SITI Last Day

SiTI Day Last Day
Suzuki Jam

Today we did Suzuki for 2 hours with all 63 participants and teachers on the Theatre stage in front of a group of people invited to watch with the Rachel's playing. Amazing. Trascendent. Joyous.

Viewpoints Jam

Again in the theatre with the Rachel's and an invited audience. This time we were broken into groups and doing open sessions for 15 minutes a piece. My group consisted of all the Columbia people and we had a smashing good time. Hard to comment on something you were doing, but all the other groups made beautiful, beautiful pieces.

That night was the second groups performances of their compositions. Really good to finally see work of people you have been around for so long, gotten to know, but not worked with.

The last piece of the night was one of the finest pieces of theatre I have seen. It touched me so much and was so simple. It is what I want my theatre to be. Not it specifically, but the ideas that it evokes, questions that it raises. Utterly beautiful. Grand. Simple. Necessary

I appreciate those of you who have read my ramblings and meanderings. Hopefully I have sparked questions in you or raised ideas. That is all I really want. A dialogue. It is better for all of us to share our ideas, even if we don't always agree. I came to SITI to get a leg up on Columbia before I start, I leave feeling like I got a leg up on my artistry.

Go See their work, support them, criticize them if need be, but you can not dismiss them. For those in NYC Hotel Cassiopea opens at BAM on October 9. They tour all the time and you should try and see their work. You should try and go next summer and experience what I experienced.

Take care of each other. Here's to a better tomorrow.

SiTI Day 25

SiTI Day 25
Double Day and Performance tonight.

Suzuki with Ellen

When scared, tired, or unsure you can always go home. Home = your body. That never changes. Plays, directors, actors all change. But you will always have yourself.

How do you train all day for a performance that night? That's what today was all about. Getting yourself to a state of readiness at the end of the day.

Viewpoints with Barney and the Rachel's in the Theatre

Barney is changing the Viewpoints a bit. He worked with Mary Overlie before working with Anne and coming to SITI. He is trying to adapt the viewpoints in a new way. 4 Zones

The being and noticing zone
The Statue or Achitecture zone
The Movement zone
And the Speaking zone

When in those zones you can only do the one thing, not a combination.

Viewpoints with Bondo

Compressing the space with Architecture.

Suzuki with Akiko

Performance that night.

The piece went very well. All 6 pieces went very well. Good work by all.

Take care of each other, here's to a better tomorrow

SiTI Day 24

Viewpoints with J. Ed and the Rachel's in the Theatre

It's Ok to be in your head. It's not Ok to be in your head and say "AAAGGGHH, I'm in my head what do I do?"

The more stuff that is added, the more you need to clarify. It's like cable TV, We now have 500 channels, but 400 of them are crap. When more stuff is added to the mix, specify, clarify, simplify.

As my childhood hero said " With great power comes great responsibility"

Suzuki with Leon

It is a Paradox. Soft, gentle top. Rigid, engaged bottom.

Suzuki would get notoriously mad when an actor would come in and had not used their time to work on their part. Rehearsal is the time where you come in to work with other people. Do your work alone at home and bring in for the group.

Practice with the ghosts of all the other people who are practicing alone as well

Presence is the phenomena of the actor

It is very humbling and enobling to be in the presence of someone without any defences

All seminal works in the Theatre have been created by Companies. The Company is the natural model for the theatre. How do you do this in a country that doesn't encourage the company model?

Voice with Ellen

Excellent. She is one of Suzuki's main actresses, and when she is gone work on his shows doesn't stop. Instead she had to come in ready to go at the same level as everyone else the second she is there. She developed a Vocal training system to get to the level of the rest of the company. It is amazing. Can't really describe it. Try to experience it if you can.

Playwrighting with Michael

Writing is underdetermined, writing can't fill in all the gaps. Story has to fill it in.

Cause and response. Like Billiard balls. O O O---------->*O------>

Create a pattern, break it, build a scene

Create a rule, just make the rule visible, don't complicate things.

What are the rules of this universe?

Make the thing invisible

SITI Day 23

Suzuki with Bondo

Introduction of You are my Sunshine.

I can't begin to describe this except to say try doing the most physically strenuous thing you have ever done or imagined and then sing You are my sunshine with a smile on your face while doing it.

Fast Marches

Viewpoints with J.Ed and the Rachel's in the Theatre.

The Rachel's played live for us in viewpoints. It is amazing to work with them. They are viewpointing off of what you do, it makes you aware of yourself in a way that is almost scary.

Duration- Go farther than you think that you should. It enables other people to play off of it.

Wake up the space, where are we not looking

Keep going inside, don't decay

We all want to be hamlet, but what happens when we are cast? If the focus is suddenly thrown on you are you going to back down or rise to the challenge?

Don't let the audience see the blueprint, just let them have the experience in awe.

Does the audience need to hear you speak, or can they just experience you doing it?

Take care of each other, Here's to a better tomorrow.

SITI Day 22

SITI 15th anniversary reunion this weekend. Past participants were invited to come back and see Radio Macbeth on Friday and take part in the Suzuki and Viewpoints Jam on Saturday and have a big gala dinner that night.

