So, Dr. Fletcher wanted the undergrads (or interested MFAs) to think of an uncanny experience created purposely for performance. But since creepy, horror flicks are out of the question--darn!--I suddenly remembered my time, when I lived in NYC, at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. My friend flew up to the City to visit me for a few days, and I promised her I would take her to all the sight-seeing attractions. We visited the Olive Garden, where I worked in Times Square, to have a nice lunch (with too much Bianca Princiapato wine I might add). She begged me to take her inside the over-crowded museum, and even offered to pay for my ticket. I was feeling pretty toasty after our lunch and was up for anything...so I followed her all around the showroom. See the video below for a tour. FYI, this is not my friend, but some random lady who posted her experience on YouTube.
She gives a lengthy tour of the attraction...don't feel like you have to watch the whole clip. Notice which figures look more real than others.
NYC Time Square Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum
Supposedly Madame Tussaud began making death masks for the wealthy in her day, but she later decided to sculpt statues of wax for display. You can find YouTube videos of artists sculpting famous figures with the exact technique that Madame used herself. I watched the making of Lady Gaga and it was fascinating. Every little detail is addressed from her "real skin tone" to her "iconic looks" to even her tattoos. The hair is made with real hair and designed/created individually by strand. You hear the artists talk about their work and reference the wax figure as "she" or "her style", etc. It is eerie how much these figures look like their real muses.
But here is where the performance comes in. The tour is set up like a social event "...where all the stars are here to mingle with us"(from the happy tour guide in the clip). Music is cranked up, a concession area with drinks, snacks, and alcohol are available for a fortune, and the public is participating in a celebratory event. I remember tourists all around me standing by the figures, taking pictures, talking to them, touching their hands, stroking their hair...I had a mixed experience. Some wax figures looked more life-like than others as you will see from the video clip. I remember walking with my friend and stopping by each wax statue, but there were times where I found myself spooked by all the uncanny replicas of past and present stars. I guess I couldn't stop thinking about the campy House of Wax horror flick. Might one of these figures start talking to me? Will one of them actually be an employee of the museum who suddenly scares the CRAP out of me? I was fascinated by the realistic, aliveness of the sculptures. The attraction was made to enjoy and celebrate the accomplishments and lives of influential people. Artist people made copies of famous people to mingle with tourist people...weird. I wasn't drawn in as much as I expected, but somehow oddly distanced from the whole experience. Perhaps the uncanny creates an alienation...or perhaps it allows a constant tug and pull during a performance. It captures our attention yet allows us to remain objective.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
All you need is LOVE...
Good theatre is powerful. I'm not simply talking about an actor's performance, but a message that is communicated in a specific, provoking manner. The direction of a piece that is clear and evokes the message in a visceral way. The company involved with a work that is passionate about the cause. Through our journey in Performance Theory class, that is a common theme among new movements and styles. An artist or company was excited about a cause or message, and literally pushed the bounds and explored ways of performance to express those ideas.
Maggie's personal story of the gang members storming the tour bus really made me stop and rethink some instances in my life where I could have spoken up or resisted a wrong. What can be done in the face of genocide, terrorism, disaster, injustice? And is theatre the answer? Yes and no. In the moment of such an experience we are shocked, terrified, justifying our "cop in the head", numb, or even insensitive to the circumstances and people around us. But I would venture to share, from my Christian point of view, that love and respect for others overcomes that. "Love is a strong as death," writes Saeed Abedini, American citizen imprisoned in Iran, in a letter to the Christian Church in 2012. Or as I quoted Ray Comfort in my last blog post, "Maybe everyone is made of individuals..." He was referencing the tragedy of the Holocaust when a woman, he was interviewing, wondered where the world was and why everyone didn't unite sooner to save the victims. How can this be translated into theatre since everyone doesn't share my same worldview, you say? The love of creating something powerful and new to cause the world to think not only about themselves, but the social and political landscape that envelops them--simple.
What is the next step? Maybe we need some more Brecht. Maybe we need to throw some guerilla-type invisible theater into the mix. Maybe we need to do some more community-based work in schools and community centers. Maybe we need to hold forums in the public square. Or perhaps we need to do something shocking that grabs the attention of the world, like sit in an art museum and slap someone's face or be present with someone. There isn't a definitive answer yet, and that is why all these forms and ideas emerged. Theater is subjective and affects its audience in different ways. But we need to continue TO DO...to do work that means something to us as artists and to the community.
