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Let's Drive!

Los Angeles is a city of cars and highways. Our neighbors are the people driving ahead of us in the fast lane and our idea of a close-knit community is a parking lot with too few parking spaces. The city is defined by it’s mobility. We are what we drive. We are the traffic.

So how do art and theater fit into such a place?  Before any grand artistic visions can be fulfilled, a live event must first entice people off their couches, through the gridlock, into a convenient parking spot, and into the venue… Unless, of course, the venue can drive itself!

So yes – we’ve decided to embrace the auto-driven nature of L.A. Culture and take to the road in our very own stage on wheels. There’s a long tradition of theatre companies traveling from town to town, staging shows from the back of a wagon. Why not introduce a modern-day, Twitter-enabled  version that can traverse the sprawl of Los Angeles and bring our brand of art-making to its diverse communities?

We’ll be able to reach audiences who wouldn’t normally make the trip to the theatre or gallery opening, and we won’t be thwarted by high rents and topsy-turvy real estate markets. We can catch people off-guard, frame our work in an unusual context and get people to experience art in a cool new way.

So if you find yourself in your car, stuck behind a big white trailer, please don’t fly into a road rage. It might just be us, hauling a big load of trouble.

Towing Lessons

image of the road

Here are a few things I learned while towing a large trailer from Orange County to Los Angeles. When taken out of context, they can also be construed as charming life lessons.

  1. It’s easier to move forward than to back up.
  2. When turning in a new direction, let others know and don’t move too fast.
  3. Momentum is your friend.
  4. Plan a route with as few turns as possible.
  5. If you’re in a tight spot, ask others to help guide you out.
  6. You need a #10 wrench for the bolt where you attach the grounding wire of the 4-plug to 7-plug adapter.

If you can find the metaphor for that last one, let me know.

If you're afraid theatre criticism is fading fast – read this

Image from Home Siege Home by Ghost Road Ensemble

Critical Crossfire: Charles McNulty and Steven Leigh Morris on L.A. Theater

Here’s a thoughtful exchange between two esteemed Los Angeles theatre critics. Of particular interest to Trade City was this quote from Stephen Leigh Morris:

I’d like to see more interaction between L.A.’s thriving art and music scenes and its theater culture. I wish artistic directors would break out of the straitjacket of the two-hour drama with 15-minute intermission. Why not produce a 45-minute piece in an art gallery or a marathon offering in a site-specific locale? What about more joint programs with dance companies and music groups?

Also of interest was the photo they used that showed a scene from Ghost Road Ensemble’s Home Siege Home (with set by Maureen Weiss)

Outside/In: Nick Cave

Yesterday, I went to The Fowler Museum to the see Nick Cave’s “Meet me at the Center of the Earth” and it was wonderful.  The layout of the exhibit was innovative and  it was a nice change. Instead of the traditional white gallery walls, they used scrim (a semi opaque meshed fabric) to divide the space and direct the viewer.  My favorite viewing experience was a small wall with a window where a sound suit looked out into the gallery.  It was a playful and thoughtful reference to the sense of wonder and curiosity these suits evoke.

As a theater guy – I loved it. I am very interested in how a viewer can empower an object. Once a person puts on one of these suits, they become one with it, and a new identity is formed, like when a shaman puts on a mask.  What’s so great about the show at The Fowler is that they have actual shaman costumes and masks next door in order to give a context to Cave’s work.   It’s great to see an artist whose work is focused on our connection to the world around us.  I feel that Cave’s work is in tune with Joseph Campbell’s, “The Power of Myth”. Campbell wrote that the job of myth is to put us in context with the greater world around us. I feel these sound suits are a way of understanding that.   The mystical is something that  my generation lacks, and so when an artist is speaking about this and not some shallow apathetic attempt at being clever, it is so refreshing.  So, put some good old magic and wonder back into your art life and check it out… oh and  have fun.