Insite

…hold me, neighbor, in this storm… (2007) 

By Aleksandra Vrebalov (b. 1970) 

Aleksandra Vrebalov, a native of the former Yugoslavia, left Serbia in 1995 and continued her education in the United States. About “…hold me, neighbor, in this storm…,” she writes: 

“The Balkans, with its multitude of cultural and religious identities, has had a troubled history of ethnic intolerance. For my generation of Tito’s pioneers and children of Communists, growing up in the former Yugoslavia meant learning about and carrying in our minds the battles and numberless ethnic and religious conflicts dating back half a millennium, and honoring ancestors who died in them. By then, that distant history had merged with the nearer past, so those we remember from World War II are our grandparents. Their stories we heard firsthand. After several devastating ethnic wars in the 1990s, we entered a new century, this time each of us knowing in person someone who perished. As I write this in November 2007, on YouTube a new generation of Albanians and Serbs post their war songs, bracing for another conflict, claiming their separate entitlements to the land and history, rather than a different kind of future, together. 

“Strangely, the cultural and religious differences that led to enmity in everyday life produced—after centuries of turbulently living together—most incredible fusions in music. It is almost as if what we weren’t able to achieve through words and deeds—to fuse, and mix, and become something better and richer together—our music so famously accomplished instead. 

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12/12 (2000)

By Café Tacuba 

Arranged by Osvaldo Golijov (b.1960) 

Recorded performance by Alejandro Flores and Café Tacuba 

December 12 is celebrated throughout Mexico as the Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the country’s patron saint. In 1531, just a decade after the Spanish Conquest, the Virgin Mary appeared to an indigenous Mexican named Juan Diego on the hill of Tepayac, outside Mexico City. Associated with her appearance was a series of miracles, including the sudden curing of a dying man, unnaturally fragrant flowers that appeared to be painted but then became real, and finally the imprint on Juan Diego’s cloak of the Virgin Mary. This piece, written by Café Tacuba in collaboration with composer Osvaldo Golijov, was conceived as a collection of different moments and environments experienced during the course of the Day of the Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

The five-part sonic portrait of contemporary Mexico weaves together not only the sounds of a rock band and a string quartet, but also traditional Mexican instruments and street sounds. The scenes range from the mariachi bands of Plaza Garibaldi, to the loud whistle from the cart of a camote (yam) vendor, to the amazing Voladores de Papantla, a Veracruz ritual where four men, accompanied by flutes and drums, leap from a pole while attached to ropes that slowly unwind. The piece ends with the fire works and bells of Mexico City’s Zócalo on Independence Day. 

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Cat O’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade) (1988) 

By John Zorn (b. 1953) 

Turning a self-described short attention span into a creative asset, the ever-daring composer, saxophonist, MacArthur Fellow, and New York “downtown” music czar John Zorn developed a unique approach to composition in the 1980s and early ’90s. Starting with discrete musical ideas—or “moments”—jotted down on file cards whenever inspiration struck, Zorn would create a new work by assembling the cards in a specific order. The resulting music is both endlessly surprising and relentlessly pulse quickening—an experience often compared to rapidly pushing the pre-set buttons on a car radio, or to the constantly shifting, “jump cut” imagery of modern films and music videos. 

“Cat O’ Nine Tails” is a perfect example of the form. In under 15 minutes, the piece brings together 51 distinct moments, from gently plucked tones to razor-sharp dissonance, and from stately classicism to country hoedown to cartoon zaniness—with few passages daring to challenge the 10-second barrier. 

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Kronos Quartet comes to the Alexander Kasser Theater on Sunday afternoon as part of an exciting weekend of music. Kronos will play selections from their new recording, Floodplain, in a program that’s exclusive to New Jersey. We’re looking forward to their visit! In preparation, over the next several days, we’ll be posting notes (courtesy of Kronos management) corresponding to the pieces they’ll be playing this Sunday. 

One of the pieces that I’m most excited about is “Tashweesh,” which according to its program note (more below), was written by a collective known as Ramallah Underground, specifically for Kronos, after David Harrington noticed their music on Myspace and got in touch with them. The members of Ramallah Underground identify primarily as MCs and producers, but this work for Kronos is a fervently contemporary pairing of string instrument and recorded sound. Check it out on Kronos’ Web site. 

Then join us for what promises to be an extraordinary weekend! 

