SAVERIO TRUGLIA PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHOTOGRAPHY BY 2014/15 SEASON STUDY GUIDE THIS IS MODERN ART (BASED ON TRUE EVENTS) WRITTEN BY IDRIS GOODWIN AND KEVIN COVAL DIRECTED BY LISA PORTES FEBRUARY 25 – MARCH 14, 2015 INDEX: 2 WELCOME LETTER 4 PLAY SYNOPSIS 6 COVERAGE OF INCIDENT AT ART INSTITUTE: MODERN ART. MADE YOU LOOK. 7 CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS 8 PROFILE OF A GRAFFITI WRITER: MIGUEL ‘KANE ONE’ AGUILAR 12 WRITING ON THE WALL: GRAFFITI GIVES A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS with classroom activity 16 BRINGING CHICAGO’S URBAN LANDSCAPE TO THE STEPPENWOLF STAGE: A CONVERSATION WITH PLAYWRIGHT DEAR TEACHERS: IDRIS GOODWIN 18 THE EVOLUTION OF GRAFFITI IN THE UNITED STATES THANK YOU FOR JOINING STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ADULTS FOR OUR SECOND 20 COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS SHOW OF 2014/15 SEASON: CREATE A MOVEMENT: THE ART OF A REVOLUTION. 21 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 22 NEXT UP: PROJECT COMPASS In This Is Modern Art, we witness a crew of graffiti writers, Please see page 20 for a detailed outline of the standards Made U Look (MUL), wrestling with the best way to make met in this guide. If you need further information about 23 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS people take notice of the art they are creating. They choose the way our work aligns with the standards, please let to bomb the outside of the Art Institute to show theirs is us know. a legitimate, worthy and complex art form born from a rich legacy, that their graffiti is modern art. As the character of As always, we look forward to continuing the conversations Seven tells us, ‘This is a chance to show people that there fostered on stage in your classrooms, through this guide are real artists in this city. Right now. Living and grinding and during our post-show discussions with your students PHOTO BY KEVIN COVAL every day to make their art. And they can’t wait until we’re following each performance. dead and gone to give us our recognition.’ Thank you for the many ways you support Steppenwolf for Not everyone agrees with the actions of the MUL crew. Young Adults. We look forward to having you at the theater! STEPPENWOLF FOR YOUNG ADULTS ACCESSIBILITY DATES STUDY GUIDE CURATED BY STAFF Megan Shuchman Some people call them heroes, some vandals; however, American Sign Language-Interpreted in the wake of many revolutions, big and small, that have Hallie, Megan and Lauren Hallie Gordon Performance ARTICLES BY Artistic and Educational Director WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11 AT 10AM Jared Bellot, Megan Shuchman gained momentum across our country in recent months, [email protected] (student performance) and Lauren Sivak it is easy to recognize why this group of artists needs to 312-654-5607 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 AT 7:30PM EDITED BY be seen and heard. This Is Modern Art asks all of us to Megan Shuchman (public performance) Hallie Gordon consider, what is worth fighting for? How will you leave a Hallie Gordon Associate Education Director Open Captioned Performance DESIGN BY lasting mark? What is your revolution? Artistic and Educational Director [email protected] SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 AT 7:30PM Shilla Shakoori Megan Shuchman 312-654-5637 (public performance) ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTORS Associate Education Director Lauren Sivak We have included information about how activities in our Audio-Described Performance Miguel ‘Kane One’ Aguilar, Kevin Coval guide align with the Common Core State Standards Education and Community Programs Lauren Sivak Coordinator SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28 AT 7:30PM College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards. Education and Community Programs Coordinator [email protected] (public performance) 312-654-5643 2 3 Seven, and fellow members of the graffiti crew Made U Look (MUL), write graffiti on the walls of an abandoned factory while Seven’s girlfriend, Selena, keeps watch. As the crew works, they lament the fact that they often build beautiful masterpieces that the city’s graffiti busters take down hours later; as a result, too few people get to see their art. JC, another MUL crew member, gives the real history of graffiti art in Chicago, weaving together a narrative about Mexican muralists collaborating with graffiti writers starting in the early 80s. Chicago’s graffiti writers pieced all over the city, leaving a legacy on the north, south, west and east sides and beginning a rich tradition of graffiti. At a party a few days later, an art student, Rhonda, recounts a recent trip to the Art Institute’s new Modern Wing, and all the amazing, fresh art inside. When Seven questions