I had a first on the last night of the show. I was in a car that got pulled over.
Sigrid (the awesome playwright) gave me and two of our scene changers, Adrian and Christian, and ride over to the park where we performed the play. Cornerstone got four high school interns from Pacoima to work on the production, and 14 year old Adrian and 17 year old Christian were brothers who had never really done theatre before but were totally game and willing to go along with the crazy things we had in store for them. We had the four interns work as "scene shifters" or scene changers, doing things like holding signs, moving chairs, and in a few scenes donning large costumes of products like hot sauce and spam. They even had a few lines.
Anyway, so I was sitting in the front seat with Sigrid driving down a side street when she says, "Why is that cop riding on my ass? He needs to stop." As soon as she said that the cop car's lights turned on. We weren't speeding, and we hadn't run a light or stop sign. Sigrid pulled over and two cops approached either side of the car.
They asked her for her license and registration, but the cops clearly did not expect to find a black woman and a white woman in the front seat. They directed all of their questions to Hispanic Adrian and Christian in the back seat and barely looked at the two of us. "You from around here?" (of course they are, Pacoima is like 85% Hispanic) "Where are you guys heading?" Given that we were heading to a PARK to do a PLAY and the two guys were holding their ribbon wrapped posters from the cast party we'd just had, they glanced at Sigrid's license, didn't even open her registration still in its envelope, and let us go.
As soon as they were out of earshot and the windows were up I said, "What the f**k was that? Are we in Arizona?" The other riders of the car were in agreement. The guys were so cool about it and we all laughed about how the cops were not expecting me and Sig in the front seat, or for us to be heading to a park to do a play. Adrian and Christian also laughed about how they're not in a gang or anything, so it's pretty ridiculous. But it was difficult for me to shake it off. Sig told us about a friend of hers, a playwright with two master's who is a large man and gets tatoos for every play he writes. Apparently he's been pulled over by police multiple times and even beaten up by them for no reason, just because of how he looks. Did I mention that the Rodney King incident happened near Pacoima?
I'm not so naive. I know (and knew) this crap still happens. But it affects you differently when you directly experience or witness it. And a lot of the past month was about directly confronting all of the abstracts I knew in theory. I already wrote about the inequality in education, but it was more than that: working with 15 year old teenage mothers, people who had been in prisons, etc. But despite the problems these people faced, they all shared something positive in common: our play. I'm honored to have been a part of their experience and to know them.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Letter to i8
It's been awhile since I posted. There's a lot to say, but I never found the time to get it all down in writing. However, Cornerstone has a tradition of each class writing a letter to the next year's class. We read all of Institute 6 (i6)'s letters at the beginning of each class we had, and today on our last full day we had the task of writing our letters for i8. Hopefully this will give you an idea of some of what I've experienced here. The writing isn't amazing, but hey...I'm exhausted. So here it is:
Dear I8 Students,
In an attempt to procrastinate writing this letter, I just ate a couple of those Dove dark chocolate squares that come with the “inspirational messages” on the inside wrapper. Both of them said, “never stop learning.” Funnily enough, this is exactly what can sum up my experience and anything I can offer you.
I came to the institute looking for inspiration. I’ve just finished a whirlwind first year in my MFA dramaturgy program, struggling to find a way to balance my desire to engage in high quality artistic productions and in meaningful work. During the institute, I realized that I actually had to define what “meaningful work” means to me. I was feeling selfish and guilty for not doing more to help others, and not working on productions that dealt with social issues in an activist way. The activist-artist inside of me did not know what kind of balance was needed.
But in the spirit of never stopping learning, I gradually began to rediscover what brings me joy in theatre and redefine meaningful work for myself. Early on I realized that as much as I wanted to write all of my thoughts down, talk to family and friends, the processing time was going to have to come later. The days are long, but something I felt one day could change completely two days later. Don’t be hard on yourself like I was for a while if you don’t have time to journal or process. Whether you know it or not, you are processing, and each activity or class somehow pushes you into a new place or catalyzes thoughts. I know it’s going to be hard to leave Pacoima and the I7 family tomorrow, but I’m excited to fully reflect and process everything I learned about community based theatre and myself.
Okay, I promised myself I wouldn’t make this a general advicey letter and it has become one. Now that you have an idea of where I was coming from and my mindset here in Pacoima, let me provide a few examples.
I was really excited about my production assignment as one of the assistant directors. I was prepared for it to be a mainly observational role, but gradually I got to do more of what I love and work with the actors. We had to cast the role of the Vendor a little late in the process, and our director Juliette paired me up with her so she could catch up. Karen is only a few years younger than me at 21, and we have led very different lives, but share similar life philosophies and I liked her instantly. We were both always excited when we got to work together if Juliette was busy with something else. One day while helping Karen learn her lines I tried to explain a way for her to remember the order of them, saying, “It’s like you go from talking about the metaphor, back to reality, and then back to the metaphor.” I talked about this a little more, and finally Karen said, “What’s a metaphor?”
