IRONDALE ENSEMBLE PROJECTNEWSNEWS Spring 2004 Volume 7 Number 1 IN THIS ISSUE Outside the Law Welcome to the Spring 2004 issue of the By Jim Niesen Irondale newsletter. The past year been an incredibly From 1986 to 1989 the Irondale Ensemble busy time for us, rich with artistic challenges. We’ve created a series of what we eventually came to call just wrapped up our national Seussentennial tour “textual collidings”—deconstructions of classic plays which toured over 40 cities in 100 days, reaching against which we bounced off completely original more than 12,000 children and families. We couldn’t storylines of our own making. The new plots were begin to describe all of the experiences we’ve had in capable of standing on their own, independent of the detail - get a little taste of our journey in Damen’s plays which inspired their creation, but when intercut Seussian recounting and some short anecdotes from into the pre-existing text, they commented on or the company on page 3. paralleled key elements of the original play. Some- We’re about to open our spring show, a times they would metaphorically replace sections of revival of our 1989 original work Outside the Law. the source text, in an attempt to convey to our This was the third in a series of Irondale “collision” audiences the visceral sensation of a dramatic pieces, combining Shakespeare’s As You Like It moment in the original text without referring to with the legend of the notorius bank robber and actual information or story points from it. Above all, depression-era “Robin Hood” Pretty Boy Floyd. It’s these collidings were never simply straightforward been a lot of fun for us to go back and look at it again relocations (for example, setting a textually accurate with so many new ensemble members. We hope production of Continued on Page 2 you’ll join us for a performance this May at TADA! Theater at 15 West 28th Street in NYC. We’re continuing with several successful education programs, including our programs at EBC High School for Public Service, PS 811 at Bellevue, the Mickey Mantle School, Brooklyn High School for Michael-David Gordon, Jack Lush the Arts, International Arts Business School, Lower and Danny Bacher in Seussentennial. East Side Prep, Bushwick Leaders High School, Chelsea Vocational, and Freedom Academy, PS Barbara taught theater and served as counselors to 38. All of this while having four company members children whose lives have been directly affected by on the road! AIDS. Barbara writes about this amazing experience Irondale members have been busy outside on page 4. (We hope to continue to be involved in of the rehearsal studio as well, especially in passing WorldCamps.) on what we’ve learned to new generations. Along At the New School for Social Research, with directing Peer Gynt at Manhattanville College Terry taught ensemble acting in the fall and directed this fall, Jim recently participated in Phil Lillienthal’s Oh, What a Lovely War this spring. This was a Steve Cross (Oliver North) and Terry Greiss (J. Edger WorldCamps program in South Africa. He and Continued on Page 6 Hoover) in the 1989 production of Outside the Law.

A Home of Dr. Seuss Being a Our Own! and Irondale Political Artist See Page 7 See Page 6 See Page 2

IRONDALE ENSEMBLE PROJECT Non Profit P.O. Box 150604 Organization U.S. Postage Paid Brooklyn, New York 11215-0604 New York, NY www.irondale.org 5443 Address Service Requested MAY 11 - 29 TUESDAY - SATURDAY at 8 PM

TADA! THEATRE 15 WEST 28th STREET, 2nd FLOOR (between Broadway and 5th Avenue)

TICKETS: $25, $15 for Seniors and Students Thursdays - Pay What You Can!

