a few photos of the Hagia Sophia

Kinesthetic Response

This was the second day of "training" and "ensemble building" and the first Monday.  7 new students came, so we now are up to 45 7th and 8th graders and two invited sixth graders.  The plan was to continue working on the viewpoints, building on what we did last week, and then using them to create a new movement sequence based on some of the ideas generated last week.   We began with students covering the space.  As I stated in an earlier entry, this is going to be our first exercise every time the students enter the room.  I really focus on doing the work in absolute silence, which helps build their focus as well as the sense that they are entering a sacred world when we begin our work in the theatre space.  We then sat down with everyone facing a stage space.  I chose 6 randomly and told them to use the viewpoints that we had worked on last week (tempo, spatial relationships and being and noticing, but but they had a job to do...to use the big stage blocks we have (there are about 15 of different sizes) and to arrange them in interesting ways....as they worked I was side coaching for them to pay attention to what others were doing.  When a few minutes passed I asked them to sit down.  We applauded their risks.  Then I asked one student to go on the stage and begin the viewpoints, but she couldn't move the blocks....As she was moving I snuck up on the stage and dropped a block on the floor.  It made a huge noise which caused her to jump.  In this way I introduced what I consider the most useful viewpoint of all:  kinesthetic response.  This is a spontaneous reaction to something which occurs outside you; the timing in which you respond to the external events of movement or sound; the impulsive movement that occcurs from a stimulation of the senses.  In a sense this is what theatre is about--letting go of worrying about choosing a good or bad or right or wrong response, but to use everything.  If someone runs, use it.  If they sit, use it.    The key is not to plan but to simply respond.  I also emphasized the use of soft focus that allows you to take in much more than a concentrated focus.   In this way, groups of 5-7 worked while the rest observed.  Anytime someone in the audience saw a moment of kinesthetic response they could call out "stop" and the "actors" would freeze.  We would then talk about what we saw and why it was a kinesthetic response.  I also added the idea that anytime I clapped the participants would immediately create a circle that rotated clockwise.   At first they were polite and waited until everyone was in place before beginning their rotation, but then they understood intuitively that this was boring and static and they began to let it develop more organically.  This training is key in that it gives us a vocabulary to work with through the training, creation and eventually through the rehearsal process.  The kids grew in the 45 minutes we spent on this in their ability to use what was given to them instead of trying to create something.

Then I posted the list of things generated from the previous sessions small group movement pieces.  They were this:

• Specialness/Sacred things cannot be touched in a normal way

• We ask things from that which we call special/sacred

• There is synchronized movement in sacred ceremonies

• There are offerings

• There are alters and deities

• Death is sacred

• There are rules

•  There are sacrifices

• People will fight over what they call sacred

• Truth is revealed

• People are searching for something

• Blind faith

• Possession

• We offer to the gods in the hope that they will fix our mistakes

• Gods can be bitter

• There is surrender.

• the objects that are sacred are metaphoric for other, deeper things.

We used the cover the space activity to break into random groups of 4.  Their job was in their groups to create a movement sequence inspired by one of the topics.  Their piece had to have:

a moment of syncronistic movement

levels

a moment where something is revealed.

They had 12 minutes to create and then they presented.  Interestingly many groups choose

gods can be bitter--what does that say?

The presentations were interesting in that some groups added text while most did not.  After they presented I asked the question:  What did you prefer the work with text or without?  They all, even the ones who used text, preferred the movement only pieces.  They said the work was deeper and more powerful and that it allowed the audience to make their own ideas as to the meaning.

It was clear, to me, at this point, that the training was a success.  I was very impressed by their boldness and the respect they showed each other and the work and their sophistication in talking about what they saw. 

Next time I want to begin our image work with an activity that I learned from Michael Rohd:  complete the image, as well as add to our viewpoint vocabulary.  The thing I wonder about is when and how much to reveal about the Hagia Sophia, and in what form that relevation should take place:  story?  text?  film?  photos?  I am looking forward to thinking about this and talking with Amy Sass of The Ragged Wing Ensemble on her thoughts about this.  Which adds my final thought today to those thinking of embarking on the journey of devising with youth.

I think it is best to work alone and not have too many adults while you are "directing" or leading the group.  One voice is less confusing and more unifying for the kids.  However, I think you should have someone you trust, even if they are not a theatre person, to discuss ideas with on a regular basis.  For my first project I emailed Joan Lazarus, who introduced me to Devising work, quite a bit....on bike rides I talk to my friend Michael, who as a psychoanalyst has a particular perspective on things which I find really useful for the theatre, or my wife who is a visual artist and sees things quite differently than I do.   This year I plan on weekly or every other week 1 hour meetings with Amy to help me clarify and understand what I am doing.  Devising work does take a lot of thought and effort, and reflection on what you see, in order to really respond to what the kids are doing.  In a sense the whole process  is one big kinesthetic response.

