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NoPassport Five Week Playwriting Intensive with Caridad Svich

Fri, 12/14/2012 - 23:01 csvich

 NoPassport Five Week Playwriting Intensive with Caridad Svich:
Sustaining a Daily Practice and Generating a New Play
January 21-February 25, 2013 (via email)

This playwriting course via email will focus on sustaining a daily practice as a dramatist,
the creation of character and landscape sketches and dramatic scenes as a method
toward the exploration and creation of a new work (long form one act or full length).

The course will involve writing, some required, assigned reading and peer response.

Bio: Caridad Svich is a playwright, translator, editor and educator. She received a 2012 OBIE for Lifetime Achievement and the 2011 Primus Prize from the American Theatre Critics Association. She is founder of NoPassport theatre alliance & press. Website: http://www.caridadsvich.com

Enquiries to csvich21@caridadsvich.com

Total Cost: $125.00
Payable directly via credit card to Instructor c/o fiscal sponsor at http://www.fracturedatlas.org/donate/2623
Class Limit: 14.

A Reflection on SPARK in Pittsburgh

Mon, 12/10/2012 - 20:33 csvich

University of Pittsburgh

Directed by Lisa Jackson-Schebetta

November 12, 2012

                               by Dr. Lisa Jackson-Schebetta
 
Our first rehearsal was like any first rehearsal for a staged reading—introductions, clarifications about where to sit in the reading, which stage directions to read, and so forth.   At the act break, we had a chat about the play, about the mundanity of daily life that it depicts—and we meant mundanity in the very best way.  The details of the fabric of daily life, the intimate tones of voice, the specific language patterns and the miscommunications of a family who know each other so well sometimes, and so not at all others.  The cider, the cake, the needle and thread.  Personal histories bound up with, chafing against, tangling with the here and now, both immediate and more largely.  At the end of act two, we commented on more of the same and also how Vaughn throws all of the above into sharp, sharp relief: histories and maps, personal and cultural, as inextricably linked to wars, present and past.  We then found our way into a conversation about how war had personally been a part of our lives, sharing stories that aren’t the sort you share at a first read through.  Of, to borrow from Tim O’Brien, things carried by us, or loved ones.  The piece opened something in each of us.  
 
For me, as an artist and a teacher, it also reminded me that, sometimes, in theatre classrooms, war and veterans aren’t always mindfully acknowledged, discussed, represented.  At another institution, where I taught acting, an ROTC student came to me and asked if I might have some recommendations for the acting scene.  
 
The student was not a theatre major and was hoping for a play that engaged with the complex experiences of soldiers. The student feared he might only come across anti-war, anti-military and, perhaps implicitly, anti-soldier plays. Working on Caridad Svich’s Spark reminded me to be mindful.  How in so many ways war could or might sit, silent or silenced, in my classroom.  
 
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta holds a PhD in Theatre History, Criticism and Theory from the University of Washington and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.  Her research interests center on histories and theories of performance and theatre in the Americas and Spain, the ethics of citizenship, and corporeality.  Her directing work has been seen at The Women’s Project and Productions, chashama, HERE and the American Globe Theatre, among others.
 
 
 
 

A Reflection on Spark in Santa Fe

Mon, 12/03/2012 - 21:06 csvich

DNAWORKS and Teatro Paraguas in Partnersip with the Sante Fe Art Instutitue and the Performing Arts Conservatory of the Southwest, Sante Fe, NM

November 14, 2012 

Directed by Daniel Banks                                            
 
                                        by Daniel Banks
 
On November 14, 2012, a consortium of local arts organizations in Santa Fe, NM, hosted a reading of Caridad Svich's play SPARK with Teatro Paraguas, including DNAWORKS, Performing Arts Conservatory of the Southwest (PACS), and Santa Fe Art Institute. The storefront theatre was packed with an audience representing Santa Fe’s multiple populations whom do not typically interact in this way. Part of the draw was the actors’ contacts, part was the venue’s followers, and a major attraction was the subject matter with the promise of a dialogue afterwards with “local women impacted by war.”
 