Radio Macbeth was wonderful. I had been wanting to see a show by SITI that wasn't written for them specifically. Everything that I have seen of theirs ( House, Bobrauschenbergamerica, and Hotel Cassiopea) has all been created by them or written specifically for them. I wanted to see Midsummer and Macbeth because despite my undying love for this company everything I have seen has come off as cold and unemotional. They are virtuosic, no doubt. They are beautiful, no question. But every time I leave the show I think "Hmm, that was nice. Where should we eat?" I'm not touched. I'm made to think, a lot. And I appreciate that. But, I also want to feel. I thought it had something to do with the writing and wanted to test my theory out with the two shakespeare works.

Radio Macbeth was wonderful. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but it came very close to fulfilling what I look for in a great show. It was virtuosic, Beautiful, Smart, and made me feel. SITI once again proved why they are the preeminent American Theatre Company. I want to see Midsummer.

The weekend was mostly taken up with rehearsal for the second composition. Saturday night at the party the company was showing a slideshow of pictures over the last 15 years and clips from all of there shows. It was amazing. It was very emotional for them and the idea of having a company around after 15 years and living and working together on such a personal level became very emotional for me as well. There was a noticeable absence though. Anne was still recovering in the hospital, and everyone was missing her presence. Ellen said that Anne kept drunk dialing her as the anesthesia wore off.

Sunday we threw away our script and started over. We present tomorrow (Monday) and after a week of accomodating each other and avoiding conflicts, we realized that we had a piece of shit that nobody wanted to do. So we started over with 18 left. We needed to come up with a story, Write that story, block that story, rehearse that story, and tech it all in 18 hours. No problem. We came up with a pretty great idea that we meshed together into a really nice composition piece. Anthony and I stayed up until 4 AM making all the sound cues for it. As we didn't have any time for memorization we decided to do voice overs and go heavy on the tech. We would be presenting these again on Thursday for an audience so we knew we had time to fix the problems and re-rehearse after monday. We ended up with 68 soundcues in a 10 minute piece.

I skipped morning classes the next morning to continue working on things ( and sleep)

Composition

Always listen to your designer, they do more shows than you

Don't just address problems, reinvest in the good.

When you go to a restaurant on the trip there you are remembering to take a left on 55th, right on 5th ave, half a block, stop before the ivy club. Your not tasting it in your mouth. Don't go after the experience, go after the work so you can have the experience

Robert Wilson has a very simple and stupid structure. He tells you what he is going to do. He does it. Then he tells you what he just did.

Every actor should be able to go onstage and perform the show. Not the entire piece, but their thread, their piece. Without anyone else. Specificity.

Overall good notes, mostly what we thought we would get in the way of memorize for thursday and clean this up, but some things that really stood out:

When using Voice over, don't disconnect it from the actors. The audience just ends up listening, like the radio, they don't have a third experience. Seeing, hearing, then what?

Put your fingers on what matters

The piece was sleepy, wake it up.

Throw the weight on the acting.

Take care of each other, Here's to a better tomorrow.

SITI Day 18

2 Fire alarms went off last night ( or I should say early this morning) one at 4 AM for about 45 minutes, and again at 6 AM for 5 seconds.

Today is a double day and we are literally dragging ourselves into class. Our eyes are glazed over and we are all worried about breaking down and falling apart.

Suzuki with Ellen

Suzuki deals with Music, Text, Your Body, and Time

When you brake, you still have to keep the pedal to the metal ready to release. When the command is given the leg has to shoot like a gun. Get it down/out/up so you can brake again.

There is no right or wrong. There is only being a better artist or Failing better.

Viewpoints with Bondo

An amazing class. We are so tired, sore, and out of it that we aren't worried about how we look or what we think should happen. Our body has literally taken over. We all seem to be operating on a subconscious level. Suzuki was the same, we all seemed to be better today. Because we weren't thinking about it. We just did it. No Judgements

Viewpoints with Leon

Building a structure of repeatable movements and having a partner recreate. It shows how specific you are when your partner doesn't have a clue what you did, or even better they tell you a story that they saw based off of your movement that has nothing to do with what you were doing.

You have to be the conductor and the creator at the same time. You have to be able to hit the record button while doing something so as to be able to repeat it. Just as in Grotowski, each moment must be filled with a life and repeated to the same effect.

Freedom vs. Accountability. You are able to do whatever you want, but you have to be held accountable for it. If you throw out a move into space, it exists in the world now and can be repeated.

A part is never truly yours until you can give it away to someone else. In Eastern theatre roles are handed down through the family or to apprentices. Can you give your part away by being so specific that someone can step in and play it immediately?

Take care of each other, Here's to a better tomorrow.

SITI Day 16

Suzuki with Bondo

When Grotowski saw Suzuki's company doing the work he commented that the system was all about the brakes. The patterns in Suzuki aren't there for the move, it is for the stopping. It is there to challenge the balance, the breath, and the focus of the actor. Being onstage isn't easy, and shouldn't be. Suzuki training is there to put you in the crisis and see where you stand. It is a sure fire way to show your shortcuts, your tricks, and your perceived limits.

