Theatre stuff

The upper floors of this building are for the Institut d'Etudes Etrangeres, and then Ainsi de Suite, is in the basement. I really will try to get a picture of the theater itself at some point.

I haven't written that much about the play here, so I can't remember if I've really explained it all? Here's an excerpt from the website that explains the gist of it. Read if interested, if not, skip on down.

Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.” Sir Isaac Newton

April in 2009 will be the starting point of a world tour for the company Ainsi de Suite. Our company of actors and technicians from four different continents will journey to Palestine, Israel, Korea, Cyprus, Mexico, the United States and Berlin in order to present a play that has for its only decor the walls that separate, humiliate and crush the last chance of peace between peoples by playing a game of extremes.

Devised around notions of physical theatre and sound, this project, “Duo Pour Un Mur” envisions as part of its goal a few weeks before its performance to collaborate with local artists (dancers, musicians, actors, painters, photographers, and filmmakers...on both sides of the “wall”) in order to reach a public of all ages and persuasions without any problems of readability or understanding.

It is in this way that each stage of our meetings across the world will constitute the cutting stone for an ever-evolving performance until November 9, 2009 when we reach Berlin for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall : a memory that must not let us forget the depressing structures of the builders of the 21st century.

A film featuring how this project affects the understanding and vision of participating actors possibly along with a recorded performance will be presented and will serve as the point of departure for debate after November 28, 2009 in other countries around the world that, saved from these cement structures, are victims of another kind of construction : virtual walls more and more widespread and no less shameful.

Given that the objective of this project is above all to open up a dialogue on a subject rarely discussed (how many among us are capable of reciting the long list of these “Walls of Peace” ?), this project under no circumstances has to do with criticizing Israelis, Americans or creating controversy—but creating a genuine exchange of ideas, of understanding, of informing as well as being informed, of being changed as well as, on our small scale, creating change. In short, we anticipate creating a wall through a performance that, of necessity, must rise above in order to maybe shout and certainly to laugh...together.

So, what am I doing? The week before we went to Paris, I met with Pélopidas on Tuesday afternoon to help him and Vincent, the sound guy, with the some changes they're making to the "bande de son" for the show. Thus far, they've been to most of the countries listed, and they interview people in each place, so Tuesday, we were listening to the interviews and piecing them together into a reel that will play at one point during the play. It is very reminiscent of the sonnet montage in Tempest, minus the music. It was interesting, even though trying to follow commentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in French was kind of exhausting.

I did that again with them yesterday for about 6 hours, although they always take a lunch break. Pélopidas loves this café next to the theater and claims it's the last real Marseillaise cafe, so we usually go there, where everyone knows his name, and they sometimes make him sandwiches even though they don't really serve them. He always jokingly offers me a whiskey. I usually just get coffee though.Pélopidas is so passionate about this project (and everything else), and whenever he gets an idea he jumps in the air and pumps his fist or slaps me on the back and says "That's going to kill! It'll kill them!" in French.

Thursday before last, I got to sit in on a rehearsal, which was really cool. There are two violinists (one of whom is also an actor), a keyboardist, two dancers, one dancer/actor, and then Pélopidas in the show. The music is really pretty, and there are some great dance sequences, and the whole process is so collaborative (also reminiscent of Tempest in that way too), so it is just really fun to be involved. All of the actors/musicians are really nice and joke around a lot, and Pélopidas asks my opinion sometimes. So far, the only actually helpful thing I've done is run the sound for them (starting and stopping a cd player) during part of one rehearsal, but Pélopidas is grateful even though he's really the one doing me a favor. He always apologizes for things being tedious and wants to make sure I'm not bored, but I really never am.

This Thursday, I went to part of their rehearsal in another theater. There will be a performance in Aix on November 10 at the city's biggest theater, and Pélopidas wrote me into it for about 10 seconds! ha. I walk onstage pantomiming talking on the phone and greet my friend. Someone else has been doing this, but they're always changing stuff, so he asked if I'd do it since I'll be there helping with the show anyway. I think I will just be run crew of sorts, even though I'm helping with sound in rehearsals when Vincent can't come.

ALSO, I had my first class with Pélopidas at the theater on Monday night. It's a workshop for French students and foreigners, but the ratio is about 2 to 1. There are two other American girls and one girl each from Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Korea. The Korean speaks very minimal French, and I am impressed that she signed up (and did just fine!) We did lots of improv exercises that were similar to things I've done in classes before, but slightly different. The two hours went by very quickly, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Oh, also, Pélopidas isn't charging me for the class, which is nice, even though I totally would have paid for it.

Theatre-wise, it would be better for me to be here in the Spring because then Pélopidas teaches a theater class at Vanderbilt, and the students in the class I'm currently taking have the option of putting on a show. I'm not considering staying for various reasons, but still it is kind of cool to think about. Besides the fact that I'm really enjoying everything I'm doing, it'll be awesome to have this stuff to put on my resume.

Sorry to write another long post, but I wanted to give specifics, since I have been remiss in doing that. so much catch-up to do!