FOR RESERVATIONS CALL (718) 488-9233 OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.IRONDALE.ORG ideal expression of the qualities we tional characters are brought into being Outside the Law Continued from Page 1 believed to be lacking in Rosalind and as the story takes off in new and Orlando. The characters from the two unexpected directions. A young The Merchant of Venice in pre-fascist A chance listening to an Arlo separate stories arrive in and eventual- George Bush (complete with Yale Italy), but rather always involved the Guthrie recording of his father’s ly meet in what we called” the notion of baseball cap) becomes a protégé of creation of completely new worlds and depression-era song “The Ballad of a universal forest”, able to contain Hoover. In the case of Duke Senior characters. Typically, scenes from Pretty Boy Floyd” provided us with the many worlds and always larger he is replaced by an entirely new the new story would alternate with material necessary for our “argument” than the stories contained within its character: Lord Baden-Powell, founder selected ones from the confines. The universal forest of the Boy Scouts, espousing a hardy, original chosen to is the place where characters simplistic optimism and a life credo as bring out a strongly go to seek refuge and have out of touch with modern realities as conceptualized view of adventures. Rosalind flees to Duke Senior was with the Machiavel- the play. At a given Arden, Floyd in the ballad lian workings of his brother’s court. point, the disparate “took to the trees and timbers Oprah Winfrey appears in the role of worlds of both stories of the Canadian River shore,” Hoover’s security advisor. would begin to merge but for our purposes it As Floyd and Rosalind into a third “warped” would all be the same place. become better acquainted in the forest, reality in which, some- Initially the forest takes on the the outlaw becomes something of a how, all the various particular characteristics and thorn in her side, urging her to abandon plots and characters atmospheres as demanded her foolish love games and return to would come to exist by the alternating needs of the world of the court where she can in the same time and the two stories. Rosalind’s lead the people to whom “her very place. The new mate- forest features some of the silence and her patience speak.” rial was always devel- physical details of medieval Near the end of Outside the oped collectively and France. Floyd’s reflects an Law Pretty Boy Floyd is shot down in improvisationally, com- Oklahoma of the 1930’s. cold blood by the young George Bush ing very much out of Rosalind’s forest is peopled bent on fulfilling his own political the actors’ own sensi- by Shakespearean rustics, ambitions. Bush kills off Floyd, the bilities, sense of truth, Floyd’s inhabited by poor, human embodiment of idealism in his politics, and individual Midwestern farmers; but, as era, much in the same way that the voices. Invariably we the various characters from Bush administration and the forces of would isolate a quality the two plots inevitably met the far right have attempted to kill off or theme in the original up in the woods their forest idealism and progressive sensibilities text early on. This worlds begin to merge as in the soul of the country in our own would be something well. Silvius, for instance, time. Hoover, however, receives word that we believed to be soon found himself working at almost immediately that Floyd has just vital to our interpreta- a gas station and then being robbed another bank in Oklahoma. The tion but difficult for recruited as a member of the ghost of the fallen outlaw then appears audiences sometimes Floyd gang. to Hoover and informs him that “What Molly Hickcock (Rosalind) in the 1989 production of Outside the Law. to accept as being an Over the course of the you fail to understand, Mr. Director, is integral theme of the original play. story. To the victims of the Oklahoma play, elements of the merged forest that you cut a tree back to make it grow Often we believed the baggage that dust bowl Charley (Pretty Boy) Floyd feed back into the court scenes as well. stronger. So, if you manage to kill accompanies the play’s stature as a was something of a modern Robin Duke Frederick, still speaking much of Pretty Boy Floyd—AND EVERY TIME classic prevented audiences from Hood, robbing money from foreclosing his original text, is transformed into J. THAT YOU KILL HIM—you just con- taking a fresh look or re-evaluating it banks and using the loot to help poor Edgar Hoover, Oliver into Hoover’s vince more people that he’s got to live.” under a highly fresh light. farmers make their mortgage pay- aide Oliver North, and Touchstone into The ghost of Floyd appears Of these “collidings” my ments. According to the Guthrie song, the pop journalist Tom Wolfe. one more time in the play. In the midst personal favorite remains Outside the Floyd was driven to his life of crime Outside the Law begins with a of the wedding scene from As You Like Law (1989), our reworking of Shake- after killing a surly deputy sheriff. The series of rapid cuts back and forth It, Pretty Boy appears on a promontory speare’s As You Like It. In many ways sheriff had been “using vulgar words of between the two story lines. Events are overlooking the clearing where this was also the most unique piece in language” in front of Floyd’s wife. Like shown which emphasize parallels the wedding is taking place. He inter- the series in that the original rupts the ceremony and he and material was created not so Rosalind speak the following lines much to illuminate the original from Brecht’s Visions of Simone play but to argue with it. I’d been Machard: disturbed for some time by what I took to be the moral stance of FLOYD (THE ANGEL) the play. I was troubled by the Don’t let them take you away. fact that after creating such a Hold out dark and menacing world in Don’t go back to your family. the opening scenes (a virtual Not yet. Stay. police state ruled by the despotic The enemy may burst in from one Frederick) and presenting Ros- moment to the next. alind and Orlando as potentially powerful charismatic revolution- ROSALIND (SIMONE) aries, Shakespeare is content to How can I fight? allow his young heroes to fritter The enemy has already won. away their time and powers playing love games in the forest. FLOYD I was appalled by the deus ex Is the night wind still blowing? machina device employed at the end to set the world back on its ROSALIND proper course. The shift in tone Yes. from part one (the court scenes) to part two (the forest) seemed FLOYD too abrupt. The threat posed at Is there a tree in the yard? the beginning was too dark, too real to write off the conversion ROSALIND of the evil duke simply as a Yes, a poplar. convention of an “it’s after all a comedy of course this could Josh Taylor, Paul Ellis, Robin Kurtz and Georgina Corbo in You Can’t Win. FLOYD happen” world. Do its leaves rustle when the wind At the same time, though, I many of his contemporary outlaws, between the two stories: Floyd is seen blows? found myself very drawn to other key Floyd was eventually tracked down and losing his job followed by Orlando elements in the play. Rosalind is with- shot by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, but not being driven from his estate; Floyd’s ROSALIND out question one of the best written before he had become a legendary killing of the deputy followed by Yes. characters in all the Shakespeare figure said to have often left a thousand Orlando’s defeat of Charles the comedies. Her scenes in the forest are dollar bill under his dinner plate to poor wrestler; Floyd’s flight to the woods FLOYD sharp, witty, and direct, devoid of many families who had offered him a meal intercut with Rosalind’s banishment. Then we must fight, even if the enemy of the period references and puns that and a night’s shelter. Floyd’s direct Once all the characters are in the forest has already won. often render Elizabethan humor approach to dealing with the forces of the two plots come together, producing inaccessible to modern audiences. oppression and injustice made him the longer, more developed scenes. Addi-

2 Oh The Places We Went! By Damen Scranton

Way back in aught three, toward the middle I think, We were in Salt Lake City performing The Irondale Ensemble (which never does shrink at the beautiful new public library. During Green From a challenge, by George!) signed a very big deal Eggs and Ham, Danny introduced himself as “Sam I With Random House Books – a big company for real! am.” We then heard this little boy yell out, “No, I am Sam!” Danny went up to the child, put his arm ‘Twas a deal that would help us keep all of our jobs, around him, and said, “Sam we is.” The little send us out on the road to perform for great mobs. boy, who was maybe four years old, J came up on stage with Danny and Our task was to make up a play just for tots ack Lu said the lines along with him. It was (and their mamas and papas and other whosenots) – s h yet another example of our a play that derived from all things Dr. Seuss; p incredible spontaneity during e r the show, and how we

a play we could take out and put to good use. f o r touched the lives of so It was tough, we’ll admit, for we had D.S.E. m many kids and their par- i n (Dr. Seuss Enterprises…); they wanted to see g ents by dragging them T all the plots we were hatching and make sure the show h up on stage with e us would live up to the name of Ted Geisel, you know? S — Michael - n

