Storyturgy!

On Sundays we have a special treat. Caitlin Parrish our assistant director, and also the lady in charge of our Guerilla dramaturgy, presents a half hour of something she calls storyturgy. I’m going to paraphrase her definition, but she’s described it to me largely as a jumping off point for thought and discourse. The work she brings in provides a variety of ways to get at the themes of the play from outside sources and narratives that parallel the work. It’s meant to open up conversation within the group and allow us to take a break and let our minds wander and free associate.

MOUSE, being a new play, requires that we approach the structure of all our investigations with some flexibility. The dramaturgy for this show is no different, and Caitlin’s dramaturgical mode allows for our actor packet to function much more as a living document. I thought I’d include her notes from week one of Storyturgy below. Feel free to peruse the links and imagine yourself huddled with us around a table watching Portishead videos  and listening to Caitlin weave creepy fairy tales in her exceptional storytelling voice!

Caitlin Says:

Each week we’ll be examining a different story telling tradition and how that particular kind of story works with MiJ. This first week was fairy tales.

Because:
1. They are traditionally the first stories we hear as children.
2. They began as oral storytelling, as does MiJ with Zosia’s and Daga’s monologues.
3. Fairy tales are perhaps the most symbol-laden stories, and the best way to kick start imagination.
4. Storyturgy should be stimulating, but also fun, and what’s more fun than fairy tales?
5. A big question in the past two weeks has been the space: the sentient qualities, the audience, the pulse of wood, the breath of stone, and the notion that we are being watched even when we’re alone. In fairy tales, be the surrounding terrain castle walls or the deep, dark woods, there are always eyes in the shadows.

Jumping off point:

“Come now, my child
if we were planning to harm you,
do you think we’d be lurking here
beside the path
in the very darkest part of the forest?”

- Kenneth Patchen

Thought no. 1:
It is always the past. In a fairy tale there is no prevention of horror or strife, it is coming. It has already happened. It is a memory.

Once upon a time
Not that long ago, really*
Before she knew she was my mother*

(text from MOUSE*)

Thought no. 2:
The forest, the basement, the theater–they have eyes, they have hands, their breath is on our necks.

How is this horror? How is this comfort?

Thought no. 3:

Once upon a time…
Not that long ago, really…*
Before she knew she was my mother…*

…there was a girl. She was the most loved of multiple children. And she made the ultimate sacrifice for noble reasons. We are told she came to a good end.

How many fairy tales have that story? Is that the story of our own particular fairy tale?

The supplementary materials were clips from:

Jean Cocteau’s “La belle et la bete” (1946), full film available on YouTube, Part One here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaG3zns3fqA

Chris Cunningham’s music video for “Only You,” song by Portishead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wk2DqAfPUk

Also, two fairy tales were read aloud.

“The Story of a Mother” by Hans Christian Andersen
http://hca.gilead.org.il/sandhill.html (This link is a version of the story, although not the one I used in rehearsal).

“How Children Played Butcher with Each Other” (2 versions) The Brothers Grimm
http://alderwounds.livejournal.com/3075.html
Suggested Reading for the week: “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH” by Robert C. O’Brien

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