The cast of New Mexico actors – including Nicole Gramlich, Kate Kita, Elias Gallegos, Nicholas Ballas and Lesley Reveles – inhabited the characters and the world of the play.  Guitarist Jaime Martinez provided transitions using the evocative melodies that Caridad provided, which the actors also sang.  There were audible gasps from the audience at particular moments of recognition and pathos. And the dialogue that followed, moderated by local writer/activist Lenore Gallegos, included a woman whose daughter is currently in basic training, the Vietnam veteran father of one of the actors, and one of the actors and her sister whose father and brother are both veterans.  The conversation focused on PTSD and how families also suffer from post-traumatic stress.  The audience had the opportunity to hear stories from within the larger Santa Fe community that many had not heard before; and veterans in the audience were also acknowledged and heard.
 
Nicolas Ballas, a local veteran actor who completely captured the role of Vaughn, shares:  “There's an unfolding in the acting process that occurs when I have the opportunity to breathe a voice into the words I have been given on a sheet of paper.  With SPARK, Vaughn's personal language was the voice of pain and damage wrapped in the lyrical drawl of the south.  It wasn't until I actually felt the language emerging from my body that I understood the man's shattered heart.  What a wonderful opportunity to share that discovery in a healing process with an audience!” 
 
And Stefany G. Burrows, the associate producer of the event, writes, “The play clearly moved the audience in a variety of ways, but particularly in terms of the plight of veterans returning from combat. I found the songs to be especially powerful as integral parts of the play and the characters.  I love how the dialogue moves so organically and swiftly – until it doesn't.  The rhythm of a play/scene is so critical, and this play makes great use of it. The relationships and the characters grow and change very believably. In the reading process, I was particularly struck by how invisible the female veterans are – at least here in NM.  Apparently one female vet who came to the reading left at intermission because she found it too stressful.  I wonder about whether and how these women are getting the help they need.  This play has the potential to bring this issue out into the open in a heartfelt and powerful way.  The experience overall deepened my concern for the men and women returning from combat.  As a Quaker, I cannot condone war in any way.  It is incomprehensible to me that we send anyone to war.  And I see the damage to our veterans.  I am appalled and grieved by it.”
 
Thank you to Caridad and No Passport for providing a forum for this timely and healing conversation, and for writing such powerful and haunting characters.  It is clear from the comments I have received that the people who were present at the reading and dialogue were changed by it.
 
Faithfully,
Daniel Banks, 12-3-12
 
Daniel Banks is co-founder of DNAWORKS and the editor of Say Word!: Voices from Hip-Hop Theatre published by University of Michigan Press.  Daniel Banks, Ph.D., is a theatre director, choreographer, educator, and dialogue facilitator. He has worked extensively in the U.S. and abroad, having directed at such notable venues as the National Theatre of Uganda (Kampala), the Belarussian National Drama Theatre (Minsk), The Market Theatre (Johannesburg, South Africa), the Hip Hop Theatre Festival (New York and Washington, D.C.), the Oval House (London), and served as choreographer/movement director for productions at New York Shakespeare Festival/Shakespeare in the Park, Singapore Repertory Theatre, La Monnaie/De Munt (Brussels), Landestheater (Saltzburg), Aaron Davis Hall (Harlem), and for Maurice Sendak/The Night Kitchen.
 