So we toiled and we labored and brainstormed some more e David

e

t Grodon (for we’d never done anything like this before…) c h and in no time at all we’d developed a play e s ‘twas for adults by night and for youngsters by day. From near and from far they came young and came old. Every seat had a sat! Each free ticket was sold! They came out to Bentonville, Buffalo, too, Fort Carson and Memphis and Solla Sollew. They stood up in Denver. They cheered in L.A. In Wichita, Kansas, they couldn’t quite say Mogadishu and Baghdad, Hanoi and Beruit, what it was that they’d seen, but they laughed nonetheless in Tripoli, Tel Aviv, East Barbaloot, at our Seussian fun and insatiable mess. in Macamadonia, Covenant Square, In Dallas they swooned and in Dayton they cried. in Washingville, Louiston, Manchester Fair, In Detroit they requested their hankies be dried. we inspired the children to get up and do, And perhaps the best place that our show came to pass to stand up and shout out and try something new, was the Dr.’s own hometown of Springfield dot Mass. to get up from in front of those darn t.v. sets, With arrangable trees and our set from Ikea use their hockeyball rackets and whifflegolf nets. we went out and won over all North Korea! We encouraged the kids all to read and to write We flew out to Bangkok, to Zurich and Rome, to imagine in colors besides black and white took the train up to Pisa, then did we come home? and to draw and to sing and to dance and create Ah nyet! mein compadre, contraire. The next week and to question the world and to be obstinate. we performed for the Yeti on Mt. Everest peak! We told them to go home and make a huge mess, And then the tour went to a place that was fine-a then to clean it right up, make that mess much, much less. than the finest of temples in Beijing dot China. And of course we made quite a large mess in our show, We also performed in the city of Oz but we cleaned it right up and were back on the go. for an audience of nine and each one was named Roz. So we lived as we preached and had loads of great fun, ate disgusting fast food (all “to go” on the run) and we came home a changed-for-the-better ensemble with a much higher tolerance for screaming babies in the audience and the whole notion of public breastfeeding… In this age where we’re ‘stracted by corporate takeovers, by local news, Jerry and Extreme Makeovers, it’s good to remember the man who inspired us to read all those books with no prompting required. Thank you much, Dr. Suess. You’re the man that we love. May we meet in that great Grickle Factory above!

After our performance for 1,000 military folk at Ft. Hood in Waco, Texas, a woman walking with two an boys wrapped around her legs stopped in s, D ny B ranton en ach S c front of me. She said, “Thank you. My husband left last week iesen, Lau ick er and Damen Jos N ra W for Iraq and to have my boys smile for an hour means so h Bacher, Jim irthday i b n La much.” — Laura Wickens rating Dr th Jol a leb . Seu 100 la, C a ttend the gala ce ss’ aliforni

From January 3 to April 4, the Irondale Ensemble Project traversed the country performing with the Seussentenial: Imagination tour. The show was 45 minutes long and enjoyed by children and their parents alike. We did 82 performances (42 cities in 25 states) and countless media spots on local news programs. This page is meant to give you some insight into the tour and show, and to offer up some “snapshots” of our experiences on the road. And finally, we owe a great big thank you to Random House Children’s Books for selecting Irondale to take part in this endeavor.

3 OutOut ofof SouthSouth AfricaAfrica By Barbara Mackenzie Wood and older ones between fourteen and takes place three days later. It is an halfway around the world are so much It began with an e-mail Jim fifteen, will perform a fifty minute origi- equally inspiring event. alike in so many ways and different in received last summer while I was work- nal theater piece for the entire camp. It’s now been over a month others. The fashions are very much the ing on a project in Scotland. “World- We used a mime piece, a South African since our return from three weeks in same. They constantly play the music Camps is set to go,” it began, or South Africa where we created of American groups with whom I’m not something to that effect. “I may the theatre program and familiar, but I’m sure their peers here be calling on some of you folks directed two devised theatre are familiar with them. The group of at Irondale to draw on your AIDS pieces at Camp Sizanani, a eight, nine, and ten year-olds seemed education experience” The mes- pilot project of the internation- younger than their American counter- sage was from Phil Lilianthal, al organization WorldCamps. parts, but the African eleven and twelve long time director of Maine’s WorldCamps is a non-profit year-olds suddenly seemed to be much Camp Winnebago. I responded: organization providing chil- more advanced than our pre-teens in “Write Phil back right away. Tell dren affected by HIV/AIDS in their ability to problem solve and work him I want to be a part of it.” developing countries with together as a group. Five months later we experiences away from home I confess we didn’t talk about find ourselves, Jim and I, in the that promote “skills, maturity, AIDS very much in the drama program. countryside about forty miles independence, an awareness That task fell to a twenty-nine year old outside of Johannesburg. Over of public health issues, and African counselor who ran a program and over the thought comes to cross-cultural interchange.” called “Life Skills.” Our work with them my mind: I can’t believe I’m The Sizanani (Zulu for centered on exercises that strength- actually in Africa. We seem to be “helping each other”) project ened trust, team building, self esteem surrounded by the enormous brought together one hundred and confidence. Once again our “Bible” sky. The site where we did the boys who have been directly was Viola Spolin’s Improvisation for the staff training abuts a nature infected or affected by the Theater. It is a credo of Spolin that reserve. Herds of zebra and elk HIV/AIDS pandemic for a ten- the intuitive nature of her games and can be seen from time to time in day experiential, educational exercises will bring to the surface the the distance. program. A key aspect of the true concerns, wishes, fears and needs The building where we Barbara in South Africa. Photo by Jim Niesen theatre program was to enable of the group that plays them. While the will be conducting our drama program tale entitled the “Stealer of Salt”, circus them to share songs, stories, games sense of joy in the room was is new but very bare bones. Outside acts, a series of improvised scenes and other aspects of each other’s omnipresent, there still were those the temperature is creeping into the based on audience suggestions and cultures, and do it all in a setting where moments, usually late at night after the nineties, but there is a pleasant breeze. interludes of original songs and group they were having fun. boys had finally settled down, when the Jim and I motion for the participants to created movement pieces as the basis The staff of twen- form a circle. I look around the circle for the performance, but the boys also ty was evenly divided and nine pairs of eager, anxious eyes create a most memorable version of between participants from stare back at me. It is our first day the “Three Little Pigs” which they insist- South Africa and the Unit- of workshops at Camp Sizanani. I ed be included as well. ed States and included a The evening of number of returned Peace the performance Corps volunteers, youth we ask that they workers and athletics report directly to coaches. Phil Lillianthal, the theater imme- the American co-director, diately following has over thirty years expe- supper so that we rience running his own can go over the camp for boys near “ins and outs” of Fayette, Maine, and has our performance dreamed of establishing one last time, to WorldCamps since his make certain that days in the Peace Corps each group knows in Ethiopia. His co-director exactly which Michelle Schorn is the piece they follow Head of Special Projects and where they of HIVSA, a nonprofit are to be before organization in Soweto and after their established to create sections. Thirty social programs for peo- boys report right ple infected with HIV/AIDS. on time and go HIVSA is located in Schamulu sporting his final art project. Photo by Jim Niesen through the Baragwanath Hospital in rehearsal with the Soweto, one of the leading HIV/AIDS thought would come back: “How many focus of profes- facilities in the world. of these children have already lost a sionals. At seven We were honored and inspired parent? How many will be completely thirty just as we to take part in what I believe is a truly on their own in no time?” Perhaps their were finishing a important and significant venture. In intuitive were guiding the direction of young hand went what both Jim and I refer to as a life our program and synthesizing from our up. “I have to go changing experience, we learned that work with them a whole different kind of Jim with kids at Camp Sizanani. Photo by Barbara Mackenzie Wood back to the cabin. except for the accents, kids from Continued on Page 5 Is that all right?” proceed slowly and emphatically. The “Of course, but...” before we boys’ grasp of English has been can say, “come right back; we start in described to me as “township rudimen- fifteen minutes,” thirty boys bolt. Now tary.” Nonetheless, it is infinitely better what? The audience is coming in. We than my Zulu. “We’re going to begin are suddenly caught up in all the with something very simple,” I say. I madness that proceeds any opening can feel the sense of relief in the room. night. Suddenly it is seven forty-five. “I want you to make a cross in the air The audience is ready; where are our with whatever hand you write with.” boys? Just as I’m getting ready to Nine hands perform the requisite feat. march up the hill in search of lost souls, “Now with your right leg make a circle in they come freshly scrubbed and in the same way.” They immediately wearing clean clothes that they had follow the direction. “Now do both at obviously been saved for just this once.” No one can do this, including occasion. “We wanted to look our best. Jim and myself. The boys laugh. The I’m sorry we took so long.” And on that drama program has begun. Four days note the evening comes magically and later these same boys, along with sim- vibrantly to life. The next day we repeat ilar groups made up of younger chil- the process with new groups of boys, dren between the ages of eight and ten only this time the public performance Schamulu, Barbara, Tpiso and Mohammad getting ready for bed. Photo by Jim Niesen

