My name is Antonio and I'm the BRICstudio Spring Intern this year. I recently moved back to Brooklyn from London after finishing an MA at the University of London. I'm currently interning and rediscovering the borough I missed the most.
May 27, 2009
Spring Wrap-Up
The season is over, having ended last Sunday, and this is my last week as the BRICstudio intern. This is, appropriately enough, also the last blog post of the season. I’ve really loved interning with BRICstudio (and am looking forward to interning with Celebrate Brooklyn! this summer) and have a learned a lot about what operating a small venue requires, in addition to quite a bit about the creative process. So… signing off… leaving this blog in the cyber-espaciooo.
May 21, 2009
BRIC Co-Presentations: 651 ARTS & Danspace Project
This weekend marked the last BRICstudio performances of the season, and all three were co-presentations. On Thursday, Toni Blackman performed an early version of her work-in-progress piece Travels of a Lyrical Ambassador as part of our 651 Arts Co-Presentation program. On Saturday and Sunday, Danspace Project came back for the second part of their Home & Stranger series. I have to admit, I didn’t mind when the 651 Arts staff set up the house for us, or stuffed all of the programs, and I didn’t mind not having to do any hospitality shopping; but it was strange as well. The performances were great, but I missed not seeing more of the development process, the way I had in previous weeks’ BRIClabs. And although I didn’t miss tripping over the mic cable during the post-show artist conversations, I found myself wanting to hear more about the creative processes involved in creating the works I saw.
Although I was at the performances as a staff member of BRIC, I felt more like a member of the audience than during previous weeks. I watched and enjoyed the performances. I heard rehearsals and distributed brochures. I stuffed programs, added names to comp ticket lists, and proofread e-blast copy. But it wasn’t the same level of involvement as previous weeks. I suppose that’s one thing that makes interning during the spring season at BRIC different than interning at many other venues. Whereas in most other spaces I might have been involved in marketing, event set up, etc. – as I was here – at BRIC I also got to see so much more of the creative process than I otherwise would have. This is something I appreciate more, given the contrast with this weekend’s performances.
May 11, 2009
BRIClab Performance: ETHEL’s La Nave de los Monstruos
ETHEL isn’t the only BRIClab artist returning for Celebrate Brooklyn! this summer (Abena Koomson will also be performing), but they are the only group this year to be work shopping their Celebrate Brooklyn! piece at BRIClab. On June 20th, they'll be performing La Nave de los Monstruos in front of a crowd that is likely to swell to several thousand people - obviously quite a change from the 50 or 60 people in the audience on Saturday. This makes Saturday night's show really the second of three performances as a BRIC artist, with the final Prospect Park presentation being a more finished product than other artists' final performances.
Having such an end point in mind allowed them to ask the audience some very directed questions, getting answers that addressed their concerns about translating the work to a larger setting. They entered their BRIClab residency with questions about how to encourage audience participation and what to do about the relationship between their music and the original film's score, in addition to questions about subtitles. What they got were responses which often conflicted, with some audience members saying they should focus on the original music rather than the film’s score, others really loving the way they encouraged audience participation, and others feeling that they could go in a different direction with it. Some felt subtitles would be helpful, while one audience member felt that English subtitles and the drowning out of the original Spanish dialogue by the music might make it difficult for a Spanish speaking audience to understand.
This all really makes me wonder where they’re going to take it. With the audience feedback reflecting such a variety of experiences, it really opens things up for them. ETHEL has an idea of how people are going to feel about the changes they’ll make in the next month, but whether one change or another would be better is still something that’s very much up to them.
BRIClab Video Diary: ETHEL
Thursday May 7th
Ethel takes a drink to celebrate the end of their first BRIClab performance, before talking about how excited they are about the show. They discuss how the answers they received in the talkback regarding subtitles, coherency, sound track and audience participation are going to help them make it a better experience. Also, Espacioooo!
Wednesday, May 6th
For their third video diary, Ethel begin by showing off some of their moves, developed with the guidance of creative director Annie-B Parson. There are now – apparently – four places where audience members can expect to get up and dance to the music and movie. In addition, Dorothy and Mary talk about their admiration for the original version of La Nave de los Monstruos, the potential for audience confusion amidst the rapid-fire Spanish dialogue and how to address it.
Tuesday, May 5th
On day two, Mary and Ralph show off their growing Spanish skills, and talk about how they’re developing the audience participation element of their piece. They also discuss the universal themes of love, imprisonment and space as they appear in La Nave de los Monstruos¸ relating it to The Ring and Star Wars, and whether or not the filmmakers intended to weave these themes into their work.
