Posts Tagged ‘The Neo-Futurists’

Shop Talk: The Play Never Stops Evolving

Posted on: by genevra 1 Comment

Sean Benjamin and Andy Bayiates back during “43″

As you might guess, the writers of 44 Plays for 44 Presidents did A LOT of research in the process of drafting the original script. Every play was based on a slew of facts we collected about the man, the time period, etc. – and the play has undergone a series of revisions in the past ten years.

Each writer had their own process for data collection – and with hindsight, I wish I’d kept better records of why I made certain choices in plays, the links I was using, books I had referenced, etc. If you asked me about a particular play, I could absolutely tell you what nuggets of information inspired the eventual draft in the script, what form the revision process took, what each element in the scene means or represents, and why I chose the facts I did. But I don’t necessarily have careful lists of all the sources I used, nor can I always trace the direct path that lead to the decisions I made.

What is funny – and sort of amazing – to me is that even after ten years, we’re still finding things we need to tweak. Not only do certain Presidents and presidencies look different over time, but also certain facts or common knowledge become refuted, challenged, debunked. Or in some cases, we just got it wrong and all the fact-checkers up to that point happened to miss the same thing we missed.

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Festival Participation in the Digital Age

Posted on: by genevra 1 Comment

One of the most amazing aspects of this Festival has been feeling so connected to all the amazing artists, educators, and politicos participating from across the country. Whether it’s the behind the scenes footage shared by Drive Theatre Company in L.A. and Dad’s Garage in Atlanta, TV coverage of Little Rock Central High School we could all view from Facebook, or the “I” in Election video recorded by Forward Theatre Company… producers, directors, actors, and staff have been able to spotlight the work of their organizations in ways that enable us all to feel like we’re locally connected to their efforts.

I’ll be diving more into the tools we’ve used to help coordiate the Festival and share the digitalized efforts of others next week, but today I’ll focus on how one director in particular has utilized various platforms to collaborate cross-country with her alma mater.

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The Neo-Futurists prep to unveil the Electoral College Prep Academy

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The cast of the upcoming 44 Plays @ The Neo-Futurists

As election-season tension mounts and we march ever-closer to November 6, 2012… 44 Plays for 44 Presidents productions across the country are coming up with increasingly creative ways to contribute to the Festival. This week, I spoke with Bilal Dardai, Tif Harrison, and Dan Broberg of The Neo-Futurists to discuss their intentions to create an audience-interactive installation: The Electoral College Prep Academy.

I think you’re the first company we’ve been able to highlight for an interactive installation! Give me a rundown of the Electoral College Prep Academy.

Bilal: The ECPA was the invention of [Managing Director] Dan McArdle, after the initial idea of a basketball court in honor of Barack. At our initial brainstorming session, this idea led us to the idea of a court in a school gymnasium (as opposed to a street court or YMCA court), and that led us to the idea of other fun elements such as the trophy case and images of Obama and other presidents as “illustrious athletes” who had passed through the “Academy.”

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Shop Talk: Movement and Dance in 44 Plays for 44 Presidents

Posted on: by genevra 2 Comments

One of the important aspects of tackling 44 Plays for 44 Presidents from the producing/directing side is to know that it was borne of The Neo-Futurist aesthetic and was heavily influenced by the structure and pacing of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.

Every writer was familiar with that medium, and we all understood at the outset that part of our writing challenge was to create 44 (at the time 43) distinct plays that were short yet complete. Individual pieces that could stand alone but were more powerful as a cohesive collection of snapshots that, strung together, created a powerful collage of presidential history in the U.S.

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Why I’m In It: Personal Purpose and Festival Motivations

Posted on: by genevra 1 Comment

Our daughter, Ari, with "Abe"

Along with a series of posts highlighting the original contributions and community efforts of producers involved in the Festival this year, I had intended to slowly work my way through the Plays for Presidents staff to focus a bit on the individual “why” that drives us to commit our time and energy to this project.

The opportunity to focus on my personal motivation came this week when my daughter brought home a book of poems she had written in class. I had forgotten how her teacher had mentioned the distinctive subject matter Ari had chosen, or how one of her poems stood out so much that all the kindergarten teachers had sort of marveled and laughed over it later that week.

As I read through her packet of poems, many of which focused on our dog Simon (When I wake up/Simon/I see you at my door/I love you/Simon/Good Simon), I realized how much this Festival and the focus of what Andy and I believe 44 Plays… is capable of as a piece of art has become woven into our family life as well.

I’ve written about this a bit before, but I never really thought twice about the Presidents or this country’s political history until being asked to help write 43 Plays… back in 2001. And I don’t think I had a full sense of how the play could become such a powerful vehicle until I really committed to supporting Andy’s idea for this Festival back in 2011.

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