4 Saying Yes To Being A Political Artist By Michael Goodfriend paid eight times what I made for the Recently in Los Angeles, I school performance. spent the morning writing a letter to a I might have been oblivious to television network questioning its the forces at work in this skewed refusal to air a publicly financed adver- paradigm had it not been for my year tisement criticizing the government’s as a member of the Irondale Ensemble fiscal irresponsibility. Later that day, I Project’s acting company in 1997. I drove to the same network’s studio to have long been aware of the politics play a role in a series sponsored by a involved in the creation and execution corrupt Presidential administration’s of all works of art. What I learned with advertisement promoting its flawed Irondale is that art is politics, and as Steve Cross (Tom Hayden), Josh Broder (Abbie Hoffman) and Medicare plan. such should be utilized to its utmost Montana Lattin (Hook the Drug Czar) In Peter Panic. A few days later, I performed capacity as a teller of truth. for disadvantaged children in a school Politics, in its broadest defini- by creating works that stem from and however briefly. Whatever role I play, I that lacks funding for all arts education, tion, is the entire complex of relations advance social and political ideals. look for its social and political implica- then drove to a studio to play a role in between people in society. As a com- Irondale’s aesthetics are governed by tions to give it greater dimension and a violent television miniseries that airs mentator on those relationships, art is the principle that the greatest, most depth. And most importantly, when I am on a national network financed by inherently political, and theatre, being lasting stories are unabashedly critical not working, I really get to work. That multi-billion dollar corporations. I was the most social, is the most political of of social institutions and political is, I find a way to tell a story, to create the arts. demagogues. It is the only company I a play, to build a company of actors It is particularly have worked with that operates with a and to collaborate with them on a difficult to be a perform- complete commitment to theatre’s new theatrical venture with an eye ing artist of conscience unique ability to be a nexus of social towards positive social transformation. in our time. We are part transformation. In other words, Irondale has politicized of a society that prizes Unfortunately, with the corpora- me as an artist. material acquisition and tization of Broadway and the regional With politicization comes consumption above all theatre movement (may it rest in courage, and that is perhaps Irondale’s else. As a performing peace), there are very few places for most lasting contribution to my work. artist, I find myself great contemporary stories to emerge. Years after my experience with the constantly drawn into Irondale is one of them. Because it company, I am not afraid to take a projects that feed the respects theatre’s unique power as an stand. I am not afraid to question the continued, unabated instrument of change, the Irondale relevance of whatever work I am growth of consumerism ensemble never undertakes a project undertaking nor to challenge my and violence. At the without thoroughly examining its utility co-collaborators to do the same. I am same time, I try to find towards that end. not afraid to create new work on my work on projects I I view my year with the own or with a group of artists. I have believe will be a tool for company as one of the most important tried in every way to live as an artist by positive change. This experiences in my artistic develop- the first rule of improvisation: say yes. can create uncanny, ment. Because I said yes to Irondale, almost surreal para- I was drawn to the theatre by a I have said yes to countless storytelling doxes, such as I’ve group of actors who created their own ventures that I might otherwise have described. classical company in rural Wisconsin, denied myself. I have sought to be What often six miles from my boyhood home. The political in all my choices in life and on keeps me going is the company’s founder, renowned stage the stage. I have trusted that if the example of Irondale. and film actor Randall Duk Kim, telling of a story is truthful, an audience During my year with the inspired me and many other performing will watch, will listen, and will respond. company, I learned that artists to maintain a commitment to I will always maintain the there is nothing to be storytelling unblemished by ego-driven artistic, social and political ideals that feared, indeed there is choices that often cloud the stage. At evolved in my year with the company. I Michael Goodfriend as Hitler in Degenerate Art. everything to be gained, the Yale School of Drama’s acting will continue to work towards the day conservatory, I learned a technique for when I will perform for a fully funded Out of South Africa under local control and self sustaining acting that anchored my craft and public school arts program and to play- Continued from Page 4 within three years, while WorldCamps opened my voice and body. But it ing a role in a television series that has life skills which they sensed would also goes on to create similar programs first wasn’t until I joined the Irondale the public’s best interest at heart. be of value to them in the future. in other parts of South Africa and then Ensemble Project one year into my Thanks to Irondale, I will always say WorldCamps hopes to estab- in other countries in Africa. Discussions professional acting career that I felt yes to being a political artist. lish a series of camps throughout Africa have already begun about possible empowered as a performing artist to based on the Sizanani model. The sites and partners in Kenya, Botswana, create change. camps will be for both boys and girls, and Zimbabwe. In my collaboration with the Michael Goodfriend performed in the and will give them an opportunity to live company on the creation of its play Irondale Ensemble Project’s produc- the camp experience, with all of its fun about the perils of artistic censorship, tions of The Mother and Degenerate and bonding, while learning about the Barbara Mackenzie-Wood is a Degenerate Art, I learned that a group Art. He has also performed in public HIV/AIDS virus and how to cope with Founding Director of the Irondale of actors committed to purposeful schools, colleges, prisons, hospitals, its ravages in their daily lives. Ensemble Project who continues to act storytelling can put together a stirring community centers and theatres WorldCamps plans to hold and direct with the company, most piece of theatre in a matter of days. across the country. He has appeared in three more sessions replicating the recently appearing in Brecht on Brecht Through our use of improvisation in numerous television series, miniseries pilot project over the next year. In and staging Tom Stoppard’s Travesties. building the story’s narrative structure, I and movies of the week, and played March the experience was offered to In her other life, she heads up the Actor learned that as long as an artist or roles in several feature films, including one hundred girls between the ages of Training Program at Carnegie Mellon group of artists has an idea and the will The Commission with Martin Sheen eight and fifteen. Two sessions will take University. In December of 2003, she to move it forward, it will thrive. By and Martin Landau. He is co-founder of place in June and July. A separate and Jim Niesen, Irondale’s Artistic rejecting the conventions of script and Yale Cabaret Blue in Hollywood and project for training peer educators will Director, traveled to South Africa where formula and embracing the unique author of the play Dear Father, about take place in September. they created the theater component power of a collective consciousness, the life and work of Franz Kafka. After Following their camp experi- and directed two theater pieces for the Irondale gave me faith in the fortitude a five year self-imposed exile to Los ence, every child will have the initial project of WorldCamps, an inter- of a collaborative ensemble to create Angeles, he is returning to New York to opportunity to participate in Saturday national program working with AIDS groundbreaking new work. assist in the development of a new lib- follow-up sessions to continue devel- affected children. I have taken these lessons into eral radio network that will feature a oping the community of support that virtually every project I have been daily show with comic/satirist Al was built during the two weeks of involved in ever since. No matter where Franken. To read more about the project, participating in the Sizanani experience. I have been, I have sought to involve visit www.WorldCamps.org. The goal is for Sizanani to be myself in the community I am a part of,