Monday, May 4th
The video diary from the Abigail and Shaun’s BRIClab was such a success that we’re bringing it back. This week, ETHEL is using their residency at BRICstudio to workshop their presentation of La Nave de los Monstruos (The Monsters’ Ship). For their first diary, they discuss sex, gender and Cold War politics in the context of 1950s Mexican science fiction; how they want their version of La Nave de los Monstruos to develop into a Rocky Horror type experience, complete with a new score and audience participation; and how their time at BRIClab already differs from previous workshop experiences. Also, light motifs – like science – and hot Venusians.
April 27, 2009
BRIClab Performance: Abigail Nessen Bengson and Shaun Bengson’s Ain’t That Good News
Last week was a bit more hands on for me. Not only was I writing blurbs and uploading video for this blog, but on Thursday and Saturday I was working the light board for Abigail Nessen and Shaun Bengson’s work-in-progress performances of Ain’t That Good News. I hadn’t worked a light board since high school, but when Stephanie and Katie were thinking of people to do lighting at the beginning of the season, I volunteered anyway. Zach (who will be working with Celebrate Brooklyn! this summer) did the lighting design, but stuck mostly to the sound board during the performance. A few of the scene changes which we went over in rehearsal on Thursday worried me a bit. There was a couple in which I had to change scenes twice in less than a minute, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t quite spot on in rehearsal (and yes, mistakes were made during the first performance – minor, insignificant mistakes which I’m sure absolutely nobody noticed). By the time the house opened, I’d gotten it together enough that things came off fairly well. I really miss doing production – taking a much more active role - and was glad I could help out in the tech booth.
Spending so much more time in BRICstudio on Thursday and Saturday also gave me a much better sense of just what BRIClab residencies are all about. I was amazed at the way Abigail and Shaun continued to make changes up until the very last moments before their Thursday night performance, even cutting several sections of the piece little more than an hour before doors opened. Being so much more involved with the piece, and being so much more familiar with it at the time of performance, I was also much more aware of how much it had changed by Saturday and how much more it will probably continue to change. It wasn’t even the same show anymore. What I’d expected based on what I’d read at the beginning of the season was a musical theatre piece, but on Thursday it had more in common with vaudeville. By Saturday, it was more like a concert with occasional interludes. The songs changed, the interludes had changed – and yes, the lights had changed. At some point during the previous week, someone from The TEAM had mentioned that they probably threw away 90% of the material which they produced. But the constant changes that come with such an intensive residency really became evident to me when watching Abigail and Shaun work.
BRIClab Video Diary: Abigail & Shaun
Saturday, April 25th
In their final video diary, taken just a few minutes after their second BRIClab performance, Abigail and Shaun talk about what a challenging and productive experience their BRIClab residency was. They also discuss how working with creative advisor David Neumann helped them develop their movement-related goals for Ain’t That Good News and thank BRIC for the opportunity.
Friday, April 24th
Fresh off their first public work-in-progress performance, Shaun discusses the challenges of presenting work so early in its development and Abigail explains why taking creative risk is a bit like being a trapeze artist. They also question what it means to take care of their own needs for artistic growth, while remaining generous to their audience.
Thursday, April 23rd
In this video, Shaun and Abigail talk about how they feel about their BRIClab residency, as of day four, and how time constraints have affected their creative process. Specifically, they discuss how it’s forced them to be more intense editors when preparing for the first work-in-progress performance.
Wednesday, April 22nd
Abigail and Shaun discuss working with BRIClab Creative Advisor, David Neumann, and how he's helped them to better integrate the physical and vaudevillian elements of Ain't That Good News into the storytelling and musical aspects of the show. They also express their joy at director David Eppel’s return to rehearsal.
Tuesday, April 21st
On Tuesday, the second day of their BRIClab residency, Abigail and Shaun talk about how much the show has already begun to change during their time at BRIC. On Monday, they worked on the songs, choosing which old numbers to incorporate and which new ones to add. Today, they've spent the day writing (or rewriting) making the show into something more cabaret than traditional theater. Also - lunch, the joys of free coffee and how Stephanie won't turn the camera around.
Monday, April 20th
We’re going to try something new this week. Sometime each day, Stephanie or I will record a video of Abigail Nessen Bengson and Shaun Bengson discussing what they’re doing at BRIClab, covering ways in which the show has changed, what they worked on the day before, what they’re thinking of working on that day and anything else they feel like mentioning. Here’s the video from day one, featuring a brief cameo from yours truly.
