audience response
The most touching audience response to our Arad performances came from Renata, one of the women who works at our hotel. POONARC was her first experience with experimental performance, and she said that she'll seek out 'underground theater' from now on. It was really the smile on her face that made her words so moving.
warmth
It has mercifully gotten very hot in Arad, which means that the theater has actually become quite comfortable. As late as three days ago I was trying to make plans for people to wear sweaters and full pants through the performances but with the temperature rising, the costumes have been fine as is.
We opened yesterday to a relatively good house. There's a second performance tonight and then a few welcome days off until we kick off the tour to Timisoara, Cluj, Odorhei and Bucharest.
-Nick
hand saw. . .
I've been working on making the jacks for holding up the blackboards when we tour. . .
For the record, this is the first time I've ever actually built something out of wood using a hand saw. . .
It may take hours to cut a few pieces of wood, but on the bright side I'm getting ripped.
-Nick
music is a beautiful thing
today towards the end of rehearsal, we worked on some text layered with music. the actors were talking about manipur, romanian and japanese cinema while sizzle, makigami, cha and shoichiro worked their magic alongside it. i was thoroughly impressed by all 4 musicians, because they are so different in their own right, and yet, their individual music can live together in one space and all at the same time. they are masters at collaboration and improv.
it's a very exciting thing to watch many artists with all different kinds of skills come together and make something from moment to moment and seemingly out of thin air. although there are many disagreements during our 12 hour days, it makes the times when everyone is in agreement that much more special. i felt a little bit of that at our romanian round table tonight.
rumble
much has happened in the past day or so. the singers, sizzle and makigami have arrived along with the japanese team from kamakura. rie and theo are also here. dinner was like a big family reunion. in addition to all these people arriving, ioana will be leaving us today. she will be sorely missed!
the performers, yoshiko, and the production team had a discussion yesterday in the theatre when we realized there was a communication gap between the performers and the administration faculty of the festival and POONARC. the discussion catapulted when the performers had a run-in with the festival people about how their train tickets were going to be reimbursed. even though it was clear to some people in POONARC, it was not made clear to the performers how they were going to be reimbursed.
i'm learning that fighting bureaucracy is common wherever you go, but the way you fight can be done in very different ways. this was witnessed by the romanian performers who really articulated what their demands were concerning this show and the festival, as well as the immediacy of their demands. it was particularly insightful when ioana said during the discussion, "if you want to see what romania is like, here it is."
the pigeon saga continued. . .
So, in our continuing effort to make peace with our feathered friends, I just put up two large plastic bird diapers (think sails in miniature) on each side of the stage. They should significantly reduce the chance of mid-performance bombings. It should also mean less mopping on a daily basis. . . .
Basically everybody who isn't already here arrives at some time tonight. Hopefully the hotel is bracing itself for a POONARC invasion.
soichiro and ursula are here!
yesterday evening, soichiro and ursula made it to Arad safely. Today, we have been working in the theatre all day intensively. mostly on the text and 'gap' section. The show opens in 10 days...
some days ago
After traveling in 35 countries, it is time to take a careful look at what is really happening right now, right here, and not rely on old memories to create the present moment. But at the same time, it is necessary not to forget our history -- personal and private and public histories. These histories inform me, and inform my view of each yellow, pink, or violet wall as I wander through the streets of Arad. I could be in a medieval town in Estonia, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, but I am not. And there are similarities, of course, but there are so many unique things that cannot be duplicated here.
I am American.
I came to the USA in 1952, from my mother’s womb.
Her mother came to the USA in 1917 on a boat, after crossing China to Japan.
I do not speak Russian.
I do not speak Romanian.
I speak a bit of French and Japanese – enough to get by.
I hear languages and I know so many words, sometimes it is as if I have heard that spoken in a past life.
I love Arad.
I hope you love it too.
from days ago, some thoughts...
How do you feel about the cubes?
Thank you to Arad for keeping 27 people in an incubation tank for so long. This type of residency is impossible, any in the world. There is nothing to compare with the hotel “class”, the daily soup, walking through the city of Arad, the Old Theater walls dripping with fairy dust, the staff at Casa Cultura, the atmosphere of warm support.
Nothing.
We remember the moments or take each moment and pick it apart and dissect it until the details shout to us. Screaming to me, the goblin in the Hotel Arad garden terrace restaurant. Waterfall on the rock.
How do you feel about the cubes?
My agenda is to have a good time.
MY AGENDA IS TO HAVE A GOOD TIME.
If you have a hard time walking, then lift your legs higher and your knees and your spirit will follow.
We have so much to do, and we have done so much.
How DO you feel about the cubes?
How do YOU feel about the cubes?
How do you feel about the CUBES?
day off
So, what is the meaning the days off? Especially, when you spend them together with the people you work 10 hours a day. Today we got a day off, so Kristine, Marnie and Nick and I spent most of the evening near Mures. The good thing about this day was that we got the chance to talk about things we like, life, to interpret some “drama” we saw near the pool and to read our fortune. Funny things to do :), very constructive day, in my opinion..
headway
we made much headway yesterday with the text, thanks to Jake's direction. It was really intriguing and wonderful to watch us struggle with the english-romanian language barrier especially when trying to make sense of the direction that was given and seeing it translated by each individual into their text. Ioana did an amazing job translating throughout most of it. I started to believe that theatre amongst any kind of people is possible, or perhaps, that theatre is a medium that allows for many kinds of communication to happen simultaneously.
today on our day off we will go to the park to lie on the grass and memorize some lines.
how old are you?