Resources

I have to state at the outset that two workshops helped me immensely in figuring out how to devise work with my students.  The first was a week-long institute with Joan Lazarus, a professor of theatre education at the University of Texas at Austin.  She introduced devising techniques for youth.  The second was a two week intensive with Anne Bogart's SITI company on viewpoints, suzuki and composition.  I recommend going to the SITI website and seeing if they have any trainings in your area.  However, there are other  resources I turn to over and over again in helping me plan and implement a devising project that are readily available. 
These are: 
1.  The viewpoints book by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau:  this gives step by step procedures in introduction viewpoints and composition work.
2.  Devising Theatre:  a practical and theoretical handbook by Alison Oddey:  this is a practical handbook on a variety of techniques of devising theatre.
3.  Theatre for Community, Conflict and Dialogue by Michael Rohd:  this is an essential must have, as it gives very practical activities for creating ensemble and original work.  Look up Michael Rohd, he gives lots of workshops, take one.
4.  Games for Actors and Non-Actors by Augosto Boal:  This is Boal's most accessible and useful book.  Loaded with wonderful activities, especially his "image work" which is  very useful for creating original work with young folks.
5.  House of Games by Chris Johnston.  A very useful guide with loads of short activities and a good theoretical underpinning re: the devising process.

There are 100's of books on creative theatre.  I own way too many, but these are the ones I pull from my shelf and have on my desk whenever I enter a devising process and I look through them over and over to remind myself of what is effective and to mine for new ideas.  If any of you that are reading have other essential books that will help others please add them to the comments.

I will add at a later date what I have been reading re: the Hagia Sophia and the history of that region that has inspired some thought as well.

Sacred Architecture and scale

            I was talking to a Sofia last night, a Greek Architecture graduate student, studying here in Berkeley on a Fulbright, about this theatre project in general and specifically about the Hagia Sophia.  I asked: “From your perspective as an architect, what was it about that building that imbued it with that sense of sacredness?” I used the word awe to describe my own feelings, and she said that word fit perfectly for her as well.  As a school kid in Greece they heard and read about the Hagia Sophia:  it’s history and it’s art.  But reading didn’t prepare her for how she felt the first time she visited it when she arrived in Istanbul at 21.  “I hadn’t even planned on seeing it—I was more interested in the mosques and just wandering through the city, but I thought, okay, I’m here in Istanbul let me see this famous building.”  And when she walked up to it, even before entering, she said she just looked, amazed and in awe, taking it all in.

            It’s a matter of scale she said.  That feeling the building creates causing a person to feel small in comparison to the surroundings.  I agree.  Small.   But, somehow, not insignificant—at least for me there is a deep sense of connectedness to something larger than myself that I also felt.   A similar feeling I have when I am surrounded by the 14,000 peaks of the Sierra Nevada.   And that led us to talk about other sacred buildings and how they accomplish this architecturally.  And then it hit me.  I thought of all the sacred places we visited in Greece and Turkey on our Fulbright:  The Orthodox churches in Thessaloniki, The churches hovering on rocks in Meteora,  Phillip II’s tomb in Macedonia, The tombs of Atreus at Mycenae , the Christian churches carved into rocks in the Cappadochia region of Turkey, The Mosques of Istanbul, all the ancient Hellenic and Roman theatres of Greece and Turkey (there are dozens), and of course the most sacred of all:  The oracle of Delphi.  I thought of these places and thought of how, even with all our expectations in place (a sure precursor to disappointment), we enter these holy places and feel something, something deep and powerful, something eternal.  Is it scale that causes this?  Is it scale that can lead to tears while sitting alone in the Theatre at Delphi, watching the sun’s last rays reflect orange on the surrounding rock cliffs, while the columns of the ruins of the temple of Apollo create a perfect foreground to this magnificence?  I can't be sure, but it seems like a good starting point.  But again, my job is to turn these thoughts and ruminations into something my students can turn into theatre. Viewpoints, is a good place to work on this for one of the key viewpoints is what Anne Bogart calls:  Architecture.  In that viewpoint we will use a series of activities that encourages participants to become acutely aware of where they are and let the architecture inform their movement.  We'll see where it goes Monday.