April 20, 2009
The TEAM’s The American Capitalism Project and the Bowling for BRIClab Afterparty
Saturday was the last day of The TEAM’s BRIClab residency, and the night of the Bowling for BRIClab party. I hadn’t yet seen BRICstudio sell out, but by the time doors opened the lobby was already full of people waiting. By the time The TEAM started, we had every folding chair on the floor, not to mention two benches pulled from the green room. Event volunteers sat on office chairs we pulled from the conference room. Even with all of that, a half dozen or so people stood at the back of the room, lingering near the doors, the bar or the tech booth. Stephanie had to stall a bit so we could accommodate the audience, so the TEAM started a few minutes late. Nobody, however, seemed to mind. The American Capitalism Project had multiple interweaving plots centered on a half dozen or so characters and the city of Las Vegas – weaving Wall St. with the West; bowling with slot machines. It was kind of impressionistic, and it was never really clear what was supposed to be fantasy and what was supposed to be part of the narrative. I won’t pretend to have understood it, exactly, but it was fantastic and I’m looking forward to see the final product.
What I did start to understand, finally, are some of the reasons behind the recession. Sometime in the first half of the performance, a man in a conservative, grey suit came on stage and introduced himself. I thought he was an actor – a member of the company – but then he began talking about the economy, using a bucket to metaphorically explain the recession. During the talkback, despite running (stumbling) through the audience passing the microphone around, I noticed that this was something on which many others also focused. The lecture – perhaps the most obviously tangible part of the performance and something that had been added since Thursday night’s performance – was the focus of much of the audience commentary. It seemed to be something that everyone really appreciated, as though it was the first time anyone had taken the time to explain clearly what was happening with the economy. Here’s a clip of Rachel and Kristen in rehearsal discussing how to incorporate the economic advisor into the show.
On a (slightly) less serious note, for the party we had a half dozen cases of donated Lagunitas beer behind the bar (and four more in the cage), 16 boxes of pizza, a Wii with bowling, a disco ball (with accompanying disco music mix) and a slew of raffle prizes. Sadly, there was a bit less dancing than had been hoped, but many people stayed after The TEAM finished performing to play Wii, talk about the performance and have a beer. I spent much of this part of the night showing people how to use the Wii controller and talking to people about BRIC.
April 13, 2009
Brooklyn Independent Television taping of Caught in the Act at BRICstudio
Stephanie asked me if I would like to take some time out of the day to watch an episode of Caught in the Act being taped for BIT, and I said yes. I'm glad I did. I’d never seen television being made before, but I walked into BRICstudio to find it had been turned into something recognizable as a TV studio. The lights were off, and the tables and chairs were pushed to the sides. A number of bright lights surrounded and illuminated BRIClab Artist Abena Koomson and Fela! star Sahr Ngaujah. A handful of cameraman took up stationary positions at various points, while a third darted around the room – variously behind the bar, behind the mobile editing booth that now occupied the space in the middle of the room and at the front of the stage. Curious about the editing process, I took up a spot behind the editing station and took notes. I didn’t realize at the time that it meant I wouldn’t be able to hear much of Abena and Sahr’s conversation, only getting bits about their respective creative processes. Instead, I heard “Camera One – you can zoom out aaaand…. Stop there,” “Camera Two – that’s way too much movement. C’mon Camera Two – what are you doing?” Interesting in its own way.
What amazed me was the ease with which Abena and Sahr talked about their work and their respective creative processes under the pressure of lights and cameras and the occasional interjections of the show’s producer. Abena spoke about the ways in which Cozi Sa Wala (her one woman show) had changed in between her first and second workshop performances at BRICstudio – about how she’s changed the place of certain scenes, changed the way she performed some others. She added three characters over the course of her week here, emerging in a short time with a piece that is in many ways very different than the one with which she began. It was really fascinating to hear how the feedback from the audience on Thursday night led her to make many of those changes.
March 30, 2009
BRIClab Performance: Wally Cardona’s Really Real
I've never really studied or even thought too much about dance. It's not that I don't appreciate it, or don't care – I just haven’t had very much exposure. That made watching two work-in-progress versions of Really Real, and then hearing the post-show eLABorate conversations, a fascinating and fun experience. After setting up tables and lighting candles; after preparing programs and getting water for the dancers (not to mention putting up posters and handing out flyers), I took a seat behind the bar to watch (much to the confusion of several people ordering drinks). As I'm wont to do, I took notes, occasionally telling someone where the bathroom was or handing one of the dancers a program.
The entire performance, I felt like I was listening to a new language. I saw movements and knew they were meaningful, but couldn’t say what they meant. I watched the first section featuring two women and then another section with three men on stage, trying to make sense of the way the movements of one followed the movements of another, and trying to understand how the recordings of “Somebody to Love” and “Ring of Fire” played into the performance. In my notebook I wrote down “meaning through movement – but what meaning?” Trying to understand what I was seeing, I was pretty pleased when Lucy Sexton – the moderator of Thursday’s eLABorate conversation – began talking about dance as a language. Seeing it again on Saturday, I begin to pick apart sections and things started to make more sense. Even if I couldn’t “get it”, the obvious meaning of the movements was something really special.