why graffiti art is not included in the new collection, Rhonda asserts that graffiti is based in performative, anonymous, impermanent elements. Could The morning after the party, Seven and the rest of the MUL it exist inside a museum and moreover, would graffiti writers even crew practice their graffiti writing while discussing the artists want it to? they most admire: Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Escher. Still angry about his argument with Rhonda, Seven affirms that graffiti art does have a rich legacy, it just lives in a different space than a museum. If we were inside [the Art Institute] we’d be one of many, but we were on the outside. We were up so the whole city could see. We were the PLAY SYNOPSIS only ones to do that. –Seven SYNOPSIS BY Flashback: Seven and Selena’s second date. MEGAN SHUCHMAN He takes her to see some of his graffiti pieces and begins to tell her about his world. As she is romanced by Seven, she also falls in love with the graffiti culture she discovers through him and joins MUL as a look-out and driver. As for Seven, at the end of the play, he is left grappling with whether or not what he did was worth it; after all, he now has no crew, no girlfriend, no graffiti. Seven By the next morning, MUL’s piece is all over the leaves the audience with this final thought, “That night news, as passersby debate whether the act was [we did our piece], JC said to me, ‘we’ll probably be one of true art or simple vandalism. When the the only artists who’ll EVER be on the outside of the crew learns that police are looking for anyone with Having done a small tag on the building during a lunch break, Art Institute. If we were inside we’d be one of many, but information about who is responsible, they have to Seven gets inspired to do a full graffiti piece on the side of the we were on the outside. We were up so the whole city go undercover, splitting up and hiding all evidence Art Institute. Once the rest of his crew is on board, they get could see. We were the only ones to do that.’” of their graffiti writing. Although Selena worries ready to create their piece, demonstrating for the audience her parents could be implicated in the crime if the how to successfully survive the urban wilderness: how to prep police track her license plate, Seven is worried paint, wear the proper clothing, and bring rations in case you about facing time in prison, which causes a rift get caught. One night, when a gentle snow fall provides the between them. Seven moves to an apartment on right cover, the crew manages to complete the piece, writing his own, spending his time painting inside since on the side of the Institute, ‘modern art…made you look.’ he cannot risk writing outside. In the wake of the Art Institute graffiti bombing, Dose begins gaining notoriety for his legal artwork, winning contests, attending art conferences, and taking pride in being able to sign his real name to his art work. PHOTO BY KEVIN COVAL 4 5 CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS We reprint the following story from Chicagoist.com, Coverage of Incident at Art Institute: by Laura M. Browning, which came out one week after the incident. Read on and think about how you view what happened: act of vandalism or important artistic commentary? If you walked by the Art Institute’s Modern Wing earlier this week, you might have wondered if they were promoting a new exhibit on street art. Bright graffiti MODERN stretched for 50 feet along a light stone wall, bookended by the words “Modern Art” and “made you look.” While PLAYED BY JERRY MACKINNON : PLAYED BY BY JESSIE D. PREZ : PLAYED BY J. SALOME MARTINEZ : Chicagoist in no way condones illegal activity of any sort, we have to admit that this graffiti raises some interesting SEVEN – The protagonist of our story, DOSE – The ‘class clown’ of the JOSE/JC – An introspective artist, questions about the accessibility of art. It’s unlikely the Seven is passionate about his art, and crew, Dose is always up for any and JC calls himself Jose Clemente after tagging was gang-related, and it seems to be a pre- wants to make his mark on the city and everything. A self-taught artist, Dose is a Mexican painter he learned about ART. meditated, self-referential joke about art. leave a lasting legacy. Admittedly driven the first to find legitimate recognition for in seventh grade who inspired him to Though somebody should have told the graffers that in part by ego, after being infuriated his work after the Art Institute bombing, follow the rich artistic history of Mexican- the Art Institute is free for a few more days, it’s normally by a woman he meets at a party who admitting how good it feels to be able Americans. A deep thinker, when faced $18 a pop, which, for many, is prohibitively expensive for asserts that graffiti art does not have a to sign his real name to his art.