Page 14 - the NOISE November 2014

theAteR ‘ROUND the tOWN
a touCh of draMa for every flagpole
ABOVe: The Circlet Sisters rehearse for the upcoming Day of the Dead show at The Green Room. This event showcases the aerial art, dance, and a variety of performance art in honor of Day of the Dead.
story & photos By
Clair anna rose
on land & in the air: it’s hip to Be dead
In the morning light, the air feels poignant and thick as a procession line moves slowly, approaching the stage within the Green Room. Faces painted white with black markings like skulls stare straight ahead, as an eerie lamenting Spanish ballad plays at a rehearsal for the upcoming Day of the Dead celebration and performance.
I talk with Circlet Sister and Flagstaff Aerial Arts member Kayley Monster, “It’s going to be a harder performance for me this year,” Ms. Monster shares, reflecting on the personal meaning the show has for her. “I lost one of my childhood best friends to suicide about a month ago and my stepfather committed suicide when I was young. Growing up it was always something that was dark and hidden, so having this opportunity to create art while also being able to feel my con- nection with these people and change the way I participate in grieving with those circumstances feels really great.”
A few days later I meet with Flagstaff Aerial Arts Program Director Joan Grant, who not only tells me about the upcom- ing show and the recently opened Circus Arts Studio, but also gives me a lesson in one of her areas of talent — Lyra — an aerial dance performed in, on and hanging from a metal hoop suspended from the ceiling.
Ms. Grant has been teaching aerial dance for about six years and has been dancing since her teens. She made the move to Flagstaff a little over a year ago, quickly involving herself with the performance art community. As the idea of starting an aerial dance program formed for her, she spoke with Circus Bacchus and found the group needed rehearsal space. “We had a mutually beneficial goal where we could not only have a facility that would allow me to have an aerial dance program, but also a home for Circus Bacchus to have their rehearsals,” she says.
“I have always loved Day of the Dead,” Ms. Grant says as we talk about the upcoming performance. “There’s so much to do with that theme and it can go so many different directions. I love seeing how it’s morphed and shifted here with every- body else’s influence. It’s been a really fun collaboration be- tween all these different performance entities who add their own ideas and creativity to the show — and I think it will be really original!”
When we’re finished with the interview, my lesson begins. I’m not really sure what to expect, having never tried any- thing like it. I’m concerned I don’t have enough upper body strength, which Ms. Grant assures me is a misconception. To my surprise, though challenging, I find myself upside down in
no time with a leg through the hoop, hanging by the back of my knee! As our lesson progresses, Ms. Grant directs me into a variety of moves. It’s when she lets me try spinning for the first time that I feel like I’m flying and don’t want to stop!
I had seen an aerial performance in April, and was im- pressed by the endurance and gusto it takes to perform on hanging apparatus; but now having tried it, I have even more of an appreciation for the physical conditioning, practice, and guts it takes to hang upside down, high above the ground.
The Day of the Dead show, in addition to being a way to honor loved ones who have passed away, is a fundraiser for The Circus Arts Studio and a showing of their campaign mov- ie follows.
The Dia De los Muertos / Day of the Dead show at the Green Room is on November 1 & 2, and features acts by performance groups Flagstaff Aerial Arts, the Circlet Sis- ters, Human Nature Dance Theater, Serendipity’s Kiss, Sambatuque, NAU latin Dance Club, Canyon Movement Company and Circus Bacchus; with live painting by emma Gardner, Kayley Monster and Siera Smyth and a possible guest performance by Charlie Faraday. Flagstaffaerial.org
honey, pass the playWright please ...
On Sunday, November 30 at 6:30PM the second play in Theatrikos’ Playwright Café series at Charly’s in the Hotel Weatherford will be Hoes on the Bus, written by Maia Del- laCascata and directed by Darby lofstrand.
Playwright Maia DellaCascata moved to Flagstaff from Colorado in October 2013, to work at STAR school. She de- scribes her introduction to the local theater community as a series of dominoes lining up perfectly: through a connection at work she met Shonto Begay, who invited her to the FALA gala, where she met Tony & Linda Sutera, who invited her to audition for Almost, Maine. Fast forward a year and now her very own script is coming to life on stage.
Ms. DellaCascata first became interested in playwriting when she was working as an actress in the Chicago area. “While still acting, I found myself more and more intrigued by
the dynamics and creative crafting of the scripts that I was working with. While living alone out the ranch last winter, I had neither internet nor phone (or human beings), so I basi- cally only had reading and writing as creative involvements