Audience's breathe with us. In shakespeare, punctuation's are specific. Now granted they were probably added by the actors who sat down and read aloud there parts for the written version to be printed. But, those punctuation's come from the breath. When we breathe a lot, we break up the pattern of thought. On the flip side, if we don't breathe enough the audience holds its breath with us. It builds a tension that they subconsciously want released.

Viewpoints with Stephen

In my new group there are a lot of international students. 3 Spaniards, A dutchman, A greek, A malaysian, and of course some Aussies thrown in for good measure. They all are completely fluent in english, with the exception of the Spaniards. But in Viewpoints that doesn't matter. Because in Viewpoints we are speaking in the language of Time and Space, it is universal.

We started viewpointing with text today. The tough part is not acting and using the content of the words. Use the text as just another tool, don't let it become the only tool and don't let it stop your movement. Speak from the crisis, the imbalance. That is what the audience wants to see.

Playwrighting with Michael West.

Michael is a Playwright from Ireland that the company has started working with and he is working on a new translation and adaptation of The Seagull for them.

Can Theatre represent itself and Something else?

Take the idea of the Eucharist in Christianity. The Schism between Catholicism and the Protestant reformation was in large part due to the idea of Trasubstanciation. When taking communion the believers in Transubstanciation believed that they were literally eating the body of christ, and literally drinking the blood of Christ. That the moment it hit your lips it magically turned into the host. The Reformers believed that communion stood for the body and blood of christ. "This do in Remembrance of me" So on one side you have Mystery, Magic, and Transcendence and on the other you have Metaphor and Clarity.

What is Theatre? The former or the latter? A mix of both? Can both work?

Every play is a struggle with a big object. Imagine trying to carry a large object across the room, say a baby elephant. The sheer will power of belief needed to do that and the negotiation of the act is a metaphor for theatre. But it is also a struggle with a tiny object. The sheer attention and specificity needed to convey the small message a long way is also the metaphor for theatre.

Closer to the gutter we get the more shit we find. Go back to the Greeks. Performed as a part of a religious ceremony, what props did they have? Virtually none. Roman, where the gods were still being praised but not the reason for performance, what props did they have? Some, but not many. Shakespeare, Still evoking the gods but only as a tertiary focus, what props did they use? More, but only key things-Handkerchief, dagger, skull, etc. Then comes Naturalism and the props explode on stage like an orgy of epic proportions.

Take care of each other, Here's to a better tomorrow.

SiTI Day 15

SITI Day 15
Two double days Thursday and Friday.

Desperately wanted to sleep this weekend. But a fire alarm (twice) on saturday kept any of us from doing that. Rehearsed composition piece a lot.

We are switching our morning groups today. Just when I was getting comfortable with my class I have to meet new people that I've never even said hello to and viewpoint with them.

Viewpoints with Anne

Introducing Vocal Viewpoints.

Sats- Eugenio Barba of the Odin Teatret. The state of readiness before an action. The point right before diving off a diving board. Return to that when in doubt.

The brain actually fires in silence. When listening to music, during a caesura in the sound the brain explodes with activity.

Suzuki with Akiko

Being ready to go doesn't mean that you have to be a slave to time. You have to be ready to go and take control of time.

The audience can like you or loathe you, but never let them dismiss you.

Suzuki is not to be perfect. If it were done perfectly one day, you might as well pack your bags and go home, there is nothing left to do. It is a container for the greater experience.

When Grotowski watched this work being done he commented "It's all about the brakes" It's not about the movement, but the end of the movement. The slamming on the brakes and still being ready to go.

Just as in Grotowski's Method of Physical Actions, every moment has to have a purpose and image. It becomes hard to keep them all going fully focused, but it's supposed to be hard. When I was doing The Laramie Project right after I got back from Grotowski I had a 150 page notebook filled with the map of my physical actions just for my opening scene. That was a bit extreme, but it is that level of detail that Grotowski, and Suzuki, are calling for. Build yourself a container to live freely in. Make a strong structure for the addition of strong contents.

Compostion with Leon and Anne

Direct quote from Anne "That was fucking gorgeous" Overall comments were that the piece was Visually stunning and beautiful. However the story fell by the wayside.

Story was to complicated, it didn't translate over.

Stupid story not apparent.

Breaking from the structure kept the audience from establishing the relationships.

The more poetic or scientific text you have the more reality you need to buffet it.

We painted a house we hadn't built yet. Again, we forgot to act it. We were missing the stanislavski base.

Situation gives you character

Repetition needs to build or it becomes deadly

Scenography was brilliant, story was poo. Imagistically it was a payoff, emotionally it wasn't.

I recreated a character that they loved from last weeks piece. It was clown like character inspired by Fellini. Anne commented that last week it was an Amouse Bouche ( a pre-appetizer appetizer) this week the character was a palate cleanser (like a sorbet) but I became less specific in my story as the piece went on.

Movement is like punctuation. If it is sloppy it isn't heard.

Durrenmatt had a saying about theatre. If he closes his eyes and only hears, it is a lecture. If he close his ears and only sees, it is a slide show. Theatre is the disagreement between what is seen and heard.