It was a very real reminder of the abstract notion I have always known about the inequality of education in this country. Karen is smart and talented. Her comment says nothing about her intelligence and everything about the environment she was raised in. The more I got to know Karen the more I wanted to help her with her dreams. I knew she had done work with another community-based theatre group, the Unusual Suspects, and that she wants to become an actress, has the talent, but the lacks the training. When I brought up options in the area, everything seemed to be met with something I couldn’t solve: classes in LA need a car to get to that she doesn’t have, they cost money, etc. But after more conversations I realized the even greater problem: Karen has incredibly low self-confidence despite her warm heart and amazing theatrical instincts.
It dawned on me that sometimes one form of being an activist-artist can be as small as touching someone’s life or providing genuine encouragement and faith. When Karen and I discussed her desire to be an actress and her difficulty accessing further training, I was touched by her response. She said, “Yeah, but I feel like I learn a lot from these types of experiences, and they help me.” Not only is she right, but she has the right attitude.
My new definition of activist-artist was reaffirmed during our opening night ritual. As different community cast members talked about their favorite lines or moments in the show and how they spoke to them, they often talked about how much they loved being with everyone, meeting people from different backgrounds within their own community, and how great it was to have so much diversity and so much warmth in this production community. I was glad to be wearing sunglasses since I teared up many times. We didn’t solve Pacoima’s gang problems by putting on a play there. But that isn’t what we were there to do. What we did was form new friendships and bonds that have touched both the community members’ lives and our own, and created a play we could be proud of together.
I hope your institute experience brings you whatever you need it to bring.
Love,
Sara Bookin-Weiner
Dear I8 Students,
In an attempt to procrastinate writing this letter, I just ate a couple of those Dove dark chocolate squares that come with the “inspirational messages” on the inside wrapper. Both of them said, “never stop learning.” Funnily enough, this is exactly what can sum up my experience and anything I can offer you.
I came to the institute looking for inspiration. I’ve just finished a whirlwind first year in my MFA dramaturgy program, struggling to find a way to balance my desire to engage in high quality artistic productions and in meaningful work. During the institute, I realized that I actually had to define what “meaningful work” means to me. I was feeling selfish and guilty for not doing more to help others, and not working on productions that dealt with social issues in an activist way. The activist-artist inside of me did not know what kind of balance was needed.
But in the spirit of never stopping learning, I gradually began to rediscover what brings me joy in theatre and redefine meaningful work for myself. Early on I realized that as much as I wanted to write all of my thoughts down, talk to family and friends, the processing time was going to have to come later. The days are long, but something I felt one day could change completely two days later. Don’t be hard on yourself like I was for a while if you don’t have time to journal or process. Whether you know it or not, you are processing, and each activity or class somehow pushes you into a new place or catalyzes thoughts. I know it’s going to be hard to leave Pacoima and the I7 family tomorrow, but I’m excited to fully reflect and process everything I learned about community based theatre and myself.
Okay, I promised myself I wouldn’t make this a general advicey letter and it has become one. Now that you have an idea of where I was coming from and my mindset here in Pacoima, let me provide a few examples.
I was really excited about my production assignment as one of the assistant directors. I was prepared for it to be a mainly observational role, but gradually I got to do more of what I love and work with the actors. We had to cast the role of the Vendor a little late in the process, and our director Juliette paired me up with her so she could catch up. Karen is only a few years younger than me at 21, and we have led very different lives, but share similar life philosophies and I liked her instantly. We were both always excited when we got to work together if Juliette was busy with something else. One day while helping Karen learn her lines I tried to explain a way for her to remember the order of them, saying, “It’s like you go from talking about the metaphor, back to reality, and then back to the metaphor.” I talked about this a little more, and finally Karen said, “What’s a metaphor?”
It was a very real reminder of the abstract notion I have always known about the inequality of education in this country. Karen is smart and talented. Her comment says nothing about her intelligence and everything about the environment she was raised in. The more I got to know Karen the more I wanted to help her with her dreams. I knew she had done work with another community-based theatre group, the Unusual Suspects, and that she wants to become an actress, has the talent, but the lacks the training. When I brought up options in the area, everything seemed to be met with something I couldn’t solve: classes in LA need a car to get to that she doesn’t have, they cost money, etc. But after more conversations I realized the even greater problem: Karen has incredibly low self-confidence despite her warm heart and amazing theatrical instincts.
It dawned on me that sometimes one form of being an activist-artist can be as small as touching someone’s life or providing genuine encouragement and faith. When Karen and I discussed her desire to be an actress and her difficulty accessing further training, I was touched by her response. She said, “Yeah, but I feel like I learn a lot from these types of experiences, and they help me.” Not only is she right, but she has the right attitude.
My new definition of activist-artist was reaffirmed during our opening night ritual. As different community cast members talked about their favorite lines or moments in the show and how they spoke to them, they often talked about how much they loved being with everyone, meeting people from different backgrounds within their own community, and how great it was to have so much diversity and so much warmth in this production community. I was glad to be wearing sunglasses since I teared up many times. We didn’t solve Pacoima’s gang problems by putting on a play there. But that isn’t what we were there to do. What we did was form new friendships and bonds that have touched both the community members’ lives and our own, and created a play we could be proud of together.
