2010 is finally over, and up until a week ago, Triad Stage was eerily quiet. The bitter, sardonic memories of Santaland elves and the rambunctious backstage games of Dickensian children gave way to silence and a few hardy souls at work on budgets, new seasons and pre-rehearsal preparations for THE SUNSET LIMITED. The sold out crowds of the final weeks of both of our Holiday shows were replaced by empty lobbies and empty theater seats.
But suddenly everything is back in full swing. Paper Lantern Theater Company has a production of END DAYS running in the UpStage Cabaret and rehearsals are well under way for Cormac McCarthy’s THE SUNSET LIMITED. The new season and budget have been approved and plans are underway for the big announcement.
I’m still unpacking from a late December/early January travel schedule that took me to Mexico and New York. The Oaxaca and Mexico City suitcase was perilously close to being overweight, stuffed full of two weeks scouring markets, craft shops and art galleries. I even cleaned my office so I could hang my four new pieces by folk artist Claudia Martinez. Her work uses recycled paper, tin and aluminum products to create magical re-envisioning of traditional Mexican religious folk art. I travelled to Oaxaca hoping to meet her, but she was in Mexico City accepting an award. And I didn’t mind, because it gave me a reason to start planning a return visit to Oaxaca as soon as possible.
Even though I didn’t meet her, I discovered a city that is actually everything the tourist literature claims it is—and more. Surrounded by mountains, Oaxaca carves out a colonial city in its valley that casts its magical spell in color, sound and taste. Surrounding Oaxaca are crafts villages where families make the stunning black pottery, gorgeous woven rugs and textiles and the whimsical, wonderful carvings from copal wood. Add to all that ancient ruins, the most voluminous tree in the world and seven delicious moles and it is no wonder Oaxaca is a tourist destination not to be missed even if you have an aversion to too many tourists.
Like any good journey, Oaxaca provides a great number of take-your-breath-away moments. Many of them can be had just wandering the streets, soaking in the beauty of the place. Others are available every time you walk into one of the countless churches, chapels, ex-convents and Cathedrals. The Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Historic Art, the Belber Jiminez Museum, the small but excellent Oaxaca Textile Museum (http://www.museotextildeoaxaca.org.mx/) and a handful of other smaller museums provide ample reasons for another cup of hot chocolate at yet another sidewalk café to contemplate the beauty you have just seen. And there is nothing to prepare you for the moment you walk into the Cultural Center of Santo Domingo.
Folk wisdom has it that if you eat the local favorite food, chapulines, that you will return to Oaxaca. Wanting to guarantee return visits, I overcame my initial revulsion, closed my eyes and swallowed the first toasted grasshopper that was offered to me. By the time I left, I was eating them in omelets, mixed in guacamole and straight off the griddle. So ancient gods of Mexico, please take note—I did my part. Please use your influence to reduce airfares over the coming year so that I can return.
Mexico City— as always amazes, confuses, depresses and exalts. I know no other city that is as constantly alive and thrilling. Since I only had a couple of days, I rushed to the new Museum of Memory and Tolerance (http://www.memoriaytolerancia.org/). Set in a dramatic modern space, the museum begins with an extraordinary exhibit about the Holocaust, then moves to examinations of other genocides of the 20th and 21st century. It concludes with an exploration of the idea of tolerance. It is bold, political, brave and one of the best museums I have ever toured. My appreciation was only increased by the staff insisting I have my own, personal tour guide—a remarkable young woman who spent a couple of hours engaging with me and the museum. It’s a travel memory I will always cherish.
I also was struck with a sudden desire to make my way to the Plaza of Three Cultures. It had never struck me as a must-see site, but since reading John Ross’s opinionated and incredible history of DF (Mexico City), EL MONSTURO, I wanted to see the site of 1968 protests and massacre. The Plaza is a destination worth visiting—the ancient ruins of the Aztec city of Tlatelolco, site of the final stand against the Spanish Conquest, a colonial church built from stones from the ruins and 1960’s modern buildings make up the three cultures. A museum (http://www.tlatelolco.unam.mx/museos1.html) dedicated to the peaceful student uprising and the government ordered massacre tested my limited Spanish, but proved to be a deeply moving experience. Add to all of this the exceptional Blaisten Collection (http://www.tlatelolco.unam.mx/museos2.html) of Modern Art, and I had a close-to-perfect day far from the crowds of the center city.