5 When A Door Opens, Walk Through It… (But First Renovate!) By Terry Greiss

Eighty-five South Oxford now, it is beautiful; beau- Street, in the Fort Greene neighbor- tiful but not habitable! It hood of the borough of Brooklyn, is needs to be brought up to the address of The Lafayette Avenue code, made safe and Presbyterian Church. The congrega- secure; it needs lots of tion is a vital, diverse, politically aware, work — but we will not socially active bunch; the pastor, change the way it looks. Reverend David Dyson, has spent Its age, history and “raw- much of his life as a political activist for ness” all add to its beauty, progressive causes. It was founded by and its basic aesthetic is abolitionists and became a stop on the in complete synchronicity Underground Railroad. It hosted with Irondale’s work. It speakers like Charles Dickens and PT allows audience and Barnum and has some stunning players to enter a sacred original Tiffany stained glass. It is also space (as Peter Brook the future home of the Irondale Center would say, an empty for Theater, Education and Outreach. space) where the artist, Irondale has entered into a audience and space all long term agreement with the church to have distinct and impor- renovate and occupy the 3rd Floor — a tant roles, but come magnificent 6,500 square foot room together to create the that used to be the Sunday school. It theatrical event. has been virtually unused since before The Irondale WWII. (Dance fans may remember that Center is the realization a few years ago Twyla Tharp of our particular dream announced that she was moving to deferred. A home for Brooklyn — this was the space she Irondale means more was to take over, and then just as the than an address. It renovation was to begin, she changed means that Irondale’s work will be and senior citizens can tinker with, place ready for you, including raising a her mind. Thanks Twyla!) based in a community. We envision this come to know and work in the theater. lot of money, meeting the people of the In the condition the space is in “Center” as a space where artists, kids We imagine an intergenerational Fort Greene community and introduc- theater company using seniors and ing them to our work. Our architect, teens; free or low cost classes for kids; Leonard Colchamiro and INSITE, the matinees for public school students; Project Managers, are all set to go. training programs for people who want Even the capital campaign we are to apply the techniques of theater to about to launch to raise the $450,000 their daily lives. We imagine a place we will eventually need, does not seem where the mission of Irondale can be daunting. A new door has opened for realized to the highest degree that our the company. We hope you will be talents and imaginations can reach. there to walk through it with us when it We have a lot to do to get the is ready to open for you.