 
 

A Reflection on Spark in St. Louis

Sun, 12/02/2012 - 16:14 csvich

Conservatory of Theatre Arts, Webster University, St. Louis

November 20, 2012 

Directed by Michael Fling

                            by Michael Fling 

When I first received the draft of Spark, I was immediately nervous. Such contemporary pieces are not really my forte, and the topic of veterans returning home was not something I knew firsthand. However, at the core, Spark’s story is about family, and I’m a sucker for a good family drama. As the actors and I began to explore the text, we found how natural the dialogue was and how deeply we could go with the language. Since we did minimal staging, it was a treat for us to dive into the text and see how much we could bring out in the words. Because of this process, I felt liberated as a director and I really loved being able to share our finished product. However, it was the audience response that really made all of the work worthwhile. We were fortunate enough to have a group of female veterans attend the performance. After the reading, they walked up to our actors with tears in their eyes, with nothing but positive things to say about the play and our work and how important is was to them. Their reaction is what I’ll take away from the reading. At the end of the day, sharing veterans’ stories and their struggles proved more important to me than worrying about more elaborate staging or more perfectly crafted moments. As one of our audience members pointed out, “It’s refreshing to hear a story about war focused on female relationships and the personal sacrificing of families during and post war time.” We were grateful for the opportunity to participate in a project that allowed us to illuminate such stories and such heroes.

Michael Fling is currently a Sophomore in the Directing program at Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts. Some of his favorite directing credits include Into the Woods (Webster), The Music Man and Seussical (Brook Fine Arts) as well as assistant directing A Gnome for Christmas at The Repertory Theatre of St Louis. Michael also has extensive acting credits including Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Antipholus of Ephesus in The Comedy of Errors, The Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, and Lt. Frank Cioffi in Curtains. Michael is continually thankful to his friends and family for their unending support and love. 

 

A Reflection on SPARK at UCSB

Sat, 12/01/2012 - 19:13 csvich

University of California-Santa Barbara

November 12, 2012

Directed by Kellyn Johnson, producer/dramaturg: Jackie Viskup

                                     by Kane Anderson 

Vaughn was one of the more difficult roles I’ve played. He offers a flicker of non-realism in a piece largely grounded in the aesthetic of realism. While the text does not provide an explicit statement of who/what Vaughn is, I conceived the role as the personification of all those soldiers returning from war. Unlike those other characters committed to a singularly personal point of view, Vaughn perceives Lexie’s situation as part of a larger panorama of Americans returning from war (alive or otherwise). 
 
Because we approached the play reading as Story Theatre, I remained onstage throughout the reading, and shared the stage directions with the audience. This provided Vaughn with the appearance of limited omniscience so I played the role as though he knew the answers even before he asked Lexie the questions. He knows what Lexie feels because he’s seen it (lived it?) in many others before this interaction. But at the same time, Vaughn recognizes that each story is precious and personal. Each moment he shares with Lexie is in honorable service to those who no longer have moments to share. 
 
While the play ends with a suggestion that reintegration is possible, the outcomes for Lexie are still uncertain. My objective in her scene with Vaughn concerned helping Lexie make her choice about whether to go on living and fighting and suffering, or end it all in a mighty splash. I spoke with our director Kellyn and our dramaturg Jackie about how we didn’t see the encounter with Vaughn as a “talking cure” for all that ails Lexie; instead, this scene actualizes Lexie’s difficult step on a longer journey. It was important to me that Vaughn be open to either possible outcome from his exchange. Even though he encourages her to go on living and keep fighting, he will honor Lexie no matter what. He does not judge. He’s seen too much. 
 
It’s not lost on me that in the case of Lexie—and many other returning soldiers—a whole new fight begins after the battling ends. I found in Vaughn’s speeches a bit of appreciation for Christian suffering. With the concept of suffering as redemptive and transformative guiding me, I discovered the link in how the boot camp/drill sergeant imagery transitions to a Southern preacher’s spirited rousing. With this, I encountered a spiritual component in military service that felt very special to me, the actor. I confess that I’m embarrassingly out of touch of what a warrior in our armed services faces both at home and away. The realization of this spirituality, and the bond built from the shared experiences that so few can ever understand, humbled me. 
 
Playing Vaughn in this Veteran’s Day reading of SPARK at UCSB allowed me in some small way to give back to a community that I’ve regrettably allowed, or even unwittingly encouraged, to become invisible. To those men and women of our armed forces: while I cannot repay what you’ve given, you give us all hope. The least we can do is give some back to you.
 
