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Directing an Original Staging of Object Journalism, Oral Testimony and Early Italian Opera

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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses December 2020 Exodus, a Museum of Between: Directing an Original Staging of Object Journalism, Oral Testimony and Early Italian Opera Gabriel Harrell University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Harrell, Gabriel, "Exodus, a Museum of Between: Directing an Original Staging of Object Journalism, Oral Testimony and Early Italian Opera" (2020). Masters Theses. 970. https://doi.org/10.7275/17754361 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/970 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Masters Theses Dissertations and Theses Exodus, a Museum of Between: Directing an Original Staging of Object Journalism, Oral Testimony and Early Italian Opera Gabriel Harrell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2 Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons EXODUS, A MUSEUM OF BETWEEN: DIRECTING AN ORIGINAL STAGING OF OBJECT JOURNALISM, ORAL TESTIMONY AND EARLY ITALIAN OPERA A Thesis Presented by Gabriel Rochelle Harrell Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS 2020 September Department of Theater © Copyright by Gabriel Harrell 2020 All Rights Reserved EXODUS, A MUSEUM OF BETWEEN: DIRECTING AN ORIGINAL STAGING OF OBJECT JOURNALISM, ORAL TESTIMONY AND EARLY ITALIAN OPERA A Thesis Presented by GABRIEL ROCHELLE HARRELL Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________________________________ Harley Erdman, Chair ___________________________________________________ Gilbert McCauley, Member ________________________________________________________ Megan Lewis, Member ________________________________________________________ Jake Meginsky, Member ____________________________________________________ Harley Erdman, Department Head Department of Theater DEDICATION TO VISHNU AND TATI AND WILDER ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a huge debt to my colleagues Vishnupad Barve, Tatiana Godfrey and Chenda Cope who shepherded me through the turbulent times surrounding the birth of this piece. I’d like to thank my partner, Sophie Wood, for her patience and insight throughout this often frustrating and rewarding undertaking. Sincere thanks to Harley Erdman, for steering me through the writing process and to Gilbert McCauley, Megan Lewis, Jake Meginsky and Shona Macdonald for their guidance. I am deeply grateful for the inspiring team of collaborators who had agreed to work on the project, with very little, or no hope of compensation, chiefly the efforts of Emma Brierley, Callum LaFrance, Danny MacNamera, Clarissa Soma Cordeiro, and Shea Witzberger. I would also like to acknowledge the seven years of support that Russel Braen and Alane Hartley of Park Hill Orchards, Easthampton have shown towards my work. The misfortune that the current pandemic terminated this project before it could be performed in their new barn, as the capstone to my MFA career, is certainly mild in comparison to the immense amount of suffering being experienced at present in the world. This artistic miscarriage saddens me profoundly though, and I hope that Exodus might one day find its way to an audience. I am deeply thankful to my parents, Ross and Rochelle and to my brother Noah, though not nearly to the extent that I should be. I’d also like to express my gratitude to all of the people who loaned this project an artifact from their lives or who agreed to be interviewed, especially to Peter Schumann for the use of his interview and encouragement. vi ABSTRACT EXODUS, A MUSEUM OF BETWEEN: DIRECTING AN ORIGINAL STAGING OF OBJECT JOURNALISM, ORAL TESTIMONY AND EARLY ITALIAN OPERA 2020 SEPTEMBER GABRIEL ROCHELLE HARRELL, B.A., BARD COLLEGE M.F.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Harley Erdman This written thesis documents how I, accompanied by a team of talented colleagues, conceived of, planned, and began the process of staging Exodus, a museum of between. I begin with an introduction to the theory and influences that shaped the work in its earliest stages. I go on to discuss the major themes of the work, chiefly an excavation of the idea of belonging, and posit a model of theater making modeled on a kaleidoscope, a model that aims to serve as a device through which to see one of our oldest stories with new eyes. I discuss the three lenses through which Exodus will examine the topic of belonging: a museum exhibition comprised of artifacts of mass migration, the first-hand oral testimony of those whose lives have been immediately effected by events of mass migration and a vii staging of Monteverdi’s opera L’Orfeo I also discuss the role that chance procedure would have played in establishing the tempo and narrative. I then reflect on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that derailed the production of Exodus and suggest alterations to the project that I would make in the event that production should be recommenced in a post pandemic future. While it is difficult to include much assessment of a project that was still in its early stages when aborted, I finish with a critique of the work that had been accomplished and offer a few thoughts on how I view the work now, in light of the work done and global developments. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1. A COLLAPSING BRIDGE ..................................................................................................................................... 1 2. EXODUS: A MUSEUM OF BETWEEN ............................................................................................................. 6 3. CHANCE PROCEDURE, STRUCTURING TIME WITHIN THE PERFORMANCE .......................... 15 4. MUSEUM: FRAGMENTS OF HUMANITY, DETAILS OF THE EXHIBIT .......................................... 19 5. HONORING MOVEMENT: CURATING AND INSTALLING THE EXHIBIT ..................................... 32 6. THE FIRST GLIMPSE ........................................................................................................................................ 38 6.1 Experiencing the Exhibit ............................................................................................................. 38 6.2 A Shifting Museum Space, The Dramaturgy of the Exhibit ............................................ 40 7. STAGING ORAL TESTIMONY ........................................................................................................................ 41 7.1 A Text in Flux .................................................................................................................................... 41 7.2 Post Pandemic Stagings ............................................................................................................... 49 ix 8. OPERA .................................................................................................................................................................... 50 8.1 The Evolution of Our Concept ................................................................................................... 50 8.2 Staging our L’Orfeo ........................................................................................................................ 54 9. REFLECTIONS ON AN ABORTED PROCESS ............................................................................................ 59 10. HOLDING MYSTERY ...................................................................................................................................... 62 APENDICES A. QUESTIONNAIRE TO ACCOMPANY OBJECTS ON LOAN TO THE EXHIBIT ............................... 65 B. PERFORMANCE SPACE FLOOR PLAN ...................................................................................................... 69 C. EXODUS INTERVIEW SCRIPT FOR ORAL TESTIMONY COMPONENT ......................................... 70 D. INTERVIEW WITH PETER SCHUMANN .................................................................................................. 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................................... 95 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: Poster for Exodus, a museum of between (Design by Gabriel Harrell) ....................... 14 Figure 2: prayer beads, Tibet to U.S. ........................................................................................................... 23 Figure 3: kajal vessel and application stick, Pakistan to Ireland to U.S. ......................................
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