First workday with students: Wed. Sept. 7

I'm going to go forward with what happened the first day.  Since we won't have any sessions with students until monday, I'll backtrack in the next few blogs and give some background on how to create a theatre ensemble at your school....including some resources for how to create devised theatre.  But let's go on with the first day.  The first question I had to decide is how much information to give the students about the Hagia Sophia.  I've been immersed in readings (I list the books  I have read and am reading:  they are great).  I could have delivered a two hour lecture on the history of the building, but after consulting with my good friend Amy Sass, who is a theatre director with a local Bay Area theatre group that creates original work, I decided it was best to enter with a simple question. A question that grew out of my thoughts regarding the Hagia Sophia. 
But even before the question was posed, we had to create ensemble.  These kids walk into the theatre room after a full day of school.  They mostly just want to talk and eat...but instead as they walk in the instructions are simple:  put your backpacks down and cover the space.  Cover the space is the beginning of every session we have.  In it participants simply move around the room, attempting to cover the entire floor space, always paying attention to where everyone else is at all times.  At any time that I, the leader, call freeze, the students should be evenly distributed around the room--no unbalance (i.e. no clumps).  It was as if the floor was being held up by a single post in the center.  If too many students were on one side the floor would tilt. This activity teaches spatial awareness and allows students to move..crucial for any age group.  Then I might call out--cover the space as two---in which case students instantly grab the hand of the person next to them...I observe and see if there are students who are taking risks and actually take the hand of someone they don't know, or if they, instead seek out their friends. If need be I gently work with the shy students, but usually it takes just a few minutes to overcome this since 8th graders that have worked this system before are quick to grab anyones hand; the experienced students teaching through example.  Then I might call cover as a group of 3...cover alone....cover as a pair.  In the space of 5 minutes not only is everyone warmed up, but they have gotten over their reluctance to touch someone they don't know and to just embrace the idea of ensemble.   Building ensemble is part of our process everyday...
Then I introduced them to a technique called "Viewpoints".  Viewpoints is a powerful actor training program introduced by Anne Bogart of the SITI company in New York City.  It becomes our common vocabulary for training and devising work.  If you want to know more I urge you to either google Viewpoints or find a training in your area, or get Anne's book.  For purposes of this blog I'll simply tell what we did. 
Everyone sits down in what we call the audience area (I have the luxury of teaching in an empty studio space, with enormous ceilings, that is about 30 feet by 20 feet) facing the area we call stage.  I ask one person to go up and begin moving about the space--just paying attention to what they see and notice.  Then another person moves up, and then another, and another until there are about 5-7.  These participants continue moving (or not) but the key is to get them to notice and respond to each other.  Not in a verbal or communicative way, as would be the case in an improv. activity, but rather as a dancer might interact with another stimulus.  An example might be that if someone begins moving very fast, back and forth in a line, it will have some affect on the other participants.  Maybe they will mimic to movements, or it might cause them to move slower, of to lie down...whatever.  It isn't important what the response is but rather that there is a physical rather than an emotional response.  Again, reading Anne's book will make this clear, or invite me to your school to do a workshop.  My constant side coaching sounds something like this:  "Notice what is happening...let it move you in geniune ways....listen...see...notice"  We move through this quickly adding the language of viewpoints:
tempo (the speed in which you do a movement), and levels (are you lying down, sitting, standing, jumping) were the two viewpoints we worked with.  I might call out some command like:  "At any one moment two people have to be in the lowest level, but never more than two...if two are down and then one stands and begins walking, someone else must go down".  All of this is a way to get the students to learn how to notice what is going on around them and react without thought, without speech.  Then, and this is key, I would call freeze at any point that I saw something on stage that moved me in some way (usually it was a moment of drama, of conflict, or of comedy).  And then I ask the audience questions like:  "What do you see?"  "What is this character thinking?"  "Who is the main character?"
"What is this scene about?"  Always accepting all responses.  This is to be the building block of our devising process.  Again, after the first year, there are always many returning students steeped in our training technique so by their example the new students quickly learn how to "play".
In this way 30 minutes passed quickly.  Everyone worked and everyone was audience.  There were about 35 students the first day, which means we will probably grow to 50.  A big, but manageable number.  Most were 7th and 8th graders but there were a few sixth graders that were recommended by their counselors feeling that a good drama experience might make a difference for these kids. 
Now it was time to devise something...I try and have them create something each session and see where it goes.   For this session I used a question that was related to the Hagia Sophia.  I came through it via my friend Amy who asked me why I was so interested in creating a piece about this building.  She reminded me that I could write my own play, or write a novel (I do have an idea for a young adult novel on this topic, more in another post), but if I wanted to devise a piece with my students I would have to allow them their discoveries.  Given that, rather than say much I said something in my best storyteller mode:  "Once upon a time there was a magnificent building, a building that many called a sacred place".   I posed a series of questions around the concept of "sacredness".  I asked them to think about what makes a place special or sacred?  How do we show a place is sacred?  How do we imbue something or someplace with the quality of sacredness?  I asked them to think about it but not to talk.  Then we used cover the space to break up into groups...."cover the space alone, cover it with two, with three, with four, with five."  That's your group.  Then the task:  "Find a place:  In your groups you have 10 minutes to create a movement sequence that shows that the space is sacred..your piece must have at least one moment of stillness that lasts 10 seconds and it must incorporate different levels throughout" (I find it is helpful and necessary to give elements for them to work with for two reasons:  it provides structure and also teaches them the elements that I have learned are necessary for good theatre).  And that's what they did.   Then they each presented their pieces.  I was stunned, really stunned at their magnificence.  How well they worked together and how well they used their bodies.  Some followed the instructions literally and made a spot in the room (for example the area by the curtains), whereas others took liberty and made an object sacred (the clock)...or a person....
After each presentation we talked about what we saw, never asking the performers to tell us their intention, rather focusing on what the audience noticed.  and I wrote..here's some of the things that came out of this first session---
• Specialness/Sacred things cannot be touched in a normal way
• We ask things from that which we call special/sacred
• There is synchronized movement in sacred ceremonies
• There are offerings
• There are alters and dieties
• Death is sacred
• There are rules
•  There are sacrifices
• People will fight over what they call sacred
• Truth is revealed
• People are searching for something
• Blind faith
• Possession
• We offer to the gods in the hope that they will fix our mistakes
• Gods can be bitter
• There is surrender.
• the objects that are sacred are metaphoric for other, deeper things:  the clock is a metaphor for time itself.
Wow:  This was an amazing list of thoughts and ideas to come out of 90 minutes of work.  My next step might be to ask another question, or to work with some of the thoughts outlined above.  I have 'till monday to decide.  The next blog will give some resources for reading and thinking about devised theatre with youth.  I am very excited about what will come next.

