What happaned in Oregon?

Boy I seriously pooped out on blogging my trip to Oregon. Mostly because I was working the whole time and didn't have a whole lot of tangible activity to report. Here's our beautifully sunlit room in which we spent most of day 2 & 3. There were many beautiful meals, because Emilya always makes sure that we are extremely well fed...
And there were several shows we caught at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the highlight of which was Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, which Juan was in. I'd forgotten how great Miller is, and was surprised at how Shakespearean in tragedy this play is

Theatrical collaboration, especially with people who you don't know very well, and with different backgrounds can be extremely challenging... ESPECIALLY when there is no designation of each person's role in the process and no hierarchy of decision-making in place. I feel fortunate that the two people I'm working with on the U.S. team of Ifdentity are very intelligent, imaginative, reasonable, resourceful and, basically, game.

I regret that we may have spent too much of our time talking about ideas and structures, and not enough time on our feet, figuring out the details of arc and what actually works (and doesn't work). Although we came out of the weekend (and are going into our trip to Spain next week) without a definite structure to our "piece", we do have strong scene-ideas and elements.

A bit I particularly liked was a sequence we made with the 10 yards of ivory muslin. The fabric is light and sturdy enough that we can mask our faces with it, drag each other across the floor on it, wrap ourselves and each other in it.

And then there were these masks...

working it out

Grey, mostly overcast day today, considerably colder than it was yesterday.We were back in our first working day today, refreshing our memories and throwing out a lot of new ideas. During our last work session in April, our exploration of "identity" led us to these thoughts:

Identity is a construct that is fluid and changes based on context. In other words, in the absence of relationship (whether with another individual or with any other entity) identity is moot. One identifies him/herself IN RELATION to an‘other’ -- the ‘other‘ is essential for the process of definition. The other can be an individual, a culture, the state, an institution, God, any other entity; anything that exists outside the self.

Identity functions on several levels – the personal, the socio-political, and the virtual. Identity may be forced upon an individual from the outside, or can be internally generated by the individual. The act of imposing identity begins with the impulse, whether external or internal, to examine , define, or label the individual. The process of constructing an identity to interface with the ‘other’ eventually becomes a process of compartmentalization, categorization and ultimately, fragmentation. The constructed identity (or avatar) can never be/represent the whole that is the person.

American Identity

As “Americans” we are citizens of a nation of immigrants. The mythology of the American Dream is founded on the belief in the freedom to succeed through hard work, without the constraints imposed by class, caste, race, or ethnicity. The reality is that we are essentially a nation of “others” attempting to establish a community and stake claim to our piece of the American Pie. The question of cultural/ethnic/racial identity becomes an imperative which sparks great anxiety, segregation, pride, confusion, contention and dissension. Name, race, facial and physical features are not definitive markers but become elusive signifiers of identification. The question that is repeatedly asked of us is: Where are you from? As if the subject cannot be a person of native origin or does not belong here. As Americans, displacement seems to be part of the given circumstances. Within that, hierarchies and power struggles emerge.

From here, we were filtering through some other ideas -- What is the theatrical identity, theatrical tradition in the U.S., and how do we as artists set ourselves in relation to these?
We shared a bunch of classic American movie clips with each other, since the tradition of cinema, we felt, was one of the strongest performance traditions in this country. Here are some highlights:






We also had this amazing swath of creme colored gauze fabric, which we were playing around with, veiling/unveiling, imprisoning, dragging each other's bodies across the floor with.

In the evening we got to see Our Town in the Globe Theater. It was very chilly in the evening, but beautiful. One of my favorite plays, actually, and one of my favorite playwrights. In fact the production of The Skin of Our Teeth that we put on in high school may have been one of the reasons I continued to pursue theater. Anyway, in the Globe, during the black outs, you could see the stars filling out the sky. Beautiful.

Back in Ashland, OR

I am in Oregon now. It's been 3 months since I was last here, to work on the Ifdentity project with these fine folks, but it feels like a year.
Painfully early flight out of JFK, I had to get up at 4.30am. I met up with Hana and Emilya at the airport, where for some reason, the Westin Hotel was giving out complimentary blankets and pillows. ???
I slept through most of the flight out to SFO. There, Emilya took us into the Red Carpet Club, or whatever it's called -- the business class lounge, or preferred member lounge. Little did I know that it would be a whole alternate universe inside the airport! We went through some very inconspicuous doors that opened into a grand hallway. It felt like we had stepped into a hotel. The lounge itself was pretty simple, but nice. Big cushy chairs, plenty of outlets, complimentary refreshments, etc. We got to Medford, and the weather is amazing, gorgeously dry and warm. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in full swing. After picking up groceries at the food co-op, we unloaded our things in the apartments where we are staying in town (not Buckhorn Springs) and met up with Juan at Amuse Restaurant.
We had been here the last time too -- the food is quite amazing. Extensive wine list, local cheeses, and this time we were in the outside patio where we ate to the accompaniment of a live classical guitarist. Here is Juan looking mighty apprehensive.

We kind of on top of the hill, just a few blocks away from the theaters. The view is amazing.
Emilya and Kevin were going to see the 3 hour 15 minute Othello in the Globe Theater. Hana and I went to catch Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.


But I'm still feeling groggy from all the traveling. I had just spent the last 5 days trying to get back onto NY time, and here I am again on the west coast.
Tomorrow we begin rehearsals.