I hope your institute experience brings you whatever you need it to bring.
Love,
Sara Bookin-Weiner
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Pacoima Community Garden
Tonight we went on a tour of Pacoima's community garden, which is where we'll perform the play. Julio, the twenty year old youth leader of the garden was our tour guide. Born in Guatemala but raised here since he was two, Julio is perfect for the role he got in the play, Dreamer. I was moved listening to him talk about the garden. There are the facts, of course: 65 families, a waiting list, all organic, etc. But he spoke genuinely about how he sees the garden as a sacred space. He helps the garden and the garden helps him. He was given muscles do to work and provide protection and safety, not to participate in violence. He spoke about how he sees this as the difference between a macho and a man. He talked about the medicinal garden plot and how when someone he knew had a loved one dying, he told the distressed woman to go tend to the plants and it would make her feel better...and it did.
Julio inspired me. He possesses an inspiring love for the garden, sense of purpose, and belief in the garden's ability to heal and inspire others . I'm so glad that he's going to perform in this community play in his beloved garden. After hearing so much about how "it's not all bad in Pacoima," it was wonderful to finally have a concrete place and experience of the everyday beauty here.
Julio inspired me. He possesses an inspiring love for the garden, sense of purpose, and belief in the garden's ability to heal and inspire others . I'm so glad that he's going to perform in this community play in his beloved garden. After hearing so much about how "it's not all bad in Pacoima," it was wonderful to finally have a concrete place and experience of the everyday beauty here.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Only at Cornerstone Institute 7...
- Watch over 50 people audition, most of whom have never acted before
- Wake up to the sounds of high school football players lifting weights to heavy metal
- Go up to more strangers in a day than you usually do in a few months to talk to them
- Feel like you've known people for weeks who you've known for days
- Hear a Mormon girl tell a butch lesbian she appreciates her and wishes she could be more like her
- See a queer tranny and a fifty-ish grandma run up to and hug one another
- Spend fourteen hours with the same 20 people every day
- Stay entirely captivated through a three solid hour class
- Love that you're experiencing more than you could imagine
- Hate that you have less time to process than you need
- Take outdoor showers and attempt to master the art of the camp shower bag
- Marvel at the courage of first time auditioners
- Wonder if that sound was a gunshot or a firework
- Worry that you're life plans aren't what you actually want or should follow
- Hope that you'll figure it out over the next four weeks
Monday, July 5, 2010
India: Arrival and Jaipur
When we arrived in Delhi at something like 6 a.m., Laura and I walked outside to find her friends. After waiting outside for about two minutes in the sweltering heat, Laura said, “I was not prepared for this.”
It was HOT. 44 degrees Celsius, roughly 115 Fahrenheit hot. But lucky for us, we were more or less prepared for our two week trip, and I can happily say that despite threats of volcanic ash, strikes, and protests, we made it through our trip with only a few near catastrophes.
The first was when our flight from London to Athens was cancelled because of the British Airways strike. Although we called and were told we were being rebooked on a later flight that same day, when we didn’t get a confirmation email we had to call from India and get rebooked for reals. The second was when we first left from London Heathrow for Delhi. My teeny nail scissors were a security concern apparently, and they had to search my backpack. When they found them in their pink case, the guy going through my bag turned to his supervisor to see if they were okay. His response? “They’re pink! They’re fine.” Future terrorists, please take note of this logic. Oy.
Despite having to totally unpack and repack my backpack (which was all I took along with a purse for my two week trip), the flight to India was actually quite nice. Mark and Jody Shine met us at the airport and drove us to their home in New Delhi, which is beautiful. The Shines are friends with Laura’s aunt, who Laura is super close with, and moved to Delhi two and half years ago when Mark became president of AT&T India. Their home is gorgeous. They have a pool, gardens, a tennis court…need I go on? Laura and I each had our own room/bathroom, even though we actually only wound up staying there for one night. When we arrived, we got a tour and the most intense discussion about how to use a shower I’ve ever had (actually, the talk at Cornerstone for the outdoor showers was even more intense). This was India, after all, where the cold is hot and the hot is cold, and the power goes out at least twice a day.
After swimming in the pool, showering, and eating lunch, we set off for Jaipur. Thank goodness for air-conditioned cars. I was exhausted and hoped to sleep most of the way, despite my conflicting hopes to see the Indian countryside go by. I didn’t really nap much, since in India whenever you drive by a truck you have to very loudly/prolongedly honk, as they request on the back of their vehicle “honk please” or “blow horn” so they won’t try to switch lanes and kill you.