Artifice and the thing you can't fake.

Don't move unless you have a reason to move, and variety isn't an acceptable reason.
Don't Speak unless you have a reason to speak, and my next line isn't an acceptable reason

Repitition isn't " We're back to this again" it's "What are they going to do with it now?"

Each scene should ambush the scene before it.

Do the composition again, different director, new rules, in front of an audience last week.

Take care of each other, here's to a better future.

SITI Day 10

SITI Day 10
Viewpoints with J.Ed

Worked on Architecture. Abstract use and literal use.

Suzuki with Bondo

Never idle. Foot to the base, burn rubber but don't move.

Voice with Ellen

Use your voice like a dart. Be clear when you want to send it. Not a general wash. Generality is the enemy of all art.

Design with Darren (Sound) and Brian (Lights)

Use design as another viewpoint.

Design is governing space and time in a production

It can be another actor in the room

Design isn't a band-aid, it should be a part of the DNA.

We go to the ballet to hear the music better.

We hold the after image in our visual cortex. Humans aren't built to bump forward. The after effect of music, taking it out has to be equally important.

Everything is flexible ( except regional theatre)

Sometimes design plays counterpoint, sometimes melody

Don't fight the design, don't let the design fight you. Simpatico.

Unlock from the series of understandings.

Ask more of an audience, ask them to be participants.

Take care of each other, here's to a better future.

SITI Day 9

SITI Day 9
Viewpoints with Stephen
Suzuki with Kelly
Text with Stephen

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
Now mockeries now for them, no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of the girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk the drawing down of blinds

Wilford Owen 1917

If it's to hard, get out of the theatre. If it were easy it would be your mom.

Movement with Barney

Shape + Time = Movement


Leon told me a story about a time he was acting in one of Suzuki's shows. Every summer in Toga, Japan ( where Suzuki has his theatre, Outdoors mind you) these gigantic flies descend on the mountain. They are similar to horseflies, but are bigger and like to bite humans. Normally they descend at dusk and the company, after a long day of training, had to make the decision of walking through them and getting bitten or running on tired legs to avoid the bites. In a performance one time a fly was circling Leon's head. Now he could not shoe it away, because that was not part of the show. So the choice was get yelled at by Suzuki or get bit. Leon chose to get bit. The fly landed on his forehead right between his eyes and chomped down. The pain was excruciating but leon held on thinking it would go away. But since it wasn't being shoed away, it just kept tapping the vein. After 15 bites, the fly heavily flew away. Leon was hoping that the audience hadn't notice him flinch or that the blood running down his face wasn't distracting. Finally the time to exit the stage came. He got offstage and asked did he distract to much from the show. No one knew what he was talking about. No one saw the fly, all the blood coalesced in Leon's Big Bushy Eyebrows and didn't run down his face. Leon was alone with his pain the entire time. But, Suzuki wouldn't have yelled at him for swatting his head or falling over only. He would yell at him for swatting his head or falling over dramaturgically. If he had to swat his head, if he could have justified it in the story he could have swatted his head. Otherwise he would break the story. Justify your decision, not after it is made, but before or in the making of it. Serve the story

Take care of each other, here's to a better future

SITI Day 8

SITI Day 8
Spent weekend rehearsing Composition and trying to get some much needed sleep.

Viewpoints with Anne

The idea of different levels of energy. Vertical Energy= The earth, You, and the gods. Horizontal Energy= You and everyone around you. Heavy Energy= Young Energy willing to throw yourself out there. Light Energy= Old energy, conserving itself.

Suzuki at its extreme is too Vertical
Viewpoints at its extreme is too Horizontal.
How do you play with its opposite?

Worked on Topography (floor Pattern) this was the viewpoint that I understood the least and now I thoroughly enjoy playing with it. We had to go to the extreme and set a floor pattern to recognize it, but now I am picking up on it just as easily as Spatial Relationships.

Suzuki with Kelly

Play with Horizontal energy in Suzuki

Breath is food for the body.

Exactitude needs more energy, when in doubt be more exact.

Composition with Leon and Anne.

Go over your day at bedtime. Look at what is happening, not what you want to happen. Close your eyes. What do you remember, what stood out?

How do you create work that leaves an impression? Learn what stays. Know what you really like and cultivate it.

Phenomenology

The thing thats the most important is the thing that you are usually embarrassed by. Vulnerability.

Robert Altman said to pick 5 things from any of his movies that you like or remember and hey are most likely accidents. Plans are ther for accidents. Accidents are what you live off of.

An Actor walking downstage is actually trying not to walk upstage (Brecht) Play with opposites and obstacles

You have the form, but how do you hide the form with humanity?

Question---------->Solution. But find another question in the solution or it will die.

Don't put on a sound cue unless you know how to take it out with just as much if not more vibrancy.

General Comments on our Composition were good. Images stuck with them, however the acting wasn't totally up to snuff. I completely concur with them. It seems like in the general rush to get things done we forgot to spend time thinking about very basic acting questions (who am I, what do I want, what's stopping me from getting it, what can I do to get it) It seems like this is a major problem when time and pressure converge. We think we are good enough to pull it off with middle school acting. But we can't. We are building a container that needs just very strong contents.

