Weeks 3 & 4: Echos & Reflections

For the past two weeks, we have been busy creating our pieces for the show. With that, we are excited to announce that this year’s target story will be (drum roll please)… the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus.

Our participants were intrigued by this story due to its many facets: unrequited love and rejection, prophecies and curses, transformations into flowers and stones, and, of course, narcissism (and how it presents itself in our digital age).

This year, we have three small groups using the techniques of Beckett, Miyagawa, and Kondoleon. Additionally, our whole company pieces (and we can call them that this year because all of our participants decided to participate in them!) will be using the techniques of the Dadaists and Pina Bausch.

The creation process so far has been very exciting. We’ve written awesome scripts and had to say goodbye to the text that didn’t quite make it (one group has been keeping a “line graveyard” to lovingly lay their favorite cut lines to rest). We’ve taken advantage of our participants’ musicianship and composed original music for the Bausch piece. We’ve filmed videos in site-specific locations and escaped from our houses and Zoom calls.

While our pieces are still taking shape, we can tell you that they are going to be weird, wonderful, and really take advantage of our digital format. When you think about it, the elements of the target story, echoes and reflections, really fit well with the themes of virtual theater. How do we perform as reflections in our cameras? How do we echo live theater and still remain a form of art that is distinct from it? Right now we are answering these questions and so many more with our work. And in a few weeks, we will be ready to share those answers with you.