The whole time I was really surprised by the similarities to parts of Morocco. Bougainvillea hang over the sides of walls just like they did in Morocco, and certain parts of the country just had a very similar feel in terms of mood and atmosphere. Other little things surprised me—the cows that roamed the streets and sides of roads looked different than American cows, and we counted many a camel en route to Jaipur and Agra. As we drove (and in fact, over the entire trip), we talked to Mark and Jody a lot about the culture, customs, and language of India. Much like in Russian, the language says a lot about a culture. Apparently in Hindi there is no word for “please” really, you just phrase a sentence with different grammar to indicate that. Hindi sounds incredibly difficult, and I was really impressed that Mark and Jody were able to communicate and really tried. I mean, every single number has its own word! No sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two business. Each number is different.
When we arrived in Jaipur at the Oberoi Hotel there, I was in for quite the experience. The Oberoi is one of the nicest hotels in the world. After they checked our car to make sure it wasn’t rigged or something, we were greeted by what felt like the entire hotel staff. They adorned us with marigold leis, bindis, and handed out these amazing cold jasmine-scented hand towels (you got those every time you returned to the hotel). We then rode a golf cart the three-minute walk to the private ultra-deluxe villa (aka the nicest one). After walking underneath a minaret, across a little footbridge, around a couple of small fountains in a courtyard, we were greeted by Angeli, our butler. She had champagne flutes with fresh lime juice waiting for us, and we got a tour of the place. I’m attempting to post some photos to do it justice.
In the main building there was the living room/dining room area, which opened out with French doors onto our private pool…with peacocks!
Our little building had the huge room for Laura and me, and the most beautiful bathroom I’ve ever seen. Mark and Jody’s room was even more incredible.
We spent that night sipping champagne and ordered dinner from the restaurant delivered directly to our own dining room. Needless to say, it was delicious. The next morning, after drinking the best coffee I’ve ever had we met with our guide who took us to the Amber (pronounced ahm-bear) palace or fort. It’s a little outside the city, and we drove to the base and then rode elephants up to the top!
(Laura with the elephant we rode. I named him Baby Babar.)
The architecture is really interesting because it’s a blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. This was because of the coalition formed at the time to keep the peace in the area. It reminded me a little bit of the Alahambra, but maybe not quite as well preserved in some places, and not as intricate throughout. The coolest part was the hall of mirrors, which hopefully you can see below.
We also saw the Jal Mahal, which looks like a floating palace on the water.
And the Palace of the Winds, which was a fake front to the palace placed on the main street so that the ladies of the court could look out onto the street.
I also really enjoyed our trip to a shop that made carpets and textiles. We got see how they put patterns on silk as well as how they make carpets and feel the difference between the different kinds (camel, silk, etc.).
On our last day in Jaipur Laura and I also went to the Observatory and the Palace and its museums. Below are some favorite photos.
After lunch we said goodbye to Angeli (who was wonderful, we chatted with her a lot), and made our way to Agra. The Taj Mahal awaited!
It was HOT. 44 degrees Celsius, roughly 115 Fahrenheit hot. But lucky for us, we were more or less prepared for our two week trip, and I can happily say that despite threats of volcanic ash, strikes, and protests, we made it through our trip with only a few near catastrophes.
The first was when our flight from London to Athens was cancelled because of the British Airways strike. Although we called and were told we were being rebooked on a later flight that same day, when we didn’t get a confirmation email we had to call from India and get rebooked for reals. The second was when we first left from London Heathrow for Delhi. My teeny nail scissors were a security concern apparently, and they had to search my backpack. When they found them in their pink case, the guy going through my bag turned to his supervisor to see if they were okay. His response? “They’re pink! They’re fine.” Future terrorists, please take note of this logic. Oy.
Despite having to totally unpack and repack my backpack (which was all I took along with a purse for my two week trip), the flight to India was actually quite nice. Mark and Jody Shine met us at the airport and drove us to their home in New Delhi, which is beautiful. The Shines are friends with Laura’s aunt, who Laura is super close with, and moved to Delhi two and half years ago when Mark became president of AT&T India. Their home is gorgeous. They have a pool, gardens, a tennis court…need I go on? Laura and I each had our own room/bathroom, even though we actually only wound up staying there for one night. When we arrived, we got a tour and the most intense discussion about how to use a shower I’ve ever had (actually, the talk at Cornerstone for the outdoor showers was even more intense). This was India, after all, where the cold is hot and the hot is cold, and the power goes out at least twice a day.
After swimming in the pool, showering, and eating lunch, we set off for Jaipur. Thank goodness for air-conditioned cars. I was exhausted and hoped to sleep most of the way, despite my conflicting hopes to see the Indian countryside go by. I didn’t really nap much, since in India whenever you drive by a truck you have to very loudly/prolongedly honk, as they request on the back of their vehicle “honk please” or “blow horn” so they won’t try to switch lanes and kill you.
The whole time I was really surprised by the similarities to parts of Morocco. Bougainvillea hang over the sides of walls just like they did in Morocco, and certain parts of the country just had a very similar feel in terms of mood and atmosphere. Other little things surprised me—the cows that roamed the streets and sides of roads looked different than American cows, and we counted many a camel en route to Jaipur and Agra. As we drove (and in fact, over the entire trip), we talked to Mark and Jody a lot about the culture, customs, and language of India. Much like in Russian, the language says a lot about a culture. Apparently in Hindi there is no word for “please” really, you just phrase a sentence with different grammar to indicate that. Hindi sounds incredibly difficult, and I was really impressed that Mark and Jody were able to communicate and really tried. I mean, every single number has its own word! No sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two business. Each number is different.