Entry 2: The conflict Sept 7

I left off yesterday with the question of where is the conflict, or drama, in this building.  The Hagia Sophia has an amazing history that I can do very little justice to in a short space, but the gist is there was conflict from its very beginnings. First just the chronology:  Two of the churches that were built  on the same spot were burned down during riots--one following the exile of the Patriarch of Constantinople.  A new church is built and inaugurated in 415.  This second one was destroyed during the so called Nika (victory) riots, where the discontent of the people of Constantinople over taxation, corruption, etc, led to massive demonstrations against the Emperor Justinian--this is in 532 AD.  After quelling the riots,  the Hagia Sophia is in ruins,  and 30,000 lay dead.  Out of this backdrop the new Hagia Sophia is created.  And then earthquakes ravage the dome in 553 and 557.  Then in 717, Leo III seizes the throne and between 726 and 729 he issues a series of decrees against the worship of images.  So, during that time, Icons and statues are removed from the church--they are now considered blasphemus...and  more:  859 fire; dome collapses in 989.  It is repaired and then comes the first of the big conflicts:  the church is plundered and defiled during the fourth crusade by the Latins in 1204... they stole many things and in general trashed the place, going so far as to seat a prostitute on the patriarchs throne for the entertainment of the looters....then it was converted for a short time (1204-1261) into a Roman Catholic Cathedral.  In 1261 it was recaptured by the Byzantines and it was a mess...more earthquakes, more problems...then in 1453 the city was conquered by the Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the church to be converted to a mosque.  Many (although not all) of the mosaics were covered with whitewash. Many things were added to it (minarets, restorations, a minber and a mihrab and tile work)  Finally, in 1934, under the order of the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum..
That's the bare bones.  What I get from this narrative is that this magnificent and sacred building has been at the center of some serious religious and political fervor and conflict for over 1500 years: Natural world vs Buildings,  Christian vs. Pagan, Christian vs. Christian, and Muslim vs Christian.   Yet it has always inspired awe.  It  was described by a sixth century historian as follows:  "The Hagia Sophia soars to a height to match the sky, and like a ship riding at anchor, higher than the other buildings, it looks down upon the remainder of the city.  The dome seems not to rest on solid masonry, but to cover the space with its golden dome suspended from heaven", and that an Arab Trader in the 13th century said: "They say one of the angels reside there, round about this place they have made fences of gold."  and about which Justinian himself said  "Solomon, I have surpassed thee",  on December 27, 537, as he first walked under the immense dome of his just completed church.
And yet, another way to look at it, and perhaps more positively is, how much the Hagia Sophia influenced what came after it--indeed many of Istanbuls great mosques, built after the 1453 conquest, played imitative flattery to the great dome of the Hagia Sophia: this building shows that this part of the world is rich in the strata of overlaid faiths and cultures.  I found myself both compelled by this structure simply as a thing of beauty and fascinated by how it illustrated the spirituality, beauty and grace of two major religions and at the same time reminded us of the horrific violence and hatred that sometimes are carried out in the name of these religions.  Both things are in play there today, where partially covered mosaics of Christian history and theology are side by side huge circular calligraphy panels honoring Allah, Mohammed, the first four Caliphs of Islam and the two grandsons of Mohammed.
And that says nothing of the marble walls and floors.
Wow.
Tomorrow I will let you know how I take all of this into something tangible and meaningful to 7th and 8th grade drama students who simply want to create a play and have some fun.  We had an exceptional first day, but this, I think,  is enough to digest for one entry.

