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Omens and definitions

Posted by DCA Theater on September 17, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Striding Lion Interarts Workshop

by Karen Louis, Pioneers co-director

As we round out our second week in the INCUBATOR series, it is official!  We have created a script and a framework production for a brand-spanking new youth production to bring into our Illinois Arts Council residencies!  Be sure to come and check it out at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 29th in the Studio Theater!

The process to get there has been fast and furious, and not without a potential broken toe, an unintentional tradition/superstition that seems to mark each and every Striding Lion production.  The process of breaking toes, in relation to Striding Lion, has become an indicator that all will end up well when we get this show up on its feet (har, har).  Performance and superstition go hand in hand, seeking signs and direction that lead as a beacon towards hope and success.  Some companies look to a disaster-laden final dress to indicate a wonderful opening night.  Costumers accidentally prick a finger, and smudge a seam in superstition.  Certain Scottish plays are not spoken onstage, believed to be cursed, and if the Scottish play IS spoken, well, there is a whole host of rituals that are performed to right the wrong of speaking the name.

Whistling in the theatre is considered bad luck.  The list of performance superstitions is endless.  In Striding Lion, someone always breaks a toe.  Good omen.  Sorry about your toe, Christian!  Thanks for taking one for the team!

Now that we have a script, movement, music and staging for “Westward, Ho!"(working title) that incorporates our teaching methodology, workshop practice, and historical base, it is time to change direction and create a new path for our audiences that are older than 10.

Using the same workshop model that we’ve been cultivating as an ensemble, we will embark on a journey of inquiry into the very definition of “Pioneer” in “Directional Shifts,"led by yours truly, which will be the first model of the “Night Roars-live art series” that will be appearing in various venues across the city. 

Night Roars is a Live Art event that is a result of our weekly workshop series of multidisciplinary artists coming together to work on original pieces and ideas, developing them into a place of presentation, experimentation and showcase.  The Night Roars event incorporates elements of cabaret, variety show, rock show, installation, mixed-media, audience inclusion, and hootenanny.  It also provides a space to allow independent artists an audience for developing work and community as a celebration and a playground.

The “Directional Shifts” workshop begins with this:

Main Entry: 1pi·o·neer
Pronunciation: \ˌpī-ə-ˈnir\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French pionier, from Old French peonier foot soldier, from peon foot soldier, from Medieval Latin pedon-, pedo — more at pawn
Date: 1523
1 : a member of a military unit usually of construction engineers
2 a : a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development b : one of the first to settle in a territory
3 : a plant or animal capable of establishing itself in a bare, barren, or open area and initiating an ecological cycle

With these definitions in mind, we will set out using mapping exercises, journal sessions, movement, personal experience, media, music and presentation to explore the artist’s role as a pioneer through our current political and personal climates.

Onward!