Irondale Ensemble Project Mission/Vision Statement Background The Irondale Ensemble Project is a direct descendent of the ensemble movement in American theater, birthed in the cauldron of the Great Depression and coming of age through the progressive politics of the 1960’s. Irondale was founded as a reaction to and as an argument with a theater that has become increasingly wed to the “entertainment industry” and “market culture”. Mission We create theater that is a strong voice for social change, and is IN THIS ISSUE Continued from Page 1 characterized by a deep commitment to artistic excellence. Through the content of our performances, and by using theater as an educational tool in revival and an adaptation of the article about being a political artist is on schools, prisons, shelters, and other community settings, we believe that we anti-war play originally created in page 5. have a direct, often life-changing affect on our audience. Central to our work 1963 by Joan Littlewood’s Theater And of course, we’re in plan- is an exploration of collaboration, creativity, pedagogy and the process of Workshop. ning for next year. Most excitingly, it theater making, through the long association of professional artists. Ken’s been busy teaching looks like Irondale will soon have a We conduct this exploration in traditional and non-tradional theater spaces. scene design and designing Peer Gynt home to call our own. The Network of Vision and Macbeth at Manhattanville, Ensemble Theater’s National Festival Irondale combines research, education and performance to create socially designing Oh, What a Lovely War at will take place this October in Santa relevant theater. the New School and designing four Fe. Page 8 has details about where we shows at New Jersey City University — are in the planning process. This fall We believe that any room or space where people gather can become a theater; any group of participants is an audience. Picnic, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Shadow- will also be chock full with a new origi- box and A Funny Thing Happened on nal work — A History of Public Educa- We serve a community that is defined by a common willingness to confront the Way to the Forum. tion in the United States of America — ideas and engage in inquiry; it transcends class, race and geographic boundary. In addition to this kind of teach- debuting this fall, an Irondale benefit, ing, we’ve had some great interns here and new teaching projects. As you can Irondale rejects the values of dominant culture forms that want us — both as part of the “official” full-time see, this is a lot happening for an orga- tranquilized, want us to no longer recognize ourselves, and want to colonize our imaginations. acting internship and doing a variety of nization of our size. It’s thanks to the acting and administrative projects. You support you give — friendship, spread- Finally, we believe in and trust the value of our own idealism. This is can read about Erin’s first year here on ing the word, and donations — that this ultimately what sustains the company, infuses the work with hope, and allows us to pass on particular working methods to other artists and groups page 7. We’ve also been fortunate to is all possible. We can’t wait to hear who seek to create healthier, more vital and more beautiful communities have an Irondale alumnus, Michael from you (and hopefully see you) all however they may define them. Goodfriend, write about what being an soon. Irondale actor has meant to him. His

6 On Entteriing tthe Emptty Space:: an iinttern’’s perspecttiive By Erin Biernard about the process. So what if an was another easy arrival: once we’d covered onstage every night. What When the phone call came exercise didn’t fully work? If it yielded heard Jack perform the book’s text as a much commercial theatre does, I from Irondale, inviting me to intern with something interesting, it was worth- rap, the rest of the scene—the class believe, is attempt to deter or freeze them for the season, I was thrilled— while. clown disrupts the classroom with his that natural growth, to the detriment of and apprehensive. From what I had Moreover, there seemed to be antics, only to woo the other students the production; Irondale, instead, read about the ensemble, and gath- no reservations about letting audiences and teacher into joining in his word- embraces and encourages it. We value ered from my audition, it performed in on our process. This, too, was new play—followed easily. Other aspects of the eternal process very highly, hence mostly original material generated to me: the unabashed exhibition of the show took months of trial-and-error, our attitude that even an unrehearsed through improvisation. While I had works-in-progress. We piece is worthy of being seen by acted since I was six, I had always began showing pieces to an audience. Moreover, though shied from anything even remotely audiences almost immedi- the process is held sacred, improvisational. Scripts were my life ately, often after having little else is: that is, because rafts, buoying me through my self- performed them only once, our pieces are in perpetual doubts. As long as I stuck to the words and sometimes not even development, if something someone else had provided, I couldn’t that. On such little prepara- isn’t working, there’s no go far wrong. In taking the internship, tion, these performances shame in tossing it in favor of then, I felt I was jumping off a precipice, amounted to real, honest- something else. Irondale has praying to discover I was actually a to-goodness, in-the- also taught me not to be shy, in bird. Or, to borrow an image from the trenches improv, which generating new art, about lift- British director Peter Brook, I was step- both terrified and elated ing material from the world ping into the “empty space,” that me. My terror was not at all around me. We are all privy to charged, terrifying, seductive void of a complex, and could be a wondrous junkyard. The very vacant stage, where anything can hap- summed up in a question: set of the Seuss show demon- pen once someone has the impetus to how could I be sure that strates this, comprised as it step out and act. Joining Irondale was when I opened my mouth is of ordinary household for me a foray into the empty space, to speak, I would have items—dusters, brooms, mop sans certainty or expectations. something to say? And if I heads—that take on strange Our ten-day retreat at Win- did, how could I be sure it new life through our story- nebago in August was my swift indoc- was “right?” The prospect telling. The show’s musical trination into all things Irondale. I had of embarrassing myself numbers also bespeak our arrived at an opportune time, on the loomed daily: I had never omnivorous tendencies: the heels of our being hired to create a thought of myself as a “William Tell Overture,” we show for Random House celebrating comic actor, and couldn’t discovered, was the perfect the life and work of Dr. Seuss. I would rely on my ability to come tune for our rendition of the bear witness, then, to the rough, up with a funny quip to titles of Seuss’s 44 books, and unglamorous, marvelous birthing of an save a flagging exercise. the words of Green Eggs and entirely original performance piece However—and this is Ham went just fine to from the text and pictures of 44 books where the elation came in— Laura Wickens, Josh Bacher and Damen Scranton Beethoven. Every Irondale show, and the creative intelligence of eleven there was a beauty in casting in Suessentenial. it seems, is a whole greater than individuals. Participation in the creation off expectations and committing myself creation and discarding. If I Ran the the sum of its parts, generated both by of the Seuss piece was a firsthand les- only to the moment. It was indeed like Zoo, went through three or four incar- individuals’ firecrackers of inspiration son in how Irondale operates. jumping off a precipice—who knew nations—performed for various and the kind of problem-solving that We began the Seuss project in what might happen when I found audiences—before we found the key can best be accomplished within a a sort of disciplined doodling: in small myself onstage? that opened its particular tricky box: a group. Such a process is facilitated by groups, we did “work-ups,” retreating to With time, my fear dwindled simple drum beat that turned it into an rehearsals that operate on a laboratory corners to discuss various stories, and I appreciated Irondale’s exhilarating percussion-driven musical principle, encouraging constant inquiry. plan, disagree, compromise, and methodology more and more. Not only number. The biography segments of Every day, we bring in ideas and eventually return with sketches to was I discovering, under pressure, the show had all of us confounded well materials—pieces of music, news arti- perform. These, I quickly realized, were resources within myself hitherto into December and the final weeks cles—and offer them up to the group the raw material from which the Seuss untapped, but I saw what our doodles before dress rehearsal; after months of for dissection and analysis. No show would be culled. Initially, I was could produce. Every aspect of the improvising scenarios, we were tired of question is seen as unworthy, and the intimidated by the creative freedom this Seuss show as it now exists—currently wrestling with it. Finally, Jim wrote out a answers are worked out through our process afforded. My prior theatrical somewhere out West, its colorful cheer script—but it was a script resonant with exercises. experiences had taught me to show up finally unleashed on the American many of the images and ideas we’d A year ago, I was completing at the first rehearsal, get my script, and public—can be traced back to a found collectively, through improvising. my senior thesis and preparing to settle dutifully in to learning my lines “Eureka!” moment in rehearsal. Some By participating in the develop- graduate from college. I remember and copying down my blocking. Each parts of the show came to us fully- ment of the Seuss piece, I have truly feeling regretful, thinking that I would rehearsal was a step closer to a final, formed, like babies dropped from a learned what it means to honor process never again be part of an institution that polished form—the performance, in benevolent stork. The scenario for over product. For one, “product” is an encouraged inquiry and courageous which, ideally, everyone knew what Green Eggs and Ham, for example, artificial concept when one is talking creativity in quite the same way. Little they were doing and all gears arrived very early: the words lent them- about theatre—that’s the parlance of did I know I would find my way to functioned smoothly. Not so in selves easily to a scene of a man on a retailers, people with something to sell. Irondale. How could I have known then Irondale’s messy birthing of the Seuss park bench, trying to enjoy his paper, Anyone who has ever worked on a play that I would find a job that, like any show. Here the emphasis was not at all while Sam-I-Am exhorts him to just try knows it remains in a perpetual state of good education, teaches me how to upon polish, or “setting” things, but the green eggs and ham. Fox in Socks development: new solutions are dis- live?

