August 24, 2007
PDF of the full interview here.
Followspot recently spoke with Devon Allen, Artistic Director of OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB, to talk about her upcoming Portland Premiere of Will Eno’s innovative anti-play THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING), which opens on August 30.
Allen founded OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB in 1993 and has produced shows in New York, Allentown, Philadelphia, Durham, and Edinburgh. The group recently relocated to Portland.
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5 comments:
i'm very excited that 'Thom Pain' is being mounted here. i love that script, and the immense challenge it gives to its sole actor...drool. truly a one-of-a-kind playwright and script. any chance to see it should be leapt at! (or for!) (or something!).
go see it!!
Several people have had problems opening the PDF for some reason.
I am going to start pasting the interview into a post as well in case the PDF is an issue.
followspot Interview – Devon Allen
August 24, 2007
Followspot recently spoke with Devon Allen, Artistic Director of OUR
SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB, to talk about her upcoming Portland
Premiere of Will Eno’s innovative anti-play THOM PAIN (BASED ON
NOTHING), which opens on August 30.
Allen founded OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB in 1993 and has
produced shows in New York, Allentown, Philadelphia, Durham, and
Edinburgh. The group recently relocated to Portland.
Followspot: Hi Devon. Thanks for talking with us about THOM PAIN and
your group (do you mind if I coin a new acronym?) OSAR/TPL. Welcome to
Portland.
Devon Allen: I do like the acronym. We also go by “the Lab”. And thanks for the welcome.
FS: How would you describe your aesthetic? Do you have core themes and
concerns that appear throughout your work?
DA: Theatricality which a human being inhabits. Attention to language and
style. Attention to how people on the team are treated. Keeping the room
fun and rigorous. Extreme love of great writing and acting. Design that
elevates the play.
FS: As you look back on your own development as an artist, have you
been on more or less a consistent, well-defined path your whole career,
or have there been detours and unexpected events along the way that have
played a key role in shaping who you are today?
DA: I was sort of tracked by my agent and casting directors in New York to
be the “next whoever” and gave up that scene to join The Brecht Company
in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was a full member for four years and the B.C.
had an enormous impact on my trajectory. I do not regret this decision
on an art level; I do regret it on a financial level. I may try and get
back into film as an actor for cash purposes…
I went to graduate school after seven years of acting around the US and
Britain. University of California at San Diego (MFA in Acting with a
concentration in Directing) was instrumental in my growth. My teachers
there - Arthur Wagner, James Winker, Walton Jones, Liz Terry – such
inspirational talent and dedication.
FS: What were some of the most productive environments you have
participated in? To what degree can these be consciously reproduced and
nurtured?
DA: The Brecht Company because everyone got to talk. I believe in a leader,
but the more creative minds in the room the better. Observing Pina Bausch rehearse – the freedom and sense of play – that had an impact. The Lab takes time to examine the material, the text, and we try and figure out what sort of rehearsal environment will birth the best event.
So, for example, on Thom Pain (based on nothing) we decided on a fairly
short rehearsal sequence for the Lab (5 weeks) to inspire a good
pressure cooker for Thom Pain, a kind of hit the ground running feel,
and we kept the room pretty worker-like and solid, with pockets of chat
to relieve the pressure. We would rehearse a Barker quite differently – and probably for 8 weeks.
FS: I notice you have experience with Cornerstone Theatre, who brought
theatre to off-the-beaten-path places in the US. Is that one of your
interests?
DA: The Lab engages in site-specific work and we will go any place that we
feel suits the piece. We do not usually join members of the community,
whom are not theater artists, with professional theatre practitioners to
make art. This is what Cornerstone does, and they do it better than
anyone. Truly life-changing community based work.
FS: You have participated in the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. What is
that like?
DA: Really fun. Hundreds of artists from all over the globe intersect with
masters in the field of directing while building their own work. Fun.
Anne Cattaneo really did a service to directors when she initiated the
program.
FS: Tell us about OSAR/TPL. What is it, what does the recent move to
Portland mean, and what’s on the horizon for your lab?
DA: I’ll answer this by inserting our current basics about the Lab.
OUR SHOES ARE RED/THE PERFORMANCE LAB is a professional performance
force. The Lab exists as a sort of floating art house; wherever lab
members touch down to make art, there is the Lab. Extensive research,
dense collaboration, and innovative rehearsal techniques make up our
process. The lab re-examines the classics, develops new work (often
with new music), expands the performing venue, and produces great
writers rarely produced. Lab members are based in Portland, Easton,
Manhattan, Philadelphia, Christ's Church, Florence, London, Los Angeles,
Kaua'i, Chicago, and come together to make art. Current projects include
Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing) in Portland 2007, David
Harrower's Knives in Hens in Portland 2008, Beckett's Waiting for Godot
in New Haven, Connecticut 2008, and a sound art project with Steven
Piccione in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania/ Portland, Oregon 2009.