We played at the text, we didn't play the text. Don't tell them what it is, let them experience it.

The entire world is asleep, the artists job is to wake it by turning it- Victor Slavski

Don't always try to make homeruns, Make line-drives. Consistency is the key.

Playing the effect then the act

Where are you putting the audiences attention? Put it on the most human act.

More extremes, Big or small, not middle of the road.

Ideas are like kids screaming at you.

Irwin Goffman- Behaviour in Public Places

It's so stupid, but the best theatre is stupid. We want to go there with you. Reveal the wizard behind the curtain. The real magic is making the audience still believe in it after revealing the wizard.

Unity does not mean loss of individuality, just the opposite, more individuality is needed.

Do composition again, not sight specific, but in black box. This time I'm directing.

SITI Day 5

Double Day. Two Suzuki's, two Viewpoints.

Viewpoints with Anne ( her surgery got postponed)

The secret to all art is: You live, then you die. Everything is in a constant struggle with entropy.

She is very fun to Viewpoint with. She is very active with it.

Do it before thinking about it. Don't prepare, just do it before thinking about it.

Garth Fagan's Dance company is known for their jumps. They never prepare for them they just jump and it takes everyone by surprise. Play with surprising yourself.

Suzuki with Ellen

Suzuki with Leon

Concentration isn't about the singular focus, it's about the all encompassing focus. How can you maintain your image in your minds eye, while also focusing on your balance, breathing, and concentration

We've been called the strongest group they've had so far. The problem is that we are being academic about it. We're not enjoying it, we're not savoring it. We're just trying to be perfect.

Small changes that are very miniscule can be huge. Tubby or Not Tubby. To Be or Not To Be. Miniscule change, but enormous.

Viewpoints with Barney

More with the eyes. Don't be Viewpoint Zombies. Is this something they have changed, seen wrong with other people, or are we all trained incorrectly?

Symposium with Anne in the Theater

What are we trying to do in theatre?

1) Trying to create a model society

Stanislavski came to America, Strasberg, Clurman, Adler, and Crawford all saw the work they did. We think they were wowed by the acting ( which they were) but what was the first thing they wanted to do? They wanted to form a group. It was the idea of living together in a model society that started the impetus for The Group Theatre and the further offshoots ( however delusional or far away from the original idea)

Can we get along in the play? Can we get along in the room?

Theatre is the only form about societies.

2)Trying to show a model human being.

Mirror Neurons. A neuron that fires while watching someone do something live. We are actually subconsciously censoring ourselves from repeating it. The more familiar you are with the activity the more your neurons are firing.

Differentiate one moment from the next, that is the actors true job

Acting is a person at his/her peak potential

3)Cultivate Distance and Intimacy

John Conklin at NYU Grad Design always tells his students to Go near or far, never stay in the middle distance.

Real vs. Artificial- If there is only form, there is no life. If there is only reality, there is no form.

Freedom doesn't mean the freedom to do. It means the freedom to not do or not expect. Jared please correct me, but it isn't the freedom of the press or freedom to practice religion, but rather the freedom to not have anyone tell you that you can't practice your religion or the freedom to not have someone stifle your speech.

Certainty always leads to violence. Religion, for all its well meaning intentions, will always lead to violence because of certainty.

4)Reify Courtesy ( reify means to make real)

Chivalry ( and the entire chivalric code) was originally created to treat the other person as if they were dangerous. That way you would treat each other with respect so as not cause any reason to fight.

Courtesy in museums. People are taking pictures on their cell phones of works of art. They are saying I own this. I am bigger than this and I can take it if I want.

Be courteous about space.

Making the space dangerous at the beginning of rehearsal not an hour in to the process.

5) Articulation as access to neuroplasticity

The brain changes by constantly learning something new.

Post-modernism is dead ( as expounded by Anne Bogart, and if anyone in theatre has the right to say that I say she has earned it) Now the search for meaning has begun.

Who's stories are we telling, and how are we telling them?

How you tell your story is how your life becomes. If you tell it as a constant problem, your life will become a constant problem

6) We are changing time

Life is on internet time, we have the ability to make time more elastic in the theatre

Go after it, but don't forget to taste it.

7) Cultivate patience and confusion

It engages the imagination

8) Allow the dead to speak

What you need to create a piece is a Question, and Anchor, and a Structure.

Take care of each other. Here's hoping for a better future

SITI Day 4

Suzuki with Akiko

We've covered the 4 basic positions, 3 sitting statues, and Stomping Shakuhachi. These are the foundation that you build and expand on. We are starting to add in text and really focusing on breath ow.

Viewpoints with J.Ed

Working with Spatial awareness, Tempo, Kinesthetic response.

