claim that they are not playing "characters" but rather discovering themselves in the work. From Frankenstein, they are playing with the myth of the monster, with horror and fear, and with the idea of creation.

I have said this before, and I'll say it again -- it is amazing that such an important group of theatre artists should be living in my home town. I actually left Ohio back in the 70s because after four years of college and a theatre degree, I was convinced I knew nothing about acting. I was right! On my journey, I eventually discovered and learned from people who had worked with people who had worked with Grotowski. My joy was great when I found this group making their home in Akron. We are very fortunate to have NWPL here and so few local folks know about what they do, while around the world those who are interested in expanding their knowledge of physical acting come here to pursue research with them or send for Jairo and Jim to teach workshops in their own countries.

You can join their mailing list at the NWPL web page given above. Frankenstein should be ready for public viewing in the fall.

Dreaming Out Loud -- A Dream Play at the University of Akron

Local theatre goers and people interested in the subject of dreams might want to attend A Dream Play at the University of Akron this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 8 - 10.

The play, by August Strindberg, begins at 8 PM in Sandefur Theatre. Each night prior to the performance, special "dream" topics will be addressed in a series of free seminars:

March 8th -- Musical Evocations of Dreams with Dr Brooks Toliver, professor of music.

March 9th -- Land of Dreamy Dreams: A Glimpse at Our Other-Worldly Selves with Dr Jeanne-Helene Roy, associate professor of modern languages

March 10th -- Dreams vs. Reality with Dr. Joseph LiVecchi, assistant professor of philosophy

I haven't seen A Dream Play yet, but have read it in numerous drama and lit classes over the years. This production is billed as "August Strindberg's A Dream Play in a new version by James Slowiak." So I am looking forward to a unique world view along with the physicality and edge that James brings to his work. I'm a longtime fan of Slowiak's company, the New World Performance Laboratory, but also make it a point to check in on his work with University of Akron theatre students. If you missed Winesburg, Ohio, you missed something very special indeed.