We are based in Portland now and will continue to produce in Portland,
among other places. We hope to partner with area performance groups,
which we have done quite successfully in the past.
FS: How does OSAR/TPL operate? Are you an ensemble?
DA: This word “ensemble” has little meaning to me these days. The word is
used in such a myriad of ways. We think of ourselves as a group of people linked by an unabashed love of writers and work. We enjoy working with each other and we seek each
other out. We try and make great art, to set the bar high and try to reach it. High standards established by the greatness we have been lucky enough to see and experience.
FS: What types of partnerships and arrangements do you seek out with
your collaborators? Do you have an established model you use, or do you
experiment with different approaches show to show?
DA: We love to co-produce, and to link Lab members with other groups. We
hope to do this more in Portland.
FS: What is it about the temporary art of live theatre that attracts
you? It’s there, then it’s gone. You can’t go home and listen to a
recording, or look at a reproduction. Why live theatre?
DA: This is a love/hate relationship. I have moments of envy when I talk
with my film friends and can then go and rent the work they just spoke
of. Terrible envy. Must work on that! And yet I love how live work
disappears. Connects us to the notion that everything falls away.
FS: Can you practice your art anywhere?
DA: Yes.
FS: What type of theatre do you seek out as an audience member?
DA: Excellence in the writing, a sense of style (that a farce requires a
different world than a tragedy), the sense of the human being within the
form, warmth without sentimentality, actors who go through an experience
while remaining connected to the audience.
FS: Do you have any lasting memories as an audience member when
something really clicked?
DA: Alan Howard in Coriolanus; Kate Nelligan in David Hare’s Plenty; the
Argentinean production of De La Guarda; Diane Venora as Hamlet; moments
in Zimmerman's Metamorphosis; Peter and Wendy; Shockheaded Peter.
FS: Do you see any distinct regional trends in the U.S. theatre world? Is theatre more or less the same everywhere with the same shows, styles and ideas circulating from coast to coast? Or are there some things that only happen in certain areas? Do you have any favorite regional gems you would like to mention in the performance world?
DA: There is often a same-ness to the LORT circuit. The way plays are
released creates the form. First the work is done on Broadway /NYC/LA.
Then once they are done with the play it is released regionally. So the
regional theatres are all doing the new Donald Margulies or John Patrick
Shanley at the same time.
Yet the way they flesh out their season can add individuality. For me it is not enough to want to do plays, to put on a show, so I am drawn to theatres and people who have a compelling reason why they go into rooms for hours on end to make a play or
performance work. A vision, as it were.
Such as the work of Lee Breuer, who recently did The Doll’s House with a cast of Little People and a very very tall Nora. And his production of Peter and Wendy was perfect. Robert Woodruff has a vision when he works. Zimmerman. They bring beyond standard to any house they work in.
Regional gems: Theatre de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis; Manbites Dog in
Durham; Mary Zimmerman’s work; Third Rail in Portland; Red Moon in
Chicago; The Wooster Group and The Mabou Mines in New York City.
FS: As an artist who has performed in many different venues around the
US and abroad, how do you think about audiences, and what do you hope
for? Do you have different expectations for an audience in a big city
vs. a smaller town, east coast vs. west?
DA: We really just work on what we are excited about and have faith that an
audience will find us. I do not find audiences any different big to small city. There is cliché I think in the notion that small town audiences mistrust the weird or non-realistic. I have not found that to be the case. Sometimes in big places theatre makers can get a little
jaded. One must guard against that; it can infect the process. What is the phrase? Stay a beginner? Yes?
FS: In terms of your own playwriting, are you working on anything right
now?
DA: I am developing a sound art project with sound artist Steve Piccione,
who is based in Easton, Pennsylvania. Planting the seedbed for a short
experimental opera, most probably about the natural world. I found a
wonderful composer, Valery Saul, who is up in Vancouver getting her
Masters. She will be writing the music; I’ll be writing the libretto.
Both these projects will be developed over the next few years while
simultaneously the Lab mounts great writers, like Will Eno. We care
desperately about the writing, hence the writer.
FS: What playwrights are inspiring you lately?
DA: Wallace Shawn, Marie Irene Fornes, Sarah Kane, Will Eno, Caryl Churchill; Donald Margulies, Shakespeare, Howard Barker, Sam Shepard, Tom Stoppard, Beckett, Brecht, McDonough, Kushner, and more...