Kane Anderson is an actor, teacher, and scholar studying popular culture and performance. He will complete his PhD at UC Santa Barbara this year with his dissertation titled "Truth, Justice and the Performative Way!" Superhero Performance and Anxieties of Cultural Change in 21st Century America. He also holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from Arizona State University and teaches acting, directing, and writing. 
 
 
 
 

A Reflection on SPARK in Boston (#2)

Sat, 12/01/2012 - 19:00 csvich

Atomic Age Theatre and Emerson College, Boston, MA

October 30, 2012

Directed by Noelle Vinas

                                                     by Noelle Vinas

I’m from Northern Virginia. That normally means privilege, government jobs, military money, and one of the most affluent areas of the United States. That’s not all it means to me, it is home – but these factors are constantly there. Many of the best friends I had growing up were of military families, of varying economic status, and many of them moved somewhere new every three years. A life serving your country really means a life serving your country. It is in every aspect of what you do, and it is not ever just an individual commitment – everyone else who loves you and those who love you make that commitment too.
 
I only had to say one or two sentences for my wonderful cast to understand this. Alexandria Moorman (Emerson College ’12), Jacob Plummer (Emerson College ’14), Natasha Karp (Emerson College ’14) and Zelda Gay (Emerson College ’14), understood these were intrinsic truths in the script. In our reading at Emerson, they treated the script with the care it demanded because it carried them. Our audience (one of the largest I’ve ever seen for a staged reading at Emerson) was similarly reverent, and in turns, amused and moved. This meant something to each of us, and we all identified – whether we were from a military family or not. These women’s different roles, each a fighter in a different way, spoke truth – regardless of proximity to situation. And that was a gift we were all able to share. Coming back home to Virginia for Thanksgiving, I am struck by the idea that Spark doesn’t just come to mind because the US Armed Forces have been a part of my life since my parents and I immigrated to the Washington, D.C. Area. SPARK comes to mind because it is about family, sacrifice, and understanding. And whether we’re from Virginia or Massachusetts, we can all connect to that.

Reflection on SPARK in Baltimore (#2)

Fri, 11/30/2012 - 21:24 csvich
Theatre Project and Bump in the Road, Baltimore, MD
 
November 12, 2012
 
Directed by Carmela Lanza-Weil
 
 
                                              by Elliott Rauh
 
I attended SPARK by Caridad Svich on November 12th, 2012 at Baltimore's Theatre Project. I was invited by one of the Fletcher McNeill, who is a friend and patron of Single Carrot Theatre, where I am a member of the ensemble. Not only was I intrigued to support a fellow actor but to have an opportunity to hear Caridad's play read aloud. Most of my experience with Caridad's plays are me reading it to myself, so having the opportunity to hear other voices color the world of the play was an opportunity I did not want to miss. It should be noted that Single Carrot Theatre is producing Caridad's The Tropic of X in February 2013 and I wanted to experience more of her work. 
 
SPARK explores a story that has been told before, a soldier returning from war, but what I appreciate is that SPARK follows the experience of a female solider returning home. While listening to the text I found myself thinking about all the advertisements I've seen about men coming home for war and how that image has been branded in my brain. American Airlines, Folgers Coffee, come to my mind. 
 
Following the reading we had a lively post show conversation. One audience member at the Baltimore reading was a an active duty member of the army and she had recently returned from her first tour in Afghanistan  She spoke about her personal experience and the similarities between her journey back to Baltimore and the play. It was very powerful to hear about her transition and her conflict between her need to slowing get re-acclimated to American society but also her maternal instinct to go right back to being a mother to her 1 year old child. She also spoke about her child's experience, spending months with grandma and then suddenly being back with mom. For this audience member she spoke about how tough it was that her mother was not computer savvy enough to set up a Skype account so she could watch her child grow, even from a combat zone, as many other soldiers experienced.  
 