I thought about that wonderful day recently as I read The Guardian’s (http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/16/gauguin-tate-modern-crowds) coverage of the recent Tate Modern Gauguin exhibit. Apparently the massive crowds gave rise to a new term—“gallery rage.” Like so many “rock star” exhibits that museums have been forced to turn to in order to keep their doors open, this exhibit was accused of being more concerned about selling tickets than providing an appropriate exhibition of the work and a positive museum visiting experience. I’ve experienced gallery rage myself several times, most recently as I tried to visit the NC Museum of Art’s Norman Rockwell exhibit (http://www.ncartmuseum.org/). I’ve been an admirer of Rockwell’s since visiting the Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, (http://www.nrm.org/) Massachusetts back in my grad school days. Unfortunately, even with timed entry tickets, the NCMA exhibit was so overcrowded that it was impossible to view the art in any meaningful way. I wonder what would happen if we started adding extra rows of seats or asking people to stand in the aisles to secure more ticket income every time we have a sold out show at Triad Stage. Popularity and economics shouldn’t be allowed to compromise the actual artistic experience by allowing more people in than can actually enjoy the art in any kind of meaningful way. While my almost solitary four hours in the Blaisten Collection in Mexico City was a kind a paradise, I don’t expect to always have a museum to myself. I do hope that after paying $15, I might be able to actually see the art. Too often we forget to take into account the experience of the viewer. I’m going to misquote Irene Lewis, former artistic director of Center Stage, who once said that the only safety in a theater should be the fire exits and the only comfort should be the seat cushions. How true. But that safety and comfort is essential if we expect audiences to look forward to going to museums or attending the performing arts.
My recent trip to New York City, finally included a visit to The Cloisters. (http://www.metmuseum.org/cloisters/) I’ve been aiming to go for years, even making it as far as the door only to find it was closed for some reason. Nick (Triad’s Artistic Associate for Design), Elizabeth (my good friend and dramaturgical resource) and Anya (designer of our THE GLASS MENAGERIE) and I spent a couple of blissful hours in this treasure of a museum perched on the far northern end of Manhattan. It was crowded, but controlled, and the medieval art in its reconstructed medieval setting was an ideal Sunday. I can’t wait to return.
I was in New York for STEEL MAGNOLIAS auditions, but also to see Ireland’s Abbey Theatre’s (http://www.abbeytheatre.ie/) production of JOHN GABRIAL BORKMAN at BAM. BORKMAN is one of my favorite Ibsen plays. BORKMAN is Ibsen’s penultimate play, a searing, mysterious drama of a banker brought down by scandal and fighting to build himself back up again. The drama is equally shared by two twin sisters, Borkman’s wife and the sister he actually loved. The cast included Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw and Lyndsay Duncan and was directed by James Macdonald. Fiona Shaw is fascinating no matter what the project—she’s even good in SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, outshining the material and the rest of the cast, especially the awkwardly curly haired me in my one and only Hollywood film, delivering the ever memorable line “uh huh” while pushing a wheelbarrow past Princess Daisy. The Abbey production was gorgeous and Fiona Shaw’s performance was one of the finest I have seen in years. Ben Brantley’s review in the New York Times, as is so often the case, made no sense and seemed far more focused on the stars than the play. The low standard of our newspaper criticism is never more apparent than when great drama is misunderstood and the reviews read more like People Magazine than what one expects for the Times.
This month has also been my month to discover Roberto Bolano. I’m a hundred pages from the end of 2666 and have a stack of his other work waiting to be read. It has been a long time since I have fallen so completely for a writer. I’m balancing out his fiction with more reading about Lev Dodin and the Maly Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. I find every word I read about him and his way of working to be a constant inspiration. And, of course, it all has me thinking about the way we work here at Triad and the ways in which we will continue to explore, change and experiment as we begin our second decade of live theater in Greensboro.
(and new year, new font)
