Work session: 1/28/09

present: Jeff B, Marc, Dale

After a slow start, Dale read a spam email he had received, a lonely-hearts letter from a young Russian woman. It didn’t produce any sparks.

Indeed, we really resisted working at all for a long time. Jeff read Dale’s “341 poem” while Marc perused some of Jeff’s Native American myth poem. Then Jeff asked Dale to read the text.

Dale performed page 14 from Jeff’s work, the Chipmunk monolog, by grabbing a scarf from the tub in the corner and turning his hand into a puppet. This Muppetesque approach to a severely potty-mouthed rodent was very amusing.

Finally, Marc, who had been reading and marking Old Man Wind, read the whole section out loud.

Then he went back and marked the actual speaking parts (plus other phrases) and read those out loud.

These two readings immediately sparked discussion and ideas. Dale suggested that it would be interesting to hear the piece twice (in a putative performance), once in full, and then again in “flash” mode, with just flashes of words and a barrage of images/props/projections that hit the audience with the story but in such a skeletal format that they’re not sure they got it all. (Dale in fact suggested that we might do the skeletal one first, and only later give the audience the full treatment.)

In fact, the discussion continued, the piece actually had a lot to contribute to the putative performance’s putative theme of “creative people in a non-creative milieu.” We never got around to working through the montage experiment that Dale had structured, but he suggested that an audience would be intrigued to see a repeat of such a montage overlaid the end of the Old Man Wind section when he’s remaking the four boys into new forms.

Marc suggested (and these are barebones notes, to be filled out in comments):

  • ritualized movement (Grotowski) which accompanies narrative, but does not necessarily elaborate or underline it
  • (here’s the movement he described as an example:
  • “unhinging one’s mind”: becoming a vessel for the text
  • “fighting against the narrative”
  • coming up with a “framework” for the evening’s work, like the YouTube above of Akropolis, in which a Romantic Polish poem involving encounters with Old Testament heroes is set within a concentration camp; not necessary for a successful evening, but something to be considered; a metaphor

Jeff talked about the underlying Native American concerns of the myth, the West as a darkening land=Death; the IronMan = the white man with his technological gifts; the self-sufficiency of Old Man Wind, who refuses IronMan’s offerings and relies instead on his own cultural artifacts; the children, unsalvageable after contact with IronMan, return to Earth.

We discussed an evening which could encompass a lot of the material we’ve generated so far and ways that might play out.

We resolved to keep playing and generating all kinds of material. Shape and show must come later.

NEXT: FEB. 4, 6:30, NSOD

  • TEXTS: Old Man Wind [doc]
  • PATHS: Vocal Sequence; Montage episode
  • HOMEWORK:
    • (Neo-Futurist scripts, always)
    • keep bringing in text, either randomly selected from one’s own library, or some online library like Forgotten Books; multiple sources OK; we’re dumping these in our box for use… somehow
    • Montage assignment based on Structuring Drama Work

Pig Pieces

JB asked about some things I’m putting together for Newnan School of Dance’s Spring Recital: soundscapes for a version of the Three Little Pigs. So I’ve rerecorded some as mp3s. Hope the playback works. Make sure your connection speed is at least 1mb/sec. And I’ve still had some stuttering playback problems, so I’ve had to re-try the links a few times before they would run uninterrupted. If anyone knows how to solve that, let me know.

I stole a recording of the original Disney/Frank Churchill version of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,” which, along with a recording of part of the tune played on a whistle, was my only source material. I subjected those two samples to all manner of atrocities through Plogue Bidule and the TX Modular (two lovely shareware processing interfaces), recording my results with WireTapper (a grand must-have item). I then began to “arrange” some of those samples of digital manipulation with GarageBand. Yes, you will hear a few percussion loops not culled from the original material (fewer than you may think) and some midi sweetening, though even with that I tried to remain true to my “tone row.” The unarranged samples are also fun listening. Maybe I’ll post more in a day or two.

The NSD choreographers will listen to a bunch of tracks (I’m still assembling them) and make decisions about which bits fit what parts of the dance, etc.

Press the blue buttons for stutter-free playback.

pig-10-reduced

high-modernist-electronica

pig-6

pig-5

pig-4-reduced

pig-3-reduced-more

another-pig

pig-2

pig-8-reduced

pig-7-reduced

pig-9-reduced

Work session, 1/21/09

present: Marc, Dale, Jeff B

Dale brought in his script, “We’re queer [pdf],” and Marc insisted that we read through it, as a stalling tactic to avoid the Vocal Sequence.