Maggie's personal story of the gang members storming the tour bus really made me stop and rethink some instances in my life where I could have spoken up or resisted a wrong. What can be done in the face of genocide, terrorism, disaster, injustice? And is theatre the answer? Yes and no. In the moment of such an experience we are shocked, terrified, justifying our "cop in the head", numb, or even insensitive to the circumstances and people around us. But I would venture to share, from my Christian point of view, that love and respect for others overcomes that. "Love is a strong as death," writes Saeed Abedini, American citizen imprisoned in Iran, in a letter to the Christian Church in 2012. Or as I quoted Ray Comfort in my last blog post, "Maybe everyone is made of individuals..." He was referencing the tragedy of the Holocaust when a woman, he was interviewing, wondered where the world was and why everyone didn't unite sooner to save the victims. How can this be translated into theatre since everyone doesn't share my same worldview, you say? The love of creating something powerful and new to cause the world to think not only about themselves, but the social and political landscape that envelops them--simple.
What is the next step? Maybe we need some more Brecht. Maybe we need to throw some guerilla-type invisible theater into the mix. Maybe we need to do some more community-based work in schools and community centers. Maybe we need to hold forums in the public square. Or perhaps we need to do something shocking that grabs the attention of the world, like sit in an art museum and slap someone's face or be present with someone. There isn't a definitive answer yet, and that is why all these forms and ideas emerged. Theater is subjective and affects its audience in different ways. But we need to continue TO DO...to do work that means something to us as artists and to the community.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
America's Holocaust
A topic that I feel strongly against is abortion. I know this is a very sensitive subject that
still pervades our political backdrop today.
I believe human life is a gift from God, and no one has the right to
kill off babies in the womb--sorry, not even the mother. I am aware that my conservative stance to abortion is not a popular view. According
to the ALL (American Life League) website, the total number of abortions in the
United States alone from 1973-2011 is 54.5 million+ babies. ALL’s statistics
break it down as:
234 abortions per
1,000 live births (according to the Centers for Disease Control) Abortions per year: 1.2 million
Abortions per day: 3,288
Abortions per hour: 137
9 abortions every 4 minutes
1 abortion every 26 seconds
These statistics include only surgical and medical abortions.
Ray Comfort, Evangelist and Director of Living Waters Ministry
in California, produced an award-winning documentary, 180, in 2011. Ray begins by
asking random people on the street who Hitler was. Amazingly, many young people had no idea who
Hitler was or what the Holocaust entailed.
He continues with a series of “what would you do” scenarios that
ultimately lead the interviewees to the question, “Do you value human life?”
When they answer, “Yes, of course”, Ray counters with another question, “How do
you feel about abortion?” He shockingly
compares the Jewish Holocaust to an American “Pro-choice” Holocaust. He spins the reasoning of the interviewees by
connecting their remarks to the Nazi agenda…which makes for a very powerful,
thought-provoking experience. A young
woman who seemed moved by Ray's questions about the Holocaust remarked, “What can
one person do…I mean everyone needed to rise up against him [Hitler]...” Ray illustrates his stance by answering, “Maybe
everyone is made up of individuals who would say I could never bury human
beings alive…” Many of the participants of the film seem to have changed their
views on abortion, or made a 180. It was
Ray Comfort's hope that the film would be viewed by millions online to change their view from “pro-choice”
to “pro-life”. Below is a clip from the
movie:
My demonstration is a mixture of activist techniques to include some community-based reenactments, die-ins, and hauntings. I would organize the
demonstration in a crowded, public area, like university campuses or public parks and arenas, to get the most response. I would
surround the sidewalks and pathways with children who haunt passing spectators as
they walk past--perhaps holding signs like "I would have been such and such years old if I wasn't aborted" (depending on the child), or other sayings to that effect. I would have an actor dress up as a Nazi soldier and hold a
fake gun. Every four minutes, a line of
nine people (including children and adults of the community) would line up and get “shot”, with
a powerful sound effect, and fall to the ground. Then I would have a bulldozer on standby roll in and dump
confetti-like paper onto the victims, not all dead from the massacre. I'm assuming I have any means at my disposal.
Meanwhile, other participants of the demonstration would be interviewing the
public, in the spirit of the film, with similar questions and objectives. This demonstration would illustrate the scenario Ray Comfort asks his interviewees to consider. As the demonstration continues every four
minutes, the public watches and talks with “pro-life” defenders. Having this demonstration in a very public
area would definitely stir a debate that might attract the media to participate in the event. The effect of the media would actually
multiply the message, and get the nation’s attention and thoughts towards the
issue…hopefully changing the minds of many “pro-choice” voters to “pro-life”
advocates. There wouldn’t be any real
violence, but just the strong imagery from the demonstration. It is very important that the public and
media see a peaceful, but concerned group of activists talking with the nearby
audience. This demonstration would be
considered successful if spectators changed their pro-choice beliefs. However, this would probably
have to been reenacted several times, quite quickly due to the many deaths every four minutes, over a long period of time to see an
effect with voters and influence current policy.
Below is the link to the thirty minute documentary, 180, if you are interested.
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