As an ensemble member at Single Carrot Theatre I was thrilled that SPARK was read in Baltimore. I hope that more readings of this nature, scheduled and organized all over the country or world at the same time, will continue. It has been a success for other companies like the Tectonic Theatre Project and their readings of Laramie Project - 10 years later and Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays. 
 
 "The plays of Caridad Svich are plays of action. They are each, in their own way, a call to stand up, look out and examine the world around us, loudly or quietly, They nestle into the small moments that make up our lives and burrow deep into the crevices of what often tears us apart, but also lead us on the road to healing." - Zac Kline
 
I believe that there is no other quote that could sum up why Single Carrot Theatre has been so interested in Caridad's writing. "Plays of action" is the type of theatre that Single Carrot sets out to create. Baltimore audiences need to know more about Caridad and her work and we proud to help introduce Caridad to Baltimore and Baltimore to Caridad. 
 
Brief Bio: Elliott Rauh - managing director and co founding ensemble member of Single Carrot Theatre, Baltimore MD.  BFA Theatre, BA English University of Colorado - Boulder '05. singlecarrot.com. Single Carrot is scheduled to produce the US Premiere & English Language Premiere of THE TROPIC OF X in February 2013 in Baltimore. 
 
 
 

 


 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

A Reflection on SPARK in Atlanta (#2)

Fri, 11/30/2012 - 21:22 csvich

Working Title Playwrights, Avondale, Estates, GA

November 10, 2012

Directed by Justin Anderson (of Synchronicity Theatre, Atlanta) 

                                           by Kaye Coker, Co-Director, Veteran’s Heart Georgia

The lights came on way too soon, jarring me so that the tears stuck in my throat. I was still immersed in the stories of the family members that I had just witnessed. This reaction and the magnetism of what had just taken place on the stage took me by surprise. I had read the script SPARK by Caridad Svich and “knew”—cognitively--the characters and the plot, and the ending. It was the superb acting and direction that evoked and opened the emotional response.

These actors had become the characters and pulled me into their lives. And it was the last line that provided the hoped-for exuberant shift that happens when the work I do with people in my office goes well…when you just know that something amazing has changed things and that there is indeed hope for healing. This is a sacred moment.

As I made my way down to join the cast and director on the stage, struggling somewhat to make the transition into my role in the Talk Back, I became aware of the impact of having audiences share this experience of the effects of war on an individual and her family. It’s far too easy for those who have been guarded and protected to cultivate comfortable ignorance of those whose lives are forever changed by the experience of their service.  And just as harmful is the belief that all our Warriors are broken beyond hope of healing from being in war.

The work of writers, musicians, artists, actors and playwrights has depicted the human story and soul for eons so that it may be heard, seen and understood by all.  Narrative not only binds us together as a civilization, it is healing, as we are forced to bring our wordless emotions into language. We civilians must be able and willing to listen to the narratives of war without turning away, seeing and tending the wounds and helping to create mutual understanding that bridges the gap between those who fought the battles and those who remained at home.

Deepest gratitude to Caridad Svich for bringing the words and emotions of the effects of war to us. Respect and admiration for Justin Anderson for guiding the thespians, Cara Mantella, Sarah Wallis, Taylor Dooley, Luis Hernandez and Geoff McKnight as they became the people of this story. Atlanta is indebted to passion of Jill Patrick, who made this event happen here at Academy Theater. And NoPassport is to be celebrated for sponsoring this reading in many parts of the world, informing and involving communities in healing the effects of war.  

And many thanks to the audience, who, with stories of their own to share, created a listening community.

Kaye Coker is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Decatur, Ga. She serves as Co-Director of VETERAN'S HEART GEORGIA, a non profit all volunteer organization dedicated to healing the effects of war in our service members, veterans, their families and our communities. Since 2005 she has been providing counseling and teaching Mindfulness meditation to service members, veterans and family members, working on research regarding the effectiveness of Mindfulness with military veterans,  and maintains a private psychotherapy practice. When not otherwise engaged, the mountains of northeast Georgia call and she and husband Jim flee the city.