When we arrived in Jaipur at the Oberoi Hotel there, I was in for quite the experience. The Oberoi is one of the nicest hotels in the world. After they checked our car to make sure it wasn’t rigged or something, we were greeted by what felt like the entire hotel staff. They adorned us with marigold leis, bindis, and handed out these amazing cold jasmine-scented hand towels (you got those every time you returned to the hotel). We then rode a golf cart the three-minute walk to the private ultra-deluxe villa (aka the nicest one). After walking underneath a minaret, across a little footbridge, around a couple of small fountains in a courtyard, we were greeted by Angeli, our butler. She had champagne flutes with fresh lime juice waiting for us, and we got a tour of the place. I’m attempting to post some photos to do it justice.
In the main building there was the living room/dining room area, which opened out with French doors onto our private pool…with peacocks!
Our little building had the huge room for Laura and me, and the most beautiful bathroom I’ve ever seen. Mark and Jody’s room was even more incredible.
We spent that night sipping champagne and ordered dinner from the restaurant delivered directly to our own dining room. Needless to say, it was delicious. The next morning, after drinking the best coffee I’ve ever had we met with our guide who took us to the Amber (pronounced ahm-bear) palace or fort. It’s a little outside the city, and we drove to the base and then rode elephants up to the top!
(Laura with the elephant we rode. I named him Baby Babar.)The architecture is really interesting because it’s a blend of Muslim and Hindu styles. This was because of the coalition formed at the time to keep the peace in the area. It reminded me a little bit of the Alahambra, but maybe not quite as well preserved in some places, and not as intricate throughout. The coolest part was the hall of mirrors, which hopefully you can see below.
We also saw the Jal Mahal, which looks like a floating palace on the water.
And the Palace of the Winds, which was a fake front to the palace placed on the main street so that the ladies of the court could look out onto the street.
I also really enjoyed our trip to a shop that made carpets and textiles. We got see how they put patterns on silk as well as how they make carpets and feel the difference between the different kinds (camel, silk, etc.).
On our last day in Jaipur Laura and I also went to the Observatory and the Palace and its museums. Below are some favorite photos.
After lunch we said goodbye to Angeli (who was wonderful, we chatted with her a lot), and made our way to Agra. The Taj Mahal awaited!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Days 3 and 4, or, One Week Later
These days are so long I really do feel like the 32 days are going to feel like 32 weeks. Or maybe that we just cram in enough here to make it feel like we've done enough to fill that amount of time.
At 7:45 in the morning yesterday my roommate Kathy led a really nice yoga class in our sort of classroom area (called "the nest"). After breakfast we all took turns auditioning for Juliette and Sigrid. This was the same audition as the community members go through. It consists of picking a short-and-sweet sentence from a newspaper before you go into the audition room (mine was "You've added a robot uprising." It was an article on a new Anna Karenina adaptation, HAH.), and then Juliette gave you different circumstances to say that line. For instance, "your dog just ate your favorite pair of shoes, now scold that dog by saying the line three times, building in intensity." Things like that.
After we all did the callbacks together. These were also really fun consisting mainly of theatrey games (although I think in the real callback they'll read from the script). Then we talked about how to run auditions and the different jobs, ate lunch, and made our way to the two different audition locations.
I was at Humphrey Park, where we held auditions at the teen center. I guess because we had to start the institute so much earlier this year and it is interrupted by the 4th of July, we didn't really have enough time to get the word out, so at each location we only had about 8 or 9 people audition over the course of 3 hours. Since there were about 10 of us at each location, many of us wound up taking a bunch of fliers and going around with one or two others to recruit auditioners and get the word about the play out. I went with Terri (a grandmother who is probably a little older than my mom from Hawaii, just finished her Master's in theatre) and Camee (a married Mormon about to enter her senior year in theatre ed. at BYU...are you getting a sense of the diversity of backgrounds here?). Thankfully Camee speaks some Spanish from living in Mexico City several years during high school, and we had to rely on her quite a bit when talking with people. I wished even more that I spoke Spanish, and I'm determined to give Rosetta Stone a go when I have the time.
The responses we got ranged, but were mostly on the positive to "think about it" end of the spectrum. Pacoima is not exactly how I imagined it. While it is known for having a lot of gang violence (over 40 gangs here), the community is lots of concrete and wire fences. Apparently each home holds 1.5 families, so even though the area has a somewhat manicured look, it contains a lot. Walking back to the park from a shopping complex on a residential street we found an uncapped syringe needle. Terri picked it up to throw it away, worried that a kid might step on it. It was weird feeling for me, because on the one hand I was not that surprised given everything I've heard about the community, but on the other it looked so out of place just sitting there on the sidewalk of a fairly quiet neighborhood. If it had been in the park's parking lot I don't think I would have felt so surprised.
