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
I am so doggone relieved and happy to have broken through my own reluctance to just dive in. What’s deliriously painful now is that my true manic core of excitement for this kind of work is getting charged up. Just once a week is going to kill me.
I do want to encourage all of us to find cyber-surrogate ways to keep our play and exploration going the rest of the week. How can we continue with a kind of give and take?
The press for immediate achievement of finished material will creep in (it already has…Dale). I for one urge us to remember it is but once a week we meet in a room together. We’ve got a great deal of nurturing and investigating ahead of us. Let’s relax and pace ourselves. If we are itching to meet an audience, we can always either do a “work in progress” (with no “talk backs” afterwards, please) or a “play” of some kind.
I realize the eight hundred pound gorilla in the room is my being something of a masterless man and having too much time to devote to this via blogging or text-making or whatever. I do slap myself. I can still discern what is real. Fear not. No exasperation with anyone but myself is implied.
Actually, between domestic duties and my “commission” from NSD, I, too, fret about time for lacunagroup. In fact, my often manic solution is to walk about the house doing nothing and thus seriously confusing Roger.
“What do you do?” I confuse my dog.
I stand chastised. But honestly, I’m not pushing for any kind of performance any time soon. April 12, 2010, is my projected “worry about accomplishing something” date.