FS: Your next show is the magnificent THOM PAIN (BASED ON NOTHING) by
Will Eno. Where did you first encounter this play, and when did you
know you wanted to do it?
DA: It is magnificent. I feel a bond with those who love this play. Matt [the actor] was over in London several years ago and went to Thom Pain (based on nothing) then with the original actor in the role, the brilliant James Urbaniak. Matt wrote me about the play from London.
When he returned to the States, and about a year later, the play came to New York City. We went together to see it and from that moment we were dedicated to doing the play together, and Will was kind enough to give us the rights.
FS: When you think about the tone and texture of this work, how would
you describe it?
DA: I find this impossible to answer without reducing the greatness of the
writing.
FS: Without giving too much away, this is not your standard play. Arguably nothing happens – it’s not even clear if the play ever starts. And yet there is devastating exposure and vulnerability here. How do you talk to people about this play?
DA: A vaudevillian devastation is the closest I can come.
FS: I was raised on stuff like WAITING FOR GODOT in high school. This
play feels like a welcome return to the bombed out, surreal landscapes
of classic modern drama. Is this typical of Will Eno’s work?
DA: I do not know if I’d say “typical”. From my experience, Will Eno cares
about shaping silences and punctuation, as did Beckett. He has the sly,
dark humor of Beckett. That human looking into the abyss quality. The compression of Beckett. But he is his own man, Will Eno.
FS: I notice you are doing WAITING FOR GODOT next year in New Haven. I
suspect you are a fan of this genre.
DA: Very much so. I had a correspondence with Beckett in the years before he
died. He was kind enough to write me after receiving a gushing fan letter from this actor post Happy Days and Rockaby. A very generous soul. One of the great writers. The Lab hopes to take on some Beckett.
FS: I gather it is not easy to get the rights for THOM PAIN. Do you
have any idea how many productions there have been so far? I know it
was done in Seattle last year.
DA: The play premiered at Edinburgh Festival, moved to the Soho Theatre in
London, then to the DR2 Theatre in New York. In addition to being performed around the U.S., Thom Pain (based on nothing) has been translated into and performed in Hebrew, Finnish, German, and many other languages. It’s been done all over the US at various houses. I know a few companies/directors who have been turned down for rights, so we were honored.
FS: What is Eno working on now?
DA: When I had lunch with Will in New York City, I asked him if he was
writing and he replied “yes”. I did not pry further as I feel great discretion around great writers out of some sort of respect and awe regarding their process.
FS: How did you find Matthew DiBiasio for the role? Is he a member of
OSAR/TPL?
DA: I met Matt in an acting class a few years ago, and saw him do a stunning
turn in Gorky’s Summerfolk and at NYC’s The Flea in Mac Wellman’s
premiere of Anything’s Dream. I cast him in a leading role in Caryl
Churchill’s Far Away, which we did together at Manbites Dog Theatre in
Durham, North Carolina. Matt is a Lab member. We would probably not be
doing Thom Pain without Matt; we choose the vehicle for him.
FS: How is he preparing for the role, and what are your rehearsals
like? Are you rehearsing with an audience at all?
DA: Matt came to the first rehearsal cold off book, so we got right down to
it. Working the major arcs, the suppression, and the minutia. Very like
Beckett, the minutia, the importance of punctuation. We work five hours
a day six days a week and Matt works further on his own, integrating notes.
We bring in outside eyes every few weeks.
Carolyn Holzman, a Lab member, is one of our “outside eyes” who comes in once in awhile and gives us a fresh perspective. The Lab has a policy – whoever is in the room gets to talk about the art. There is no preciousness of filtering it all through the director as if the actor and director are overly fragile. We solicit comments openly. Most comments are helpful. Once in awhile someone will say something odd. It’s all part of “being in the room”, as we like to say. As the director I make all final decisions, in conversations with
Matt, but conversation is free about the work. We plan to get some civilian folks in before opening.
FS: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about THOM PAIN?
DA: Please come to the show and get to know Eno’s voice. Well worth it.
FS: Devon , thank you for your time and good luck with the show!
DA: Thank you!
Hmmm. Formatting does not align for some reason.
Will have to figure out a solution.
In the meantime, the PDF should open fine, but if it does not you can read in the post.
Thank you.
I saw the Production Thom Pain last night. This was the most exciting piece of theater I have seen in a long time. The commitment of Matthew Dibiasio was simply beautiful and inspiring. I would like to also say the the direction and attention to movement and the character's physical life are truly inspiring. I am excited for this city as a theater goer and actor this company has found it's way to Portland. We will all benefit from this theater that is so alive and committed.
Andrea White
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