3 up 4 Down

Collaboration with Brad and Megan

This was the coolest thing I've experienced in a while. We (20 of us) are charged with the task of recreating a painting from several different tiles. We are given jobs (Stakeholders- Presenter, Funder, Board Members, Executive Directors, Artistic Directors, and Arists) that will all work to make this piece of art. However, no one knows what this piece of art looks like. As an artist I can only paint my little patch and hope it matches up with everyone else's. We are making a 4' by 5' mural from an 8" by 10" copy cut up into smaller squares. It has to be on time ( 1 hour) on budget (everything costs money- from the paper ($1,000) to the paint ($2,000), the ability to see the bigger picture for 10 seconds ($3,000) to buying 15 more minutes($30,000)) and it has to exceed the stakeholders expectations. We artists aren't allowed to move closer to other tables to match up tiles- unless we pay. No additional supplies- unless we pay. No changing the picture. We can't leave the table with our picture-unless we pay. The stakeholders can come and go as they please. Executive leaders have to turn in a financial report at the end of every quarter (15 min) We start with $400,000 and fundraising can be done. This is a for-profit model so you want to come in way under budget. Go!

Immediately mass confusion insued- No one communicated with each other. Hierarchies were put in place without notifications. I was an artist so I simply went about my task without much concern with what was going on around me, because I didn't know what was going on around me. Every once in a while my artistic director would come over to give some words of encouragement or ideas that were floating around the room, but it was mainly general chaos. Before we came to the halfway point and our break the Executive directors paid so that all the tiles could leave the table to see how they were fitting together. Now mind you we still didn't know what the picture was and here we are trying to figure out which corners matched. Again, no one was in charge and general hysteria reigned supreme.

We took a break to talk about the experience so far. The executive directors were worrying about the budget, apparently they hadn't been paying attention to it. The stakeholders were worried about the project not being on schedule, and we artists still didn't have a clue what was going on we were just doing our thing. Everyone needed to see the bigger picture. We all needed to know our role in the completion of the task. Work is always going to begin before you say go. Change that and define when you start, otherwise people will just blindly go about the tasks that they know well. I worked quickly, and because of that I would finish 5-10 minutes ahead of my other artists and just sit there because a structure wasn't set up to utilize my speed, or another persons eyes, or another persons sense of color.

We started back ready to jump in, but the executive directors wanted to have a meeting with the "company". When did we become a company? We're just a bunch of individuals now, We were all really worried about the time being used on the meeting. More communication doesn't mean better communication, better communication doesn't mean more. Ellen Lauren (our stakeholder) came in to help giving us a different color orange to better match the original color we were trying to recreate by blending. However she only gave it to us before she got pulled away for something. We had no idea that she never told anyone that she made the decision without telling anyone else. We scrambled in the last 5 minutes t repaint all the orange on the painting to match my one tile. We also found out that there was white within the last 5 minutes, and I had been screaming for white since the beginning. Again it devolved into mass confusion at the end with everyone talking and running around with their heads cut off. But we made it ( with 15 minutes extra bought) and a few creative licenses with the picture. We also came in under budget and made a $66,000 profit. The most of the other groups who also participated.

But, we pulled it together at the last minute and Brad and Megan were taking bets we would never make it. The point had been made. Isn't that how theatre operates most of the time? Nobody is communicating well enough. The actors are doing there thing unaware of what is going on around them. The stakeholders are unaware of what the artists are doing and therefore don't mind coming in to mess with things willy-nilly? Nobody is talking to anybody intelligently? Yet it all comes together at the end?

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Composition went much better in direct response to what we had just experienced.

Take care of each other. Here's hoping for a better future.

SITI Day 3

Viewpoints with Barney ( Rihacek, I absolutely see why you are in love this man, he is a beautiful soul)

Classical Theatre is structured in a vertical line, Hierarchical. Viewpoints flips that over and makes it horizontal. Nothing is more important than the other. No beginning and end (except Time and Space)

Use all 5 Senses. Actors need to see like a painter, Hear like a composer, Feel like a sculptor, smell like a sommelier, and taste like a chef.

We have all noticed something here amongst ourselves and are curious to ask the company if it is a change or if everyone is trained wrong across the country. The word soft focus has never been used. While viewpointing we are encouraged to look at each other. This seems like such a minor change, but it really is drastic. We all got on stage went into soft focus, Zombie face, and were told "No, look around, make your gaze near, far, or infinite. Look at each other but don't stare. Don't stay to long with anything." Is this a change, a progression in Viewpoints? Or have we all been trained badly?

If really pressed, Space is the only Viewpoint.

Coincidence. Co-Incidents

In Viewpoints the actor is the artist and the instrument all at once.

Suzuki with Bondo. ( Bondo has become my new hero, Not to take anything away from Bruce "Zeus" Cromer, but my god, Bondo is a beast)

Suzuki is slowly becoming my favorite thing to do. I can concede to Rihacek the feeling is analogous to the feeling you have after getting a tattoo, skydiving, or sex. Still don't understand smoking though.

Your images and intent are what get you through, but don't just focus on the images to the exclusion of focusing on your body and the moves. Or shifting balance in my case.

No body ever over shoots their leg and loses balance. We are all conserving our balance to the point of not doing it right. What are we afraid of losing? Control? Are we afraid we could fly? That is the point where acting should begin.

Movement class with Barney

Developmental Movement, very similar to Authentic movement, based out of research of fetuses and newborns.

