To the Sea!

Today, the Proto-type caravan makes its away across Yorkshire to the seaside of Scarborough. We will be in residence at the School of Art and New Media at the University of Hull, Scarborough for two weeks. During that time, we'll be working with 30 students exploring what it means to be lost, especially in a place that seems to be at the end of the earth. Using some of the structures from our summer school, but in a very different way, we'll provoke the students to think about making work in relation to site and then translate that work into a theatre. Looking forward to meeting the students and seeing what we can make together. But first I need to pack!

Besides preparing for Scarborough, we've had a busy year so far. We premiered Third Person (redux) to overwhelmingly positive response (phew) a week and a half ago at the Nuffield Theatre. Check out the pics below.




The premiere of Third Person (redux) has meant that our lovely intern Jenny is now finished with her internship. We'll miss her but are hoping to find ways of helping her build on what she's learned with us. I just went to Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester's Northern Quarter yesterday to listen to an audio piece that her company have made. The piece is called Chatter (great name) - check it out and you'll leave wanting a cuddle and a Sunday Roast!

We have also just returned from Bristol where we performed Virtuoso (working title) at the Wickham Theatre on the Bristol University campus. Always nice visiting Bristol and the Wickham. Such a nice team of people. Had a relatively full house and a good post-show chat. We have also been busy this year with a lot of behind-the-scenes activity... soon we'll have fancy DVDs of Whisper and Virtuoso (working title) for sale and we are also working on a book in conjunction with the Nuffield Theatre Lancaster about our Sunday Lunch Club programme. Add to that a fancy new administrator (Lisa, who will blog here soon) and a new room in which to store our equipment at the Storey Creative Industries Centre (thus returning our office to an office...not a storeroom). I've also been busy working on booking the autumn tour of Third Person (redux), so hopefully in the next few months we'll be able to announce some of the confirmed dates. In the meantime, you can catch it at the Greenroom in Manchester on 19 March. I'll head to the NRLA on the 20th and 21st March with Gillian - look for us if you are going to be there. Perhaps most exciting of all, we are now members of IETM which means I'll be heading to the plenary session in Berlin this April to do some mega networking. I'll also get a chance to see work by Gob Squad, Sasha Waltz, Rimini Protokol and Rene Pollesch. Looking forward to that.

After our residency in Scarborough, we'll start work on a new piece called cityEscape. It takes the city as its canvas and is a two-week long performance intervention. We're excited to leave behind the theatre for a while and spend some time developing locative / distributed performance. In early summer we'll do a test of it on the campus at Lancaster University. We'll post more about it as it develops.

Being an American

Being an American in England should be no big deal. We have a shared history, similar language and political systems that are intricately related, if not entirely similar. Despite the fact that the modern USA was forged in a war with England, our countries have been long time friends. When I decided to move here, I was eager for something different than the way of life I was leading in the US. I had grown incredibly weary of the Bush years and found myself really disliking a lot about American culture. England seemed like a good place to get a fresh perspective.

And it has been, for the most part. There are things I don't love about England (mostly the insane drinking culture, hen nights, and much of the 'cuisine') but there is a lot I love about being here (the relative liberalism, the mobility of people, the willingness to experiment). I am constantly wondering if this move to England is permanent, or is it more complicated than that? Is this the beginning of a co-habitation, of becoming a global soul (as Pico Iyer puts it). I am not sure, but in just a few short years, I feel I've made big steps in fitting in here, but I wonder if I will ever be truly integrated. It may sound slightly dramatic, but in many ways I feel like I will always be a foreigner here; always referring back to the modes of thinking/operating that have been ingrained in my from years of growing up in America. I find myself less engaged with politics here, for instance, because I don't have any rights. I can't vote. I can't impact change via the official political system. And I do miss that a bit as I am incredibly interested in politics. I stayed up until 2.30am last night watching Obama's speech on healthcare... that is how passionate I am about politics.

There is something about the massive scale of the US and the incredible geographic diversity that I think haunts the souls of people born and raised there. I don't mean to generalise, though, so I will bring it back to my experiences.... the sense of scale that you I have become used to in the US (giant houses, cars, meals, people, roads, horizons) means that I am always aware of the existence of 'more'. This makes me feel constantly like I need to strive for more, achieve more, make more out of my work. Which brings me to Proto-type more directly. This past year has been an incredible experience for me, and for the company. I have been so proud of how we have gone from being a very loosely organised group here in the UK to a machine where each company member is truly integrated into how we function. The scale of Proto-type is expanding, developing, evolving towards a shared vision of what it means to make performance now. We don't want to just make shows that are entertaining (although that is crucial) or that are thought-provoking. We want our work to stick with the audiences who experience it; to in some way alter a little part of the way they see the world. This is ambitious, and we don't always succeed but we always give it our absolute best. Maybe it is the American in me pushing the four of us to think big. Possibly, but equally I am being pushed by Rachel, Wes and Gillian to keep on keepin on - to trust that our ambitions are achievable.