In the first days here, I guess none of us really knew the age of people in the group. Well, in the second day we found out that Nick has just turned 26. But it was a great exercise trying to identify what age people have. Now we are at the point where we pretty much now what age people are and the funny thing for me is that I have imagined that everyone was older that I’ve estimated, regardless of what country they come from. On an average, I have cut about 5 to 10 years out of people’s real age. So, what was deceiving me? I guess is their faces and attitude, their dressing style and energy. We almost look like a bunch of teenagers with a lot of energy. And now, Yoshiko’s dinner dance pops into my mind. I wish I could see more “mature” people do that.
a blog for thursday
it is our day off tomorrow. tensions are high because many folks will be arriving in the next few days.
the theatre is very cold, so we all look like bundled eskimos inside a cave when rehearsing in there. the theatre has a nice, dark atmosphere.
i feel like we are soon approaching the next phase of poonarc... we are ready to greet the second shipment with open arms! it is our day off tomorrow. tensions are high because many folks will be arriving in the next few days. the theatre is very cold, so we all look like bundled eskimos inside a cave when rehearsing in there. the theatre has a nice, dark atmosphere. i feel like we are soon approaching the next phase of poonarc... we are ready to greet the second shipment with open arms! it is our day off tomorrow. tensions are high because many folks will be arriving in the next few days. the theatre is very cold, so we all look like bundled eskimos inside a cave when rehearsing in there. the theatre has a nice, dark atmosphere. i feel like we are soon approaching the next phase of poonarc... we are ready to greet the second shipment with open arms!
The Sails are up!
The sails were hung yesterday, they're up. . . .they move. . . they're beautiful in the space. . . what more could we ask for. . . except chalkboards, which also got hung yesterday!
The dance floor comes today and then we're basically moved in!
Also. . . we caught a photo of the baby pigeon living in the space. . . a terribly cute fluff of feathers that breathes very quickly . . .
-Nick
lilacs and water with gas
During rehearsal, Yoshiko picked up a small piece of dust in the wide open gym space and looked at it in silence. She told us, the performers, that she is trying to find the uniqueness of each one of us, but it is like finding this small piece of dust in a very wide and dark space. Since beginning our movement work here in Arad, I've been thinking a lot about how we are weaving together a very large quilt in very different color yarns. I am also noticing the uniqueness of this neighborhood: the fresh lilacs and small white flowers that people carry home in batches, the great construction project that is taking place in order to replace the tracks for the trams that everybody rides on, the different color water bottles that indicate wether you are drinking with gas or without...
i am starting to see the individual movement of this city, and i hope that moving inside this city will help to illuminate the different parts of me that are unique as well.
-KHL
New people and new things
The first few days we have spent in the rehearsals were a combination of excitement for what the next weeks will bring, a horrifying feeling that almost a month away from home it just a bit too much and a big bag of questions about how on earth will I be able to perform, since I am not a professional artist.
Some of those feelings are still there, some just as intense and some less. Though, answers start to come, now the performance starts to get a shape in my head and, with some of the questions, I will just have to deal for the rest of my staying here.
One answer I got these days is that people in the world of theatre, dance and performance are really friendly. Maybe it is connected with the fact that their work is always connected to new people. And since you need to rely on your new partners, well, you just have to trust them. Thus, simple, open interaction with others comes as naturally. It is a great lesson to me. One important thing I will take home.
-Ioana
A short daily report
The pigeons are still here. . . . we're making peace with them. We'll also be taking the precaution of using a set of secondary screens so any crafty bird-bombers won't be able to destroy the first set that's made to tour.
We're almost done blocking the cubes for Danspace with the new performers and as soon as we finish that we'll start reconfiguring all the positions for the theater here in Arad.
Oh. . .and good news, our dvd players and projectors are working just fine on the 240v. We've been a little worried about them. Now all we have to do is find a transformer for the two record players that are used in the show so that we can plug them in without starting a fire or blowing up any records.
-Nick
bird poop
This show is developing a very curious relationship with bird poop. When Kristine and I built chalkboards for the set at Yoshiko's place in upstate New York, we worked in her friend Aat's barn. The floor was completely covered with bird poop from the last fall and the early spring. (Barns being particularly friendly to roosting birds) After painting the chalkboards we let them dry overnight and at least two of them were stealth bombed in the night by a rogue sparrow.
Now we're in Arad, and the theater is (at least for the next day or so) inhabited by a number of pigeons who've made their roosts in the brick wall and the rafters. While welcome guests to most of us (Rie Ono, our lighting designer, not included) There is some legitimate concern that the performers may be splattered in the course of the show. (The pigeons have already done ample amounts of work decorating the floor) Today, as the plan exists, we will chase out the pigeons and board up the various holes and gaps that have been letting them in.
Now my only questions is how the bird poop will become manifest at Danspace. . . At least, being hit by bird poop bodes of good fortune. We appear to be working on a very fortunate show!
-Nick