There was a small group of boys, probably all around ten years old, who were skateboarding in the park. Juliette really wanted them to audition, and she along with many others tried to talk them into it. But as our stage manager alejandra noted, they already have a job. I noticed that at one point a car booming with music drove by and the boys ran up to the window, meaning they're probably lookouts for drug dealers in the area. It's a shame, since they're so young and already there's a loss of youth.
After we regrouped to share audition experiences and ate dinner, Kathy led us in a fun warm up and then we had a three hour class on the history of Cornerstone. I was struck by how the company has never let its artistic values fall because of its community work. Unfortunately at 10pm I was barely able to keep my eyes open in the dark (we were watching clips and looking at photos). I'm grateful to have the day off today only because I think I still haven't recovered from my whirlwind travels...and I got ten hours of sleep last night, ahhh.
At 7:45 in the morning yesterday my roommate Kathy led a really nice yoga class in our sort of classroom area (called "the nest"). After breakfast we all took turns auditioning for Juliette and Sigrid. This was the same audition as the community members go through. It consists of picking a short-and-sweet sentence from a newspaper before you go into the audition room (mine was "You've added a robot uprising." It was an article on a new Anna Karenina adaptation, HAH.), and then Juliette gave you different circumstances to say that line. For instance, "your dog just ate your favorite pair of shoes, now scold that dog by saying the line three times, building in intensity." Things like that.
After we all did the callbacks together. These were also really fun consisting mainly of theatrey games (although I think in the real callback they'll read from the script). Then we talked about how to run auditions and the different jobs, ate lunch, and made our way to the two different audition locations.
I was at Humphrey Park, where we held auditions at the teen center. I guess because we had to start the institute so much earlier this year and it is interrupted by the 4th of July, we didn't really have enough time to get the word out, so at each location we only had about 8 or 9 people audition over the course of 3 hours. Since there were about 10 of us at each location, many of us wound up taking a bunch of fliers and going around with one or two others to recruit auditioners and get the word about the play out. I went with Terri (a grandmother who is probably a little older than my mom from Hawaii, just finished her Master's in theatre) and Camee (a married Mormon about to enter her senior year in theatre ed. at BYU...are you getting a sense of the diversity of backgrounds here?). Thankfully Camee speaks some Spanish from living in Mexico City several years during high school, and we had to rely on her quite a bit when talking with people. I wished even more that I spoke Spanish, and I'm determined to give Rosetta Stone a go when I have the time.
The responses we got ranged, but were mostly on the positive to "think about it" end of the spectrum. Pacoima is not exactly how I imagined it. While it is known for having a lot of gang violence (over 40 gangs here), the community is lots of concrete and wire fences. Apparently each home holds 1.5 families, so even though the area has a somewhat manicured look, it contains a lot. Walking back to the park from a shopping complex on a residential street we found an uncapped syringe needle. Terri picked it up to throw it away, worried that a kid might step on it. It was weird feeling for me, because on the one hand I was not that surprised given everything I've heard about the community, but on the other it looked so out of place just sitting there on the sidewalk of a fairly quiet neighborhood. If it had been in the park's parking lot I don't think I would have felt so surprised.
There was a small group of boys, probably all around ten years old, who were skateboarding in the park. Juliette really wanted them to audition, and she along with many others tried to talk them into it. But as our stage manager alejandra noted, they already have a job. I noticed that at one point a car booming with music drove by and the boys ran up to the window, meaning they're probably lookouts for drug dealers in the area. It's a shame, since they're so young and already there's a loss of youth.
After we regrouped to share audition experiences and ate dinner, Kathy led us in a fun warm up and then we had a three hour class on the history of Cornerstone. I was struck by how the company has never let its artistic values fall because of its community work. Unfortunately at 10pm I was barely able to keep my eyes open in the dark (we were watching clips and looking at photos). I'm grateful to have the day off today only because I think I still haven't recovered from my whirlwind travels...and I got ten hours of sleep last night, ahhh.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Tired and Inspired
I bet you were expecting me to write about India, Greece, London, Paris, and Italy. Well, that will happen eventually. It has been the most whirlwind summer so far, but if things continue in this vein, then it may also be the most wonderful summer of my life so far.
Before I catch you up on my travels, I need to make sure I chronicle my time with Cornerstone Theater Company's Summer Institute. I've been here less than 48 hours and yet it feels like so much longer, and I mean that in a good way.
First, here is a link to the institute. In the photo on the homepage I'm sitting next to Jose, the other assistant director, and in front of him is the director Juliette Carrillo, who is very cool and nice (google her, she's done a lot of impressive stuff). When I met Juliette she said, "Oh, you're one of my ADs! I'm going to work you hard!" To which I replied, "Good! That's what I like to hear!"
The really incredible thing is that I like everyone here and feel a sense of ease with them that usually takes much longer than two days to reach. There truly is a sense of openness, kindness, and generosity amongst the people here-the values Cornerstone holds most dear. I also really like my three roommates: Courtney (entering her senior year at Georgetown), Kathy (PhD student at ASU), and Eda (MA student in Illinois from Turkey).