But then we did begin looking at the entire Vocal sequence. Dale has printed out a cheat sheet [pdf] with all 20 parts and their descriptions, and Marc suggested that he begin by going through the first three (which is accepted practice), and then we were to call out other parts and he’d explore them. That way we could tell which one he was doing and record our impressions and questions about each one.

After he was through, we quizzed him about a few of the moments/parts in order to clarify what we saw, and we discussed some ways that the results of such exploration could be used in a final product.

Dale volunteered to try it, and we did the same process. Finally Jeff took the plunge. [Flesh out the experience in the comments, please.]

Dale asked that we re-read “We’re queer” and critique for effectiveness: how to make the point, how to keep it light and funny but pointed, etc.

Jeff departed, and Dale and Marc chatted a moment further. Marc had the idea of performing the same text as a moment of awful self-discovery among the characters. We read through it in that vein, and it becomes mordantly funny that way. Dale suggests that we perform it straight, as it were, and then later in whatever evening it ends up in, the second way.

We didn’t get to an idea for an exercise Dale had, called “Montage.” See Assignments below.

NEXT: Jan. 28, 6:30, NSOD

  • TEXTS: Jeff’s Myth [doc], “We’re queer [pdf],
  • PATHS: Vocal Sequence duos
  • HOMEWORK:
    • (Neo-Futurist scripts)
    • keep bringing in text, either randomly selected from one’s own library, or some online library like Forgotten Books; multiple sources OK; we’re dumping these in our box for use… somehow
    • an idea from Structuring Drama Work: Montage exercise <–download the text for the full assignment

Work Session, 1/14/09

present: Marc, Dale, Jeff B, Barbara

Shortish session tonight. Dale put up the poster version of Marc’s part-2 [rtf] that we had analyzed back in December and Marc chatted about what he saw.

Then Marc started us off on a quick toss exercise using the Vocal Sequence as a basis. This lasted about 30 minutes, using the text She sounds like she can no longer tolerate anything the rest of them are saying.

We sat and talked about the process, the ways it might be useful and some of the things we noticed when we were working. One thing we agreed on was that it would be very helpful to videotape our work, and/or to have more people involved who could watch and notate things they found interesting. Marc talked about using that kind of process in his past work.

One of our concerns, articulated by Barbara, was the uncomfortable feeling we had about movement. Dale suggested that we get one of the NSOD teachers, Annette, to come teach us contact improv as a means of developing those skills.

Dale had written a piece, a simple catalog/list of the items on his totally trashed desk. Jeff read it for us. We talked about having a video/slideshow to accompany it.

Dale brought up a couple of shows currently in NYC that caught his eye because it seemed that they had used the same kinds of processes that we’ve been playing with. The discussion turned to our eventual “results,” and when Marc asked “What is it you want to see?,” Dale asked everyone to envision a performance by us and to scribble down notes.

They were as follows:

Marc:

  • informal & prof0undly altering, at once
  • something we found unexpectedly
  • somewhat musical, somewhat overwhelming
  • I am not an earnest person, but I like to travel miles in all directions
  • 2 hrs. of Jeff laughing at me
  • something kind of thick
  • …and stories, of course

Barbara:

  • minimal costumes/set/props
  • lights, voice, movement, text* leveraged for an expression of what’s beautiful & true about ourselves
    • *the texts are questions, theorems, proofs, writings, stories, character

Dale:

  • familiar vs. unfamiliar texts
  • choral deconstruction
  • postmodern pastiche: skits, monologs, more
  • moments of true emotion
  • topic(s) that resonate with our audience
  • !!organic forward movement –> beginning, middle, end
  • comedy, confession, confusion
  • moments of elaborate stagecraft in a poor theatre kind of way
  • roll of white butcher paper, strewn, crumpled, utilized

Jeff:

  • Us.
    • (Not NYC)

Jeff and Barbara had to leave early to attend to family; Marc and Dale stayed and chatted about how to proceed and what shape our explorations might take.