Dance= Conscious movement. Everyone can dance. Some of us just can't dance well.

Homologous Movement- Upper body, lower body. You have six limbs. Head, Arms, Legs, Tail.

Homolateral- Left side or Right side

Translateral- Left/right right /left like walking.

Text with Stephen

All text for the stage is poetic

All poetry is vocal and meant to be heard

The medium of poetry is the human body.

Poetry was created to hold things in memory, to describe intensity and sensuousness, to convey ideas and feeling rapidly and memorably, and to communicate with the dead.


We watched Katzelmacher in the theater this evening. It is a German film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from 1969. It is the structure that SITI is basing their new show off of. The show is called "Who do you think you are?" and it is based off the idea Scientific breakthroughs in Neuroplasticiy. Sounds exciting, eh? Sarcasm doesn't carry very well in my typing, but know that it was drippping with it. I hate,hate, hate this movie. I want to rebel against it. It's cold and unemotional, nothing happens. It worries me the direction I perceive them to be going. I hope and expect to be surprised with the result. I hope!

Composition problems. We need a director, even though the first rule of this piece was no director. We need an editor, there are to many cooks in the kitchen. No one notices the friction or lack of communication when everyone talks and wants there ideas to be heard. Ideas are cheap, which means that you can throw them out there if you want. But they're cheap, which means they will lack a lot of substance as well. So as usual I'm tending to remain quiet. I don't want to step into the role I naturally would and direct. So I'm spending my ideas wisely. This will come back to bite me in the butt.

Take care of each other. Here's to a better future.

SITI Day 3

Viewpoints with Barney ( Rihacek, I absolutely see why you are in love this man, he is a beautiful soul)

Classical Theatre is structured in a vertical line, Hierarchical. Viewpoints flips that over and makes it horizontal. Nothing is more important than the other. No beginning and end (except Time and Space)

Use all 5 Senses. Actors need to see like a painter, Hear like a composer, Feel like a sculptor, smell like a sommelier, and taste like a chef.

We have all noticed something here amongst ourselves and are curious to ask the company if it is a change or if everyone is trained wrong across the country. The word soft focus has never been used. While viewpointing we are encouraged to look at each other. This seems like such a minor change, but it really is drastic. We all got on stage went into soft focus, Zombie face, and were told "No, look around, make your gaze near, far, or infinite. Look at each other but don't stare. Don't stay to long with anything." Is this a change, a progression in Viewpoints? Or have we all been trained badly?

If really pressed, Space is the only Viewpoint.

Coincidence. Co-Incidents

In Viewpoints the actor is the artist and the instrument all at once.

Suzuki with Bondo. ( Bondo has become my new hero, Not to take anything away from Bruce "Zeus" Cromer, but my god, Bondo is a beast)

Suzuki is slowly becoming my favorite thing to do. I can concede to Rihacek the feeling is analogous to the feeling you have after getting a tattoo, skydiving, or sex. Still don't understand smoking though.

Your images and intent are what get you through, but don't just focus on the images to the exclusion of focusing on your body and the moves. Or shifting balance in my case.

No body ever over shoots their leg and loses balance. We are all conserving our balance to the point of not doing it right. What are we afraid of losing? Control? Are we afraid we could fly? That is the point where acting should begin.

Movement class with Barney

Developmental Movement, very similar to Authentic movement, based out of research of fetuses and newborns.

Dance= Conscious movement. Everyone can dance. Some of us just can't dance well.

Homologous Movement- Upper body, lower body. You have six limbs. Head, Arms, Legs, Tail.

Homolateral- Left side or Right side

Translateral- Left/right right /left like walking.

Text with Stephen

All text for the stage is poetic

All poetry is vocal and meant to be heard

The medium of poetry is the human body.

Poetry was created to hold things in memory, to describe intensity and sensuousness, to convey ideas and feeling rapidly and memorably, and to communicate with the dead.


We watched Katzelmacher in the theater this evening. It is a German film by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from 1969. It is the structure that SITI is basing their new show off of. The show is called "Who do you think you are?" and it is based off the idea Scientific breakthroughs in Neuroplasticiy. Sounds exciting, eh? Sarcasm doesn't carry very well in my typing, but know that it was drippping with it. I hate,hate, hate this movie. I want to rebel against it. It's cold and unemotional, nothing happens. It worries me the direction I perceive them to be going. I hope and expect to be surprised with the result. I hope!

Composition problems. We need a director, even though the first rule of this piece was no director. We need an editor, there are to many cooks in the kitchen. No one notices the friction or lack of communication when everyone talks and wants there ideas to be heard. Ideas are cheap, which means that you can throw them out there if you want. But they're cheap, which means they will lack a lot of substance as well. So as usual I'm tending to remain quiet. I don't want to step into the role I naturally would and direct. So I'm spending my ideas wisely. This will come back to bite me in the butt.

Take care of each other. Here's to a better future.