The living situation here is definitely interesting, but also fun and communal in a great way. It really does feel like camp. We live at Discovery Charter Prep School, and our bedrooms are inside the modular classrooms. We use the school bathrooms and they set up an outdoor "shower garden." I was less than thrilled with this shower situation, but decided to suck it up and deal. But I can say after my first shower yesterday that it was actually quite refreshing! You fill a 5 gallon bag with water (either warm from the tap or heat it with the sun), and then with the help of gravity you shower. There are a few kinks, but since with this method I only use about 3 gallons, it's quite nice to feel like I'm helping the environment a little.
Meals are communal and delicious. Breakfast and lunch are self-serve with many yummy and healthy options, and dinners are different each night. So far we had great grilled chicken and a taco bar. There are also always lots of veggies and salad. We all wash our own dishes and take turns doing KP "kitchen patrol."
The days are long, jam-packed, but amazing. Today I have some down time in the morning because all of us are required to audition for the show (even though we already have our production assignments), and it only takes about 5 minutes each. I felt a bit like a zombie my first day because of jet lag/lack of sleep, but it was mostly an orientation. Yesterday we had a great warm up in the morning with Laurie, the Curriculum Director/Associate Artistic Director at Cornerstone and my new friend crush. She is so awesome.
Then Michael, the artistic director of Cornerstone, led us all in "Cultural Mapping" exercises. They all begin with something kind of easy and work their way toward the more touchy subjects. For instance, each corner of the room is designated something and then you go to your corner and have to find three things in common with the other people there. These categories varied from youngest child/oldest/middle/only (I am the only child along with Sigrid the playwright), monolingual/bilingual/multilingual/feel you have yet to master a language, music/image/text/movement (this one was the hardest choice for me).
Then we had a line in the room we had to arrange ourselves on, starting with: sirloin steak/veggie burger (I was actually closer to veggie burger), then moving onto things more difficult: art/social justice, wealthy/not wealthy, most likely to get a arrested/least likely to get arrested. The main point of the exercise is that you talk with the people around you to figure out where you belong, and that who you are in relation to these categories depends on where you are and who you're with. Afterward we also discussed how it always felt weird when we would stop and look at the line, because we felt like we wanted to explain or hear the explanations of people not as near us. For instance, MC, a Cornerstone Ensemble member and actor who is in the play, was the furthest on the most likely to get arrested end because he's black, and he explained that in his mind he's not likely to because he doesn't do anything wrong, but by virtue of his race and where he lives he belongs towards that end of the line.
Then we talked about Pacoima and the community partners we've developed here with Paula, the institute director, and then we read through the latest draft of the play, "It's All Bueno" written by Sigrid Gilmer. It's a funny adaptation of Candide and I (thankfully!) really like it.
After lunch we had a scavenger hunt in Pacoima, which was really more just so we could see the different places mentioned in the script and get to know the community. We weren't supposed to find tactile objects so much as do things like take photos, write haikus, talk to people, hand out fliers for auditions, think about what/who is inspiring, intriguing, new to us, similar to our world, scary, missing, and unique. Now, I can be a little wary of what feels like manufactured fun with people I don't really know, but I had such a great time. I would say that I got lucky with my car-full of people, but then again I really like everyone here so I think no matter what I would have had a blast. I was in Laurie's car with Susan (an MA student at Towson in Baltimore) and Elizabeth, a Cornerstone staff production assistant. We wrote a haiku together at the first stop, the Hansen Dam, and then couldn't stop, so we wrote haikus everywhere we went and wound up with 14 in total. At one point Laurie insisted on stopping to get us all ice cream at a vendor truck (didn't I say she was awesome?), and we chatted with the owner and his kids, as well as a family stopping there, and hopefully they'll come audition. At Costco Elizabeth and I scurried off to try a sample and then lost Susan and Laurie for a little while, so we wrote:
After the samples
We lost Laurie and Susan
We found them again
After returning to the school campus and sharing our findings, it was interesting to hear what other group members had to say. In general it sounds like the community has been quite receptive to the idea of the play, and later today we'll see how many will come out and audition.
Following dinner we had meetings with our supervisors for our production assignments (Juliette is my supervisor). Then we discussed community engagement and broke into smaller groups to brainstorm. By this time it was 8:30pm and I was exhausted. We ended a little before 9:30pm and I wanted to write this all down, but was too wiped. Even though we have so little free time (I was up at 7:15am this morning to do yoga!), I am going to do my best to chronicle my Cornerstone Institute experience.
Before I catch you up on my travels, I need to make sure I chronicle my time with Cornerstone Theater Company's Summer Institute. I've been here less than 48 hours and yet it feels like so much longer, and I mean that in a good way.
First, here is a link to the institute. In the photo on the homepage I'm sitting next to Jose, the other assistant director, and in front of him is the director Juliette Carrillo, who is very cool and nice (google her, she's done a lot of impressive stuff). When I met Juliette she said, "Oh, you're one of my ADs! I'm going to work you hard!" To which I replied, "Good! That's what I like to hear!"