  • Marc is going to think about ways to develop Vocal Sequence duo/trio work.
  • Dale has an idea for a piece, “We’re Queer,” that might give us a topic to work with, i.e., the nature of being a creative person in an uncreative setting. (Marc, talk in comments about your idea of a hoax, and then see here and here.)
  • Dale will look at possible exercises based on the ideas in Structuring Drama Work. (Keep your eye on the blog between now and then. If he comes up with something, it will appear here as an assignment to bring stuff in for.)

NEXT: Jan. 21, 6:30, NSOD

  • TEXTS: part-2, Jeff’s Myth [doc]
  • PATHS: Vocal Sequence
  • HOMEWORK:
    • (Neo-Futurist script)
    • keep bringing in text, either randomly selected from one’s own library, or some online library like Forgotten Books; multiple sources OK; we’re dumping these in our box for use… somehow
    • possible assignment based on Structuring Drama Work

Work Session, 1/7/09

present: Dale, Jeff B., Barbara, Jeff A.

Dale unrolled the triple-poster printout of Marc’s part-2 text [rtf], only to find that instead of the version everyone worked on in the 12/17/08 session, it was a clean copy, and one that had not printed the right-hand third of the last poster. Perfect!

We began with the first five steps of the Vocal Sequence again as a warm-up.

Jeff Allen then gave his new Neo-Futurist monolog to Barbara to read. It was a variation on the “I need to write something” trope, and it worked.

Jeff A. also had us read through “Give & Take,” a hysterical Neo-Futurist skit from 200 more Neo-Futurist plays. It would be fun to add to an evening of theatre.

We returned to part-2. Barbara suggested that we brainstorm as many ways to perform the text as we could thing of. Dale set the timer for two minutes, and we came up with:

  1. a monolog
  2. rearrange pieces of it
  3. backwards
  4. dramatic interpretation
  5. change the verbs
  6. as a dance
  7. mime, holding up the words
  8. metaperformance, like Jeff’s idea from last session
  9. choral anthem
  10. audition piece
  11. diagram the sentences
  12. as a Marx Bros. routine
  13. grade it as homework
  14. edit (??)
  15. make it rhyme
  16. talk back to it, sass it
  17. cycle through film genres
  18. props, without words
  19. hand puppets
  20. nude
  21. as a musical

Dale then used the random number generator to pick one, #4, dramatic interpretation, and we gave ourselves another two minutes:

  1. black box/empty set
  2. Chekhov
  3. political thriller
  4. children’s bedtime story
  5. Noh theatre
  6. gossiping over tea
  7. medieval mystery play
  8. opera
  9. absurdist piece
  10. elementary class play
  11. Julie Andrews vehicle
  12. dysfunctional family drama
  13. police procedural
  14. therapy session
  15. Seussian tale (??not sure of the handwriting)

Again with the random number generator, and again #4, the bedtime story. Barbara began telling us wee ones the bedtime story, and we both interspersed lines and repeated lines and added our own commentary. It was interesting.

We went back to the main list with the random number generator, and we got #1, monolog. Dale tackled it as a solo piece; miraculously, he convinced everyone he was making perfect sense.

Next was #6, dance, and Jeff danced the first page. We then drew #9, choral anthem, and skipped it.

Finally, Barbara took on #12, audition piece, and Dale was her auditioner, requesting expansions and redirections of the piece. Jeff was the janitor.

As a quickie ending, we threw out #15, Marx Bros., and got a couple of laughs with some delivery. Mike Funt: download the text and turn it into a Marx Bros. routine.

It occured to us that we could take the text and do an evening’s work with it, starting perhaps with the monolog so that the audience could get the whole piece at once, then hitting bits and pieces of the text through the filters of our list (and other ideas). The audience would begin to form their own connections and ideas, perhaps.

It was also suggested as a performance that we could have a pool of available texts, to be matched randomly with performance modes, and improvise performances that way.

Ideas for Neo-Futurist monologs:

  • grocery list; e.g., a piece about one’s grocery list, perhaps the one you’d like people to think you have
  • desktop; e.g., what’s on your desk and why

NEXT: Jan. 14, 6:30, NSOD

  • TEXTS: part-2, Jeff’s Myth [doc]
  • PATHS: Vocal Sequence
  • HOMEWORK:
    • Neo-Futurist script
    • five pages of text, either randomly selected from one’s own library, or some online library like Forgotten Books; multiple sources OK