Impressions of a (Press) Opening

Persians-Getty Villa Sept 3, 2014

 God knows we wondered over the weeks of rehearsal if this could really be done.  Reading and studying 3 different plays over a year and half ago, we looked at each other and thought-IF we choose this one,  how the Hell are we going to do this?  But that very same sentiment is why, in part, we faced it, chose it-Persians.

Persians

Diary for Wednesday August 12, 2014 Getty Villa                      

There is something of the divine, its like touching into something of the divine working at the Getty Villa. For an actor at least. And so making an ancient play is an evocation of sorts. The tasks are no longer pouring honey and oil in libation to contact the powers over heaven and earth. Our tasks rather take the form of simpler things, practical, necessary. But they are to evoke the things that have power over our world nonetheless. Our imaginations.

Here is a link to Notes for a Voyage. I recorded the voice over for this while in Saratoga this summer for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Peter Sparling, the director, approached me on a recommendation from the MGCo. members. It was a bit of a quick and dirty recording, the concert was to be in 2 days. I have to say, this was such an honor, as the dancers featured, Blakely, Tadej, Ben and Loyd, are some of the most spectacular dancers in this country if not the world today. 

The Light House

Monday June 23, 2014

Perhaps it was Isabel’s ability to dissect the situation in Cuba with such compassion and laser-like vision, giving perspective to the artistic situation there, as well as her own state of being…

Or perhaps it was my quiet few moments with Jaako in the studio at lunch one afternoon, just he and I, and the room, which became a sanctuary despite the energy still trilling the air from classes…

Or it might have been the constant sound of the door to the blue room opening and shutting all through the week, constant activity, which in our small space, denotes constant changing of roles…

Or was it being in the audience for the four compositions on Wednesday, transported to four different landscapes, physically, emotionally, astonished by the breadth of imagination and talent…

Day 6,

An early morning after reading the Persians last night. The fog and clouds giving way to a pure light that etches everything with such clarity. The beauty is almost too much, overwhelming to the senses and the soul. A morning drive up into the canyon and down to the Pacific, which is now a color we haven’t seen before. 

After the formality, archaic structure and rigor of Aeschylus’ language, we give over today to the wild, unnerving energy of Euripides’ The Bacchae. One  has been read at night, sombre and strange. The other will be read midday, while this light outside shines on the white marble, glitters the fountains and herbs, spins the birds into the air. 

I’VE BEEN HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME SITTING still to write about stillness.