The really incredible thing is that I like everyone here and feel a sense of ease with them that usually takes much longer than two days to reach. There truly is a sense of openness, kindness, and generosity amongst the people here-the values Cornerstone holds most dear. I also really like my three roommates: Courtney (entering her senior year at Georgetown), Kathy (PhD student at ASU), and Eda (MA student in Illinois from Turkey).
The living situation here is definitely interesting, but also fun and communal in a great way. It really does feel like camp. We live at Discovery Charter Prep School, and our bedrooms are inside the modular classrooms. We use the school bathrooms and they set up an outdoor "shower garden." I was less than thrilled with this shower situation, but decided to suck it up and deal. But I can say after my first shower yesterday that it was actually quite refreshing! You fill a 5 gallon bag with water (either warm from the tap or heat it with the sun), and then with the help of gravity you shower. There are a few kinks, but since with this method I only use about 3 gallons, it's quite nice to feel like I'm helping the environment a little.
Meals are communal and delicious. Breakfast and lunch are self-serve with many yummy and healthy options, and dinners are different each night. So far we had great grilled chicken and a taco bar. There are also always lots of veggies and salad. We all wash our own dishes and take turns doing KP "kitchen patrol."
The days are long, jam-packed, but amazing. Today I have some down time in the morning because all of us are required to audition for the show (even though we already have our production assignments), and it only takes about 5 minutes each. I felt a bit like a zombie my first day because of jet lag/lack of sleep, but it was mostly an orientation. Yesterday we had a great warm up in the morning with Laurie, the Curriculum Director/Associate Artistic Director at Cornerstone and my new friend crush. She is so awesome.
Then Michael, the artistic director of Cornerstone, led us all in "Cultural Mapping" exercises. They all begin with something kind of easy and work their way toward the more touchy subjects. For instance, each corner of the room is designated something and then you go to your corner and have to find three things in common with the other people there. These categories varied from youngest child/oldest/middle/only (I am the only child along with Sigrid the playwright), monolingual/bilingual/multilingual/feel you have yet to master a language, music/image/text/movement (this one was the hardest choice for me).
Then we had a line in the room we had to arrange ourselves on, starting with: sirloin steak/veggie burger (I was actually closer to veggie burger), then moving onto things more difficult: art/social justice, wealthy/not wealthy, most likely to get a arrested/least likely to get arrested. The main point of the exercise is that you talk with the people around you to figure out where you belong, and that who you are in relation to these categories depends on where you are and who you're with. Afterward we also discussed how it always felt weird when we would stop and look at the line, because we felt like we wanted to explain or hear the explanations of people not as near us. For instance, MC, a Cornerstone Ensemble member and actor who is in the play, was the furthest on the most likely to get arrested end because he's black, and he explained that in his mind he's not likely to because he doesn't do anything wrong, but by virtue of his race and where he lives he belongs towards that end of the line.
Then we talked about Pacoima and the community partners we've developed here with Paula, the institute director, and then we read through the latest draft of the play, "It's All Bueno" written by Sigrid Gilmer. It's a funny adaptation of Candide and I (thankfully!) really like it.
After lunch we had a scavenger hunt in Pacoima, which was really more just so we could see the different places mentioned in the script and get to know the community. We weren't supposed to find tactile objects so much as do things like take photos, write haikus, talk to people, hand out fliers for auditions, think about what/who is inspiring, intriguing, new to us, similar to our world, scary, missing, and unique. Now, I can be a little wary of what feels like manufactured fun with people I don't really know, but I had such a great time. I would say that I got lucky with my car-full of people, but then again I really like everyone here so I think no matter what I would have had a blast. I was in Laurie's car with Susan (an MA student at Towson in Baltimore) and Elizabeth, a Cornerstone staff production assistant. We wrote a haiku together at the first stop, the Hansen Dam, and then couldn't stop, so we wrote haikus everywhere we went and wound up with 14 in total. At one point Laurie insisted on stopping to get us all ice cream at a vendor truck (didn't I say she was awesome?), and we chatted with the owner and his kids, as well as a family stopping there, and hopefully they'll come audition. At Costco Elizabeth and I scurried off to try a sample and then lost Susan and Laurie for a little while, so we wrote:
After the samples
We lost Laurie and Susan
We found them again
After returning to the school campus and sharing our findings, it was interesting to hear what other group members had to say. In general it sounds like the community has been quite receptive to the idea of the play, and later today we'll see how many will come out and audition.
Following dinner we had meetings with our supervisors for our production assignments (Juliette is my supervisor). Then we discussed community engagement and broke into smaller groups to brainstorm. By this time it was 8:30pm and I was exhausted. We ended a little before 9:30pm and I wanted to write this all down, but was too wiped. Even though we have so little free time (I was up at 7:15am this morning to do yoga!), I am going to do my best to chronicle my Cornerstone Institute experience.
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