Thanks to everyone who has supported us so far this season! Your support makes our education programs possible. We look forward to your continued support. Pfizer Inc. Jeanette Horn David Blackwell Charles Fleischmann David & Kathy Stuchiner National Endowment for the Arts Eric Booth Brad Solmsen Caroline Thomas Marie & Fred Kasten Mrs. Florence F. Wheeler Department of Cultural Affairs Susan Stix William Duell Judith Bendewald John & Connie Glenn Lucille Lortel Foundation Spencer Hudgins Living Trust Judy Segal Lynn Gregory Wallace B. Knapp Barbara Hauben Ross Andy & Robin Ackerman The Center for Arts Education Josh Becker James Astrove Rory & Jill Greiss Laurie Tisch Sussman Michael & Eileen Posnick Marilyn & Bernard Rothenberg Lisa Walker John Breitbart Michalann Hobson Newman’s Own Fund Ed Setrakian & Kate Grant Emma Schaefer Charitable Trust Julie Coulter Brian Johnston Tony & Jane Asch Alan & Jackie Roland Marietta & Sherwood Frey Theresa Morrone & Bart Levine Lynn Fisher Bob Brennecke Marjorie Hudgins Phil & Lynn Lillienthal Nancy Aries & Elliot Sclar Andy Lewis & Lisbeth Andresen Frank Bayer Greg McCaslin The Sachs Family Nancy & David Giffey Bill & Mary Louise Britten Sonnet Takahisa & Hollis Headrick Peter Bloom Orton Cushman Greenwich House The Groetzinger Family Mr. & Mrs. Marvin Carlson Charles Beirnard & Antonia Morias Nora Pierson Rachel Freeman Kennon Rothchild Karl & Roberta Budmen Malcolm & Dorothy Knapp New York State Council on the Arts Jennifer Wall Mladen Kiselov Morton Glickman Joe & Marilyn Scherzer Patty Blauner & Peter Blier Paul Gottlieb & Barbara Rosenberg Philip Boehm Martin B. Davis Deborah Schwartz The Groetzinger Family Barbara MacKenzie-Wood Ken and Nina Rothchild Foundation Susan Kuralt Paula Freedman Carol & Merle Gile Pheroze & Judith Wadia Andre & Theresa Tremper Tides Foundation – Starry Night Fund Norma Munn Renata Hinrichs The Metzger Family Mr. & Mrs. Gary Gutjahr Timothy & Karin Terranova Jimena Martinez & Michael Hirschhorn Emily Niesen Jeanette Caurant Benjamin Lillienthal Paul & Barbara Schwarz James Beale & Daniel Rubin Harrison, Jackie, Diane & Mark Wladis Jerry Ordover Nello McDonald Rochelle Rubinstein Leon & Florence Perahia John & Constance Kiermaier Iowa Foundation for Education – Rhoda Rubin In the memory of David Bellin

