Inspiration from Bolivia

Andrew here.

Been attending the Under The Radar Festival here in NY for the past couple of days. Sort of a food-for-the-soul way to gear up for the (potentiallly) impersonal madness of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference, the largest arts market in the world, where we will have a booth. Under The Radar is held primarily at the Public Theater down in the East Village and is a pretty amazing collection of like-minded artists and producers from around the country and a few from around the world.

Llysa had the foresight to get us signed up for the amazing symposium/day we had on Thursday. Four performances, a symposium, breakfast, lunch and a boozy champagne reception thrown by the British Council...all under one roof.

Truly the thing that is sticking to my brain most is this remarkable (and I am remarking on it) troupe from Bolivia, Theatro de los Andes, and their haunting earthquake docudrama, En Un Sol Amarillo. Using the simplest of theatrical conventions (no wonder we loved them) they created the most memorable imagery I have experienced in the theater in a long time. I'm still putting together in my head how to describe it without doing it an injustice. Here goes.

Lights up on a stage filled with floating furniture and a man in a poncho sitting on a chair. Yes, suspended by thick ropes on pulleys are a table, a window shutter and a picture frame. They sway as the man introduces the play. Suddenly, a rope and pulley that are attached to the chair he sits on is yanked violently and the chair flies out from under him and into the air. The rope is also (miraculously!) attached to his poncho and break-away pants, that also fly into the air, leaving the man shivering in his underwear while the world violently sways around him.

That's the first two minutes!!!! And it just goes on from there. Crazy and so very good.

Suffice it to say, it is a work that has remained in the forefront of my brain for several days now.

Oh. And it's completely in Spanish with subtitles.

Photo Slide Show for our 365 Days/ 365 Plays

365 Days 365 Plays

A whole new year! (plus/minus a few weeks) - Looking forward, peering back

Hey!
"Get out your calendar, Marge. theater simple is on the road!"
~ for much of 2007…
Maybe we’ll find ourselves in your neck of the woods, bend in the river or side of the road...

Roughly: (more info forthcoming)
FEBRUARY:
52 PICK UP
Mt. Baker Theatre in Bellingham Washington
http://www.mountbakertheatre.com/calendar.php#February
February 2, 9 and 16, 2007 at 8pm.

MARCH:
52 PICK UP
Vernon and District Performing Arts Center, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada
http://www.ticketseller.ca/
March 10, 2007

March 11 – we fly to Australia to meet up with Monique, for
CARAVAN CHRONICLES
our Australian variation and expansion of TRAILER TALES: Weekend Safari (keep checking back – lots of cool info about performances and classes upcoming)
At the
Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide, South Australia
www.Adelaidefringe.com.au
March 18 – March 31, 2007

Glenelg Jetty, Glenelg, Australia
March 24-25, 2007

APRIL
CARAVAN CHRONICLES
Marion Cultural Centre, Marion, Australia
April 1, 2007

MAY
52 PICK UP
Orlando Fringe Festival, Orlando, Florida
May 18-29, 2007

JUNE
52 PICK UP
ArtsStation Theatre, Stone Mountain, Georgia
www.artstation.org
June 6-10, 2007

JULY AND AUGUST
Myth Understandings at various King County Libraries, from Federal Way up to Shoreline

Whew! And we’re still working on the rest of the year into 2008! Yippee!


Catching up on the simpletons adventures of the last few months...
Since the last major update, around June 2005, theater simple has done a thing or two… (OK – maybe one or two dozen, actually)
LET’S SEE… since June 2005…

~ theater simple made their SEATTLE SYMPHONY debut with My Musically Colored Days, adapted from Dr Seuss, conducted by Christian Knapp

~ King County Performance Network TRAILER TALES: WEEKEND SAFARI
4 communities in 5 weeks - Kent, Redmond, Burien and Duvall

~ Tennessee Williams’ CAMINO REAL had a four week run at Freehold Theatre

~ Returned to Australia for the seventh fringe in a row… AND
Taught for URBAN MYTH THEATRE OF YOUTH as the beginning of a three-year collaboration with youth in Seattle, Adelaide, and a few other places around the world.
Taught a masterclass with professional peers at the Festival Centre
Performed 52 PICK UP as a fundraiser for URBAN MYTH THEATRE OF YOUTH
Juggled performances of THREE PLAYS for the Adelaide Fringe

52 PICK UP (in 8 different theaters)
THE FEVER (in living rooms and theaters)
And created and premiered a new theater simple youth and family show –
MYTH UNDERSTANDINGS – which played schools and theaters

~ Taught and performed for the Adelaide Fringe’s Youth And Education program, our 7th time as part of that program.

~ theater simple and TRAILER TALES is asked by the Washington State Arts Alliance to be the Artists in Residence at the Washington State Cultural Congress at Sleeping Lady Resort, Leavenworth, Washington ~ a three-day marathon of stories, art, and fanTAStic haiku

~ 52 PICK UP had many performances, in Seattle, in the San Juans, in Adelaide, and in Charleston, SC, where theater simple made sixth appearance at the Spoleto Festival, part of the Piccolo Fringe, produced by the HAVE NOTS.

~ THE BIG TIME! had gigs all over the Seattle area

~ Myth Understandings makes it US PREMIERE at BUMBERSHOOT with performances on the Theatre Puget Sound Stage.

~ theater simple was part of an extraordinary year/marathon of plays – 365 Days/ 365 Plays by Suzanne Lori-Parks in December, presenting world premieres on the streets of Ballard..
365Seattle.com

No wonder I have less heair, and what is left is grey...
By the way - there are a few more things in the hopper, and yes - we are planning into 2008 already. Oooooohhhhhh yesss.

Llys