—Sara Wintz 

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One of the most remarkable things about theatre is that it affords you the opportunity to escape reality while simultaneously forcing you to recognize the reality from which you are escaping. This is not always the case, and in a modern theatrical climate that is more focused on ticket sales than cultural relevance, most audiences walk away without recognizing much of anything. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t at times captivated by the glorious world of theatrical entertainment for the sake of entertainment, in fact that’s what got me into theatre in the first place. I was that theatre geek that walked around brandishing Little Shop of Horror t-shirts, while belting out show tunes in my room, much to the joy (or annoyance) of my parents. 

But midway through my training at Montclair, I became more in tune to the world around me. Perhaps it was that brief moment in time where it was considered cool to be politically and culturally aware that began the reshaping of my thoughts on life and theatre. Barack Obama was in the running for President, and suddenly everyone, including myself decided maybe they should put down People Magazine and pick up The New York Times. Suddenly I realized how much was going on in the world that I had allowed myself to ignore. 

With this realization came a self analysis of my life’s future direction. Was theatre really something that was worthwhile? Why am I trying to spend my life entertaining when I could be using my energy and skills to help others? In the midst of this examination of my career goals, I was asked to direct Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. The producers of the show initially booked a female director, but at the last minute she backed out, and I was the only one they knew available to take on the production. When I first agreed to take on the role of director, I merely viewed it as an opportunity to advance my skills as a director; however, as I plunged myself into the production I began to realize that this was a piece of art that could really help other people. Suddenly it clicked. This is what I can do with theatre, with art, to make a difference in the world.

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It was a dark and stormy night. No, no… that’s not right. In fact in Los Angeles, it was probably a bright and sunny day when James Cameron called choreographer Lula Washington about his movie, then still in the works, called AVATAR. Now in theaters, AVATAR tells the post-post-post-colonial story of a band of scientists and space travelers interested in taking over a new, cool planet called “Pandora.”

So what was he doing calling Lula Washington?

In fact, fair friends, Lula Washington and members of her company choreographed the body language and ritual movements of the Na’vi people in AVATAR. Which is funny because, among other things noted in this handy and certainly timely NYTimes ArtsBeat interview, Lula didn’t use email until recently and had some doubts about characters with tails. Her collaboration with James Cameron, however, was completely instrumental to the style and tone of the film, bringing a dimension of humanity to the film’s digitally rendered characters.

Lula Washington, and Lula Washington Dance Theatre join us at the Alexander Kasser Theater this weekend for an amazing celebration of thirty years of totally radical dance theater. We are so excited to have her here at the theater this weekend.

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What happens when a cast aims for your funny bone, takes up a tale teasing the preservation instinct’s strange ways, and does onstage gender changes—er, costume changes—to a brash klezmer score? Shlemiel the First, if you can get to the Kasser Theater by January 24 for this rambunctious revival by Peak Performances and the National Yiddish Theatre–Folksbiene.

Shlemiel sports an evening’s worth of pleasures and a lively raft of theatrical wiles. The brainchild of Robert Brustein, the theater Hall-of-Famer who founded Yale Rep and American Repertory Theater, the piece has an astonishing pedigree: adaptation by Brustein from a play by Isaac Bashevis Singer; music by Hankus Netsky, who’s done klezmer with Itzhak Perlman and runs the New England Conservatory’s improv department; lyrics by Arnold Weinstein, librettist for operas including William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge; and music direction by Zalmen Mlotek, Folksbiene’s artistic director. And with director/choreographer David Gordon at the helm, Shlemiel brims with chutzpah and every other effusive tagline in the book.

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In preparation for Works-a-Foot, an annual showcase of talent from Montclair State University’s Dance Program, students had the unique opportunity to work with choreographer Doug Elkins. Elkins, who returns to Peak Performances in March with Fräulein Maria, held a series of rehearsals and ultimately choreographed a new work specifically for students in the dance program at MSU. Take a peek at this clip (courtesy Rodney Leinberger): 

Over its five-year history, a range of prominent choreographers have graced the stage of the Alexander Kasser Theater. Often these choreographers, who have included Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall, Margaret Jenkins, and Liz Lerman, lead master classes and workshops in the Department of Theatre and Dance. This year, Elkins stepped up to the plate as part of this choreography tradition at MSU.

Students met with Elkins once a week for five weeks, in addition to two Sunday rehearsals. The dance piece that emerged from their collaboration, She could never remember which was better…safe?…or sorry?, presented as part of Works-a-Foot, involved nineteen students thinking on their feet, music by The Cornelius Brothers and Björk, and a variety of contemporary dance moves.

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