I received a request recently from the Community Housing Partnership, whose work I very much admire, to post their video here. I’m delighted to do so. Won’t you join me in supporting them?
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Well, this is a pleasure–from the Daily Cal:
While literally about childhood, “MilkMilkLemonade” treats decidedly adult subject matter under the safety blanket of immaturity. A far cry from a nostalgic recollection of innocence, the blunt sexual discourse and fake nudity in the form of skin-tone leotards with attached penises left the audience gasping in astonished laughter.
While insecurity and alienation can emerge like familiar foes to people of all backgrounds and orientations, “MilkMilkLemonade” fancifully reminds the viewer that an obstinate self-assurance can help anyone overcome the most adverse circumstances.
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A few weeks ago I was in New York City for the first time–a whirlwind tour, just a few days. I was on a mission: to see NY Fringe shows and to connect with fellow theatre artists. I didn’t have a lot of time to “do” New York. I made sure to go to just one building: on my last day, before heading for the airport, I stopped in to the cathedral of St John the Divine.
Every time I encounter particularly beautiful architecture (and I live in San Francisco, so it’s frequent), as I look it over I describe it to myself, naming the various elements. Lancet arches, tracery. Pediment. Frieze. Egg-and-dart pattern, egg-and-tongue. Acanthus leaves, laurel wreaths. Bud capitals, lotus capitals, doric, Ionic, Corinthian, superimposed orders. Hypostyle hall, clerestory windows. It’s a habit I picked up in graduate school, in a class entitled Historical Styles. It was a year-long class for designers, team-taught by my scenic and costume design professors, in which we surveyed Western architecture, furniture, costume and personal adornment from prehistory all the way to the present. That’s a huge time span, but we managed to go into a surprising amount of detail. There was research (primary sources only!) and sketching and tracing, so that we could learn tactilely the intricacies of the designs. It was, quite frankly, a massive pain in the ass. How many styles of chair can you name? How about types of table legs? Can you identify the time period of a painting to within fifty years by the style of the subject’s boots? Can you decide if a statue is Greek or Roman by looking at the woman’s hairstyle? Oh, our heads ached.
But it meant that I learned the names for the details of the architecture that takes my breath away, and that I can understand and appreciate why things are built the way they are.
When I returned from New York, I sent an email to my scenic design professor, telling him where I had been and thanking him for giving me the words with which I can understand the things I see. And the way a designer sees is everything, isn’t it?
I’d like to challenge you to think about someone who taught you something important–someone who changed your life, as Professor John Wilson did mine in that class–and thank him or her.
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You know that shiver in the spine, the moment when your breath is actually taken away, that happens when you hear your own thoughts spoken by someone else? That just happened for me. Look:
…I want my designers to speak the same language as directors. I want my electricians and carpenters to be as widely read as my actors.
That’s Travis Bedard of Cambiare Productions writing at 2amtheatre–warming the heart of this Jesuit-educated believer in the wholistic approach to art-making. I haven’t read all of the books mentioned in the post and comments, but you can bet they’re getting added to my list.
When I signed up for Twitter, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. It turns out what I was getting into is an international network of theatre artists and thinkers, and the relationships and collaboration that are coming out of that network are nothing short of magical.
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…as well as the formal season announcement for Impact Theatre‘s 15th season. There’s a whole lot of awesome on the way! I can’t wait for the design run-through next week.
Have a look at the press photos here.
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