Monday, October 29, 2007

¡LADDERS!


The Corporate Ladder, The Holy Mountain, The Journey. I wanted to do a piece that encapsulated these themes. For me the image came in form of the step ladder. It was a great prop for street theatre. It was transportable and could be set up easily any where. I chose 4 different heights of ladders. An 8-foot, 6-foot, 4-foot and and 2-foot ladder. 4 performers traversed theses ladders in various different manners and configurations. A rogue character systematically traveled between them delivering an endless amount of junk mail, which he pulled from a briefcase and stuffed into the pockets of the ladder performers. The soundtrack: an adult contemporary musician by the name of Michael Bolton. Bolton's music, which is designed for the very median of the general music listening public, and which can easily be piped through supermarket speakers and office waiting rooms alike, offers feel-good tunes that both inspire and motivate the listener on a subliminal level. Truly a businessman's chosen soundtrack to make it through the work-day. Bolton's records may come second only to Huey Lewis and the News, which is reserved strictly for weekend listening.

I took the backseat on this performance, observing it from the director's point of view. It was a completely different experience. I felt as though it was much less of a transformative process than performing. I felt my self yearning to be part of the action. I possessed neither the innocence or element of surprise that other spectators had, so it was hard to process the images without bias. In fact, I didn't really know what to think about what i saw. I wasn't concerned about the content of the performance. I was paying more attention to the technical details (e.g., the performers' movements, the compostion, timing, tempo, duration, and spectators' responses). I thought I might be able to see the performance as a spectator, but I was mistaken. A director has a completely different view of things. This was the first performance I have directed that I haven't also performed in, so I have never had the chance to experience watching a performance solely as a director. I'm not sure what, if anything, I got out of this experience. As an actor I most always gain some sort of insight through the performance of a piece, but this didn't happen onbserving it just as director. Perhaps i need allow more time for the experience to resonate in my mind.

Any now here are some stills.






























On A Forward Note:

I think the next piece will be the last featuring these characters. I feel as though I'm growing bored of them. The next performance titled, GARBAGE, will be my attempt at throwing these characters in the trash and laying them to rest.

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