Hagia Sophia: the theatre project

Hagia Sophia project

Entry 1:  Tuesday, September 6, 2011

A new project begins.

            This is the eve before the theatre ensemble students arrive. I expect 60:   60 middle school students ready to build a theatre piece out of nothing.  The task is more formidable this year than it has been before, for this year I am starting with an idea:  I want to try and take my experience at The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and turn it in to a piece of theatre.  A building as theatre?  How did this come to be?

            This summer I had the great opportunity to participate in a Fulbright program that brought 16 elementary and middle school teachers from the United States to Greece and Turkey for 5 weeks of study and travel.  I also added 3 weeks of personal travel and study, to make it a total of 2 months of immersion in this region.  The purpose: to learn what we could about the history and culture of this region, centered around the Agean Sea, and somehow take that experience and knowledge and turn it into a curriculum for our students  that reflected each of our fields of interest.  And a vast history it was:  from the Neolithic settlements of Catal Hayuk in Turkey (about 5000  BCE) through the Hittites and Minoans of circa BCE 2000, the Myceneans (that would be Agamemnon and the House of Atreus --give it up for the curse) Troy, The Delphic Oracle,  Classical Athens, The Hellenization of Western Turkey through Alexander the Great, the Lydians,  the Romans, early Christians in Anatolia, the rise of Islam, the Byzantium Empire, the Venetian and Genoan infiltrations into both countries, the rise of the Seljuk Turks, The  Ottoman Empire (including the conquest of Constantinople), Greek Independence, the horror at Gallipoli (WWI), The creation of the Turkish Republic under Attaturk, The Nazi occupation of Greece, the Greek civil war…, all the way to the current Greek economic crisis and the Turkish attempt to be part of the European Union and their elections of 2011.  Just writing the list (which I am sure is incomplete, apologies to anything or anyone I left out), I am overwhelmed by what we learned and the possibilities that are represented here.

            As I decided on how to take all this history and turn it into a piece theatre, for that ultimately is what I do, a friend asked me a question about the trip.  What surprised you the most? She asked.  A great question to ask someone who has had a life changing experience, much better than the banal: what did you enjoy the most? And the answer I gave was quick and surprised me.  I talked about the Christian churches of pre-Byzantium and Byzantium origin, along with the Islamic Mosques of the early Ottomon sultans; the grandeurs of their buildings and how their artwork was so evoking…as my daughter, Carmen,  remarked, she being an art student who visited me for the final 2 weeks of the trip, upon seeing this: “ back then artists and art had a purpose”.  My answer surprised me, because I am not a religious person, at least not in an organized religion sense, nor that drawn to visual arts.  I wasn’t surprised at my tears at Troy, or upon visiting the site of the Delphic oracle.  I am a storyteller, and lover of Myth by training and inclination and these were already sacred places to me.  But I was surprised at how moved I was by these structures.   So, it is to these places  of sacredness that I turned my attention. But theatre out of a building?  The theatre artist, dramatist in me knows that the classical points articulated by Aristotle and perfected by the Greek playwrights still demand attention today:   Where is the conflict here…?  Where is the drama?  For their beauty is not enough.  This is where the Hagia Sophia comes in.  And the conflict, or drama, that is imbued in that sacred structure is deep and compelling.

            More on this conflict, and how I will introduce it to the students, with the next entry.  For in this blog I plan on outlining how we create theatre out of an idea.