Sunday, September 10, 2006

remnants of SONATA - day after the premiere

[what i sent to my friend Andrea about
SPILLWAY SONATA]

"got caught up with the prep and step
of doing the show. plus, a diez y seis
parade happened on saturday morning,
and it was gallery night that evening.
alot of hubbub in the city.

our show (2 performances): has left
me completely physically exhausted. here
i type, the day after, all muscle achy and
on the border of cranky cuz i'm so tired.
it's a completely consuming immersion, this
SPILLWAY SONATA. 20 minutes long of
continuous slow-slow movement, where every
muscle of your body is engaged, and torqued
and clenched, depending on the gesture
or position you're taking. as my friend
said, "you were wearing the experience"
of being in Katrina. and it was true, we
were buffeted by strong winds, pummeled
by unforgiving rain, and wading through
waist-deep toxic floodwaters.....in our
minds, we were there and our bodies evoked
what we were thinking.

feedback from audience:
"you looked like dead souls"
"it reminded me of purgatory"
"i cried when you picked up the trashbags"
"people were wiping their eyes"
"i really felt like i was there"
"beautiful"

so, all in all, i am pleased. we will perform
this work one more time, next friday, when
i host some events having to do with environmental
health impact of Katrina (workshop on using
Boal's theater of the oppressed techniques
to start dialogue with gente of Houston about
environmental toxics in their communities PLUS
a screening of a new doc video on Katrina
environmental damage). another busy week
coming up.

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