SITI Day 2

SITI day 2
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Suzuki this morning with Aikiko

Face into your discomfort. Don't shy away. Look it in the eye and conquer it. Getting on stage is already a scary thing, conquering that is noble. Acting is a noble thing and was a true art in Japan. Reclaim the heroic mantle. First face into your discomfort and win

Josh and I met Bruce Myers, One of Peter Brooks longtime actors, at Peter Brooks' Hamlet in Chicago and Josh, being the braver of the two of us, went up and asked him a question. He asked "Mr Myers, what advice would you give to a young actor as they go forth in the world?" and without hesitation Bruce Myers said "Put on your armor. No knight or samurai warrior dared step on the battlefield without their armor, why would you step on stage without yours. The stage is your battlefield, your training and preparation is your armor."

What is 100%? Are you giving 100% or merely what is passable? If you can give 100% why not? This comes out of my not being able to grasp the full weight shift needed for balance in Suzuki. But, of course it speaks to acting and all of life. What is 100% Are you giving it?

Find elegance and grace in your work

When you make a mistake, or lose balance, you have a choice: Drop out and let the world know, or re-commit as fast as you can with the aforementioned grace.

Then had Viewpoints with Bondo

Working up to Open Viewpoints, starting at the beginning with Sun Salutations and floor exercises, 12-6-4, and opening awareness with partnered triangles.

How do you keep your energy up? Your tempo? Interest. Just as in Suzuki, the way you keep from falling asleep is interest, losing tempo- interest, losing energy- interest.

Focus on others, keep them in your focus and off yourself. When in pain or feeling bad focus on the other and you will forget yourself.

My feet hurt worse from Viewpoints than in Suzuki

I don't understand people who leave Viewpoints, or especially Suzuki, and run outside to have a cigarette. I just don't get it.

The food is good here. Or maybe my body is needing nourishment.

Composition class with Leon

Creating with the language of theatre

D.W.Griffiths invented montage, Eisentein developed it. Go watch The Battleship Potemkin

Cause and effect in the audience by lining up images in a certain way.

Patterns, not linear narrative. Don't spoon feed an audience.

Directing is more like waiting tables. Don't serve desert at the main course, does the audience need more water, etc.

Slow down time

Directors direct the play, actors direct the role

Jo Ha Kyu Beginning middle end Never have to much Kyu in you Jo, or to much Ha in your Kyu

Circular structures

Make the audience active, let the action continue in their mind, don't always give it to them

Ambiguity is Ok if it leads to a question, not if it leads to ambivalence

Diagonals are powerful because they contain Vertical and Horizontal, Time and space

Play with the audiences perspective, like a movie camera

Play with all the senses

Change what is recognizable

Relationships define the world, we will buy the new world if you define the relationship as being of that world.

Take care of each other. Here's to a better future.

SITI Day 1

SITI day one is over. I'm tired, sore, and energized all at once. I will sleep very well tonight.

Not much to report today, we began last night with an introduction of the company and the 60 participants from all over the world. Just a meet and greet.

This morning was some more introductions and safety lessons, followed by some composition games.

Then three hours of Suzuki!!!

I'm going to be purposefully vague when talking about the work we do in Suzuki and Viewpoints. It would do absolutely no good to write about and explain something that I don't understand and you can only glimpse physically in the moment. I'm sorry. Just know that I will keep everyone informed on Composition, Collaboration, and writing. I'll write a little about my progress in Suzuki and any new discoveries or surprises with viewpoints. I know I'll have them.

Activity vs. Action-

Activity is movement without purpose. Exercise. Action is movement with purpose, with focus. Suzuki is training, not activity. Action, not an exercise. It took me until today to tie in Grotowski's use of Action to Suzuki and the Viewpoints. Grotowski's most famous warm-up tool "the Cat" ( which the company doesn't even use anymore) is an action, every movement has a purpose, a goal, a story. The name of the show they have been working on for almost twenty years is Action! In Suzuki today, hearing that, I had an epiphany. While battling my shaky legs, the sweat pouring down my back, and trying to transfer my weight seamlessly I noticed that when I invented a story or purpose for the movement I thought less about the pain, or I should really say discomfort, and more about the Action! The Grotowski work was so imbued with a focus, intensity, and truth because every movement had a purpose or story. I had forgotten that. Until today. We are so concerned with trying to be perfect, to maintain the form, or just get the form right that we are missing out on the reason for the Action in the first place. Perfection is the end-goal, don't skip the journey to get there. You may never get there. Don't do a near perfect thing so that you can pass for perfection. Don't half ass Suzuki so it looks right, accept the discomfort and invest in the action so that you can move toward perfection.

How many times have we seen an actor drop out of a part without stopping acting or giving up the character. We just know right? You can sense it, feel it, taste it that it's false. That they are going through the motions.

How many times have you? Or I? Why shortchange ourselves?

Jessica Tandy recalled a story about working on Broadway and doing 8 shows a week. Someone asked her "How can you feel those great emotions every night?", and she replied very humbly "I can't feel those things every night. If I'm lucky I feel it three or four times a week.". "But what about all the other nights?" the person asked. "That is when I really on my technique," she replied "I'm always seeking perfection, but when I can't get there I have my technique to move me forward."

Take care of each other. Hear hoping for a better tomorrow.