 

A thought/question about mobility, audience and inclusiveness in theatre

Thu, 06/21/2012 - 11:31 csvich

I have been musing for some time now but more and more of late about immersive theatre, conceptual staging and radical intimacy on US stages. Three topics close to my artistic heart, but also as Sam Gold's staging of Annie Baker's version of UNCLE VANYA at Soho Rep requires its limited audience to sit inside its A frame house and Jim McDonald's re-staging of the UK play by Mike Bartlett COCK thrillingly seats its audience cockfight-style on bare bleachers in a tight circle, and other pieces in and around town require either travelling show/promenade performance and/or up close and in one room actor to audience encounters, I return again and again to who is the audience.

Now, why would I even posit such a question? Well, it occurs to me that often when artists make work and dream up beautiful conceptual ideas such as some of the above for staging and re-imagining work, assumptions are made about the audience. Very clear assumptions about specific bodies in space. Often the assumption is, well, that the bodies are quite "able." In other words, when the big gorgeous ideas occur about audience and immersion, does the idea ever occur that there will be audience members in wheelchairs? Or that need to use canes? Or that some may be blind or deaf? Does "challenged mobility/ability" enter the picture? In effect, unless the piece being made is ABOUT and FOR - therefore, targetted to - an audience with mobility/ability challenges, are they even thought of as being PART of the audience??  

I don't wish to rain on some carefully rendered, thrilling theatrical work on our stages or being dreamt up right now, but I think the question need be asked - who is the audience? who do we imagine is part of our crowd and why?

and is it simply too easy to assume, perhaps out of social conditioning, that most of the audience will be able to trek the woods, follow the sprites, run up and down stairs (a la Punchdrunk's sublimely rendered Sleep No More), and/or sit cross legged on a carpet floor in a fairly confined space for 2 hours and half, etc., to witness/be part of the experience?

is it, in effect, too much of a bother to consider how to dream big conceptual, specific theatrical ideas and put them into remarkably into action and ALSO still think about EVERYONE that might show up, or is exclusion a natural part of the audience equation?

is it easier to say: well, this is for some people and some people only and those who want to see it/be part of it/and are willing to pay a ticket are just gonna be screwed over because in the planning stages, allowances were not made necessarily about how someone or two or three or more may be welcomed into the experience?

Welcome to the NoPassport blog

Wed, 08/23/2006 - 00:00 csvich

The NoPassport Blog

This is the open-source blog for No Passport announcements, or any public statement that a No Passport participant would like to make outside of the No Passport list.
 

NoPassport was originally founded in 2002 by Caridad Svich as a virtual and real-live word-song band. Its initial mission was dedicated to discovering new ways of listening to and writing language for performance, crossing artistic disciplines and making music. It performed in various discreet configurations (with initial members Sheila Callaghan, Jorge Corti~nas, Erik Ehn, Christine Evans, Hayley Finn, Michael Gladis, Lisa D'Amour, Sarah Ruhl and Gary Winter) at venues in New York, Providence and Minneapolis, and some of the texts created by the first configuration are archived at www.hotreview.org.

NoPassport is still a collective devoted to investigating news ways of making text and performance. However, it has now expanded its vision to devote itself to the fostering of the hemispheric spirit in US theatre with an emphasis on US Latina/o & Latin American writing.

NoPassport is a virtual and live forum for the exchange of ideas and dreams, a 'place' to strategize opportunities for our work, a group of artists and artist advocates, a jam session, a live network between theatres and the academy, and a mobile band of playwrights, directors, actors, producers and musicians. We are a pan-american theatre coalition devoted to change in the way we do things, the way things have been done, and dreaming big solid active dreams about where we can go.

UPDATED:  list of members may be found here.

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