7 As many of you know, ENSEMBLE Dear Friends, Irondale is the consortium leader for the Network of Ensemble Theaters, a group of artist-driven companies THEATER The dream of having our own space has been 22 years in the making, and committed to preserving and passing it’s finally about to come true. Irondale has a unique opportunity for a new on the legacy of the ensemble theater FESTIVAL home (our first permanent home) in what has the potential to be the most movement. We’ve had several excit- unique theater space in New York City. The Irondale Center for Theater, ing gatherings in the past, where we OCT. 19-24, 2004 Education, and Outreach will be a huge, flexible, gorgeous space which were able to come together to see we’ll fill with the energy of Irondale, the best ensemble theater companies each other perform, attend work- SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO in the country, and community/education programs that cover the range of shops, plan, vision, and network. possibilities to make theater necessary to the life of a community. Thanks to an initial grant from the Ford Foundation, this year NET has been able finally to plan a full scale We’ve started raising the $450,000 it will take to complete the project, and national festival, which will take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico in October. already have several individual and foundation commitments. Once we’ve updated the egress, put in bathrooms, and gotten our certificate of public The Participating Artists occupancy, we hope you’ll feel that our home is your home as well, and Festival curators are selecting artists, educators and arts professionals from a that you’ll drop by to see what’s going on often. national pool identified by the Network of Ensemble Theaters (NET) member- ship, theater artists, donors and arts advocates. Programming will survey the We have a big, but realizable task in front of us. This is the most exciting national field with quality and variety as the first criteria. Ensemble styles and development in our very exciting history. This space wiil allow Irondale a content will balance with areas of diversity such as ethnic, gender, geographic, stable home where we can regularly present our work (without worrying economic and so forth. Educational programming will share the thoughts and about theater rental costs), expand our education programming, host vis- skills of renowned artists, educators and writers. iting theater companies, and finally have a home base and physical com- munity. All of this will lead to growing audiences, new revenue sources, Programming Content and more time to grow, create, and learn. It is, in short, an opportunity we • Non-stop and overlapping, with Festival Late-Nite ‘til the wee hours can’t afford to miss. • The full range of ensemble theater performance • Original artist collaborations Your generosity to us over the years has enabled us to create vital • Guerrilla theater educational programming, ambitious artistic work, and life-changing • Street events theater. It is essential that we continue doing all of these things during the • Master classes with performers, directors and writers space renovation and we’re still counting on you for general operating • Lecture-demonstrations on various creation processes support. • Round table discussions of concerns to the field; project development, grantmakers, touring, agents, collaboration, critical review, and more This year, we hope you’ll consider making an additional gift, specially • Artist receptions, historic Santa Fe tours, backstage theater tours, and earmarked for the Irondale Center for Theater, Education, and Outreach gallery hopping Renovation Fund. Any gift you make, no matter how large or small, is • Santa Fe’s renowned arts community incredibly valuable. Not only will it help pay for one more floor board or • Room for surprises, even to us tile, but it will enable us to show foundations that we have the support of our community behind us. (Donating is now easier than ever with Sites in Santa Fe electronic payment on our website.) Targeted facilities are all within the historic district. Five theater venues from raw studio to black-box warehouse to chandelier proscenium, plus lecture and work- We can’t wait to make this dream a reality and to welcome you to our new shop facilities. Special events will be held at private galleries and commercial home. arts and entertainment businesses. Venue seating ranges from 50 to 800. All sites are within a short or long walk of each other. Arrangements will be made for With warm wishes to all of you, special needs transportation. The Irondale Ensemble Project Damen, Danny, Erin, Jim, Josh, Ken, Laura, Maria, Attendees Michael-David, Nina, Randy, Terry, and T. Michael This is a professional festival welcoming the diversity of the national theater community, ensemble and otherwise. Theater professionals, students, educators, arts administrators, arts advocates and patrons will want to be there. Full Festival passes will have priority access to all events. A reservation system will allow pass holders to reserve space. Individual event tickets will be available WHAT’S UPCOMING AT IRONDALE... (when available) at event time on a first-come-first-serve basis. OUTSIDE THE LAW Festival Passes “It’s a safe bet that absolutely anything can happen before the final curtain. Going on sale in late spring 2004. Phone, mail and website registration. And so it does.” – NY Post Attendee Scholarships “It is this lack of pretentiousness, plus a youthful enthusiasm for unconvention- In seeking to build a fully diverse national ensemble community, the Festival is al storytelling that makes for such a winning production.” –NY Newsday committed to providing assistance to theater artists, students and educators who are not performing but wish to attend the Festival and cannot afford it. May 11–29 Tuesday through Saturday 8 PM Tada! Theater Special Requirements 15 West 28th Street (btw. Broadway & 5th Ave.) If you have special needs and would like to attend the Festival, we are happy to assist you. Please tell us your requirements. EBC High School for Public Service – Bushwick Community Festival : May 15, 2004 Contact Ensemble Theater Festival A History of Public Education in the United States of America 551 West Cordova Road, #203 December 2004 Santa Fe, NM 87505 Theater for the New City 155 First Avenue (btw. 9th & 10th Sts.) (505) 995-0007 E-mail: [email protected]

THE COMPANY Laura Wickens Festival announcement updates will be posted at Jim Niesen Erin Beirnard www.ensembletheaters.net/netfestival Terry Greiss Mino Lora Barbara Mackenzie Wood Ken Rothchild BOARD OF TRUSTEES Help Irondale support the festival by attending a Michael-David Gordon Barbara Hauben Ross, President special performance of Outside the Law on Friday, Maria Knapp Andrew Ackerman Damen Scranton Charles Mackenzie Fleischman May 21. Box office proceeds from this performance Jack Lush Michael-David Gordon will go to the Ensemble Theater Festival. Randy Glickman Rory Greiss Terry Greiss Danny Bacher The Ensemble Theater Festival is funded, in part, Josh Bacher Andrew D.Lewis by a grant from the Ford Foundation. T. Michael Hall Jim Niesen Paul Schwarz The Festival Scholarship Fund is funded, in part, Nina Callaway by a grant from the Bank of America. Production photos taken by Jerry Goodstein

8