Poetry Show Pics
Posted by Rachel on May 9, 2009
You may have heard tell about the Poetry Show we’re doing in collaboration with Words @ Play program as part of the 2009 Children’s Humanities Festival “Stages Sights and Sounds.” We did our first two performances for school groups on Thursday at the Thorne Auditorium downtown. So much fun! There are shows open to the public on Saturday, May 16th if you’d like to check us out.
Here are some pics from rehearsals!
Dixie and Matt rap about a girl named Imani Pastrami . . . “So get my name straight before you come up to my face!”
Laura and Laura play the inside emotions of each other’s cool exteriors in “I Seem to Be . . .”
The Poetry Show is one of my personal faves of the entire year, partly because poetry’s awesome, partly because it’s a public show . . . Monkeys in the Wild!!! And largely because the nature of the raw material for the show forces us to adapt our rehearsal process in a way that’s challenging and personally rewarding. Luke has been known to call it Montessori-style. We might have one big group working on a poem that requires lots of performers and at the same time have several individuals or pairs who’ve retreated into the corners of the room to work independently. And we take some home as pet projects, work them out, and bring them back to share our visions with the group. I did that with one poem about a yoga ball. I have bruises, but they’re worth it.
Dixie went home and made an amazing set of 9 boxes that separate and rejoin to form different images for the poem, “Big Things.”
Laura McKenzie took home at least 6 poems—four she turned into songs, one she turned into a solo ode to Ferrato’s Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, one she sound designed as a disco montage with voice overlays . . . the lady is a force of nature.
The coolest thing for me personally was that between shows, we had a lunch break. Maggie and I lunched in the park between the MCA and the Water Tower, along with a school group who had seen our first show. They said, “Look! It’s an actress!” and watched our every move . . . “One of them is drinking coffee!” I felt famous and happy they liked the show!