We have a big, busy, complicated year ahead of us that matches our ambitions: we are doing a sited series of video projections on the walls of the Roman Gardens in Chester, touring Virtuoso (working title), teaching several workshops with higher education students at Bristol, MMU and Lancaster Universities, conducting a two-week residency at the School of Art and New Media in Scarborough, hosting an intensive Winter School themed around the seven deadly sins, building a new show called Third Person (redux) which will tour in the spring of 2010 and starting development on a complex and exciting project code named CITYeSCAPE that will unravel over the course of two-weeks and de-centre performance out of the theatre. Some of these projects are just in their infancy. Others are developing fast. I've put links in to any of the ones that we are able to announce information on. Keep your eye on this space for more about the others. In addition, I'm going to Germany in November to participate in a conference called Movements between hearing and seeing, where I will be presenting a piece of writing I've done about our show Whisper. We will also be traveling around Europe meeting presenters, venue managers and other artists as we seek to develop a European touring scheme. Whether it is American ambition, or a result of the gusto of the combined Proto-type members' passion for performance, this year promises to kick up a lot of dust. Look out.

Hilarious Poster

Just wanted to share this ridiculous poster that I saw when we were down at the Exeter Phoenix doing Whisper.
It is for 'professional wrestling. Nicki and I came across it at the taxi office on our way out. We were kicking ourselves that we couldn't stay to catch it. Some really scrawny men on the poster (and one or two beasts). Would have been good fun. I have a soft spot for 'pro' wrestling. Or 'wrastling' as it was known where I grew up.

Quick Shots From the Road

We are down in Exeter today getting ready to do WHISPER at the Exeter Phoenix. It is our first time in this venue and so far, so good. If you've never been to the Phoenix, it is worth a trip. Its a lovely building that has a nice cafe bar (with a large outdoor space), gallery, working spaces for rehearsals and a good sized theatre space. They do a lot of music events, it seems, but some good theatre/performance/live art stuff too. There is a real buzz in the building which makes it feel like an exciting space to be in. So often venues are a bit dead; its great when they are fully utilized. We are looking forward to the show tomorrow, especially since it has been several months since we last did it.

We are here as part of the Exeter Festival, which is supported by the Exeter City Council. Here is a banner hung in the street for the festival:


I always think these big public signs are interesting because it makes me feel like we are 'real' somehow. Might sound strange, but I need these little reminders that there is someone somewhere doing things to get people to come see our shows. Nice when a festival or venue really puts some effort into it.

To get ready for the show, we had some healthy grub at the Phoenix after checking out the space. Here are Wes and Nicki enjoying the deliciousness of the pomme de terre (they are going to be really pleased that these ended up on the blog):



Gillian is still recovering from a being a bit under the weather, but she'll be in top form tomorrow, I'm sure. Oh and that Corona isn't mine. No sir. :)

More later.

Sunshine and Game Playing

It has been an inordinately sunny few weeks up here in the North of England, which has been lovely. Hard to want to do any work when it is so beautiful out. But we are staying busy as usual...

After the last post that Wes did, we finished up our spring tour at Colchester Arts Centre, a lovely re-purposed Church in Essex. It was a small but perfectly formed audience and a mellow way to end several months of hard work. The show looked lovely in the church - something about having such an enormous amount of height above the performance area adds a gravitas to the piece. With everything back in storage, we got busy planning the next phase of our touring schedule, started work planning our new shows and began putting the finishing touches on the summer school we are hosting this year. Although I can't release the dates just yet, we are definitely bringing Virtuoso (working title) to Bristol, Liverpool and Crewe in the coming year. I'll post the dates here as soon as they are confirmed. We are also in discussions with a bunch of other theatres across the UK (and in Europe too). Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement of dates.

Our new projects are starting to brew nicely. We are planning two pieces for next year, contingent on Arts Council funding (cross your fingers for us). One will be a re-imagining of a piece that we did in New York in 2005 called Third Person. This has always been one of my favorite pieces and since it has never been done outside of New York, we thought it would be interesting to have another look at it with the UK company members. The original version of the show used low-fi technology to tell the story of a dissolving love between two people - who may or may not be the two people performing. They talk only to the audience, using the third person voice (i.e., 'they') and show bits of 'evidence' using overhead projectors, slide projectors, audio recordings, and video. We are excited to re investigate this form and to create a new script that fits the cultural context (and the performers) that we are in now. This could all change, but you have heard about it here first!

The other project we are working on is a much larger piece that won't premiere until autumn 2010 most likely. It is being commissioned by the Nuffield Theatre Lancaster and all I will say about it is that it will take place in the space of daily life, over the course of a few weeks. 'Audience' members will sign up to be participants in a narrative/experience that involves them receiving communications from us, invitations to events and prompts to do things which all allow the narrative to unravel. As part of our research for this project, I went to a workshop on Weds at Soho Theatre that was led by Hide & Seek. It was about the ways in which games and gaming can be utilized in a performance context. During the day the 15-20 participants heard about different projects that use game theory, discussed elements of a good game, played some games and then developed our own performative games. It was good fun and interesting. Not sure if we will use any of this in the new show - but it certainly relates to what we are thinking about. In the evening, participants were invited to a Sandpit event at Soho Theatre which is essentially a scratch night for games. I played one called Soho Spy Squad, which was good fun - and my team won! Here is a photo of my team in the huddle at the beginning of the night.

We are putting the final touches on what we think is going to be an amazing Summer School this year. We have a few places left if you are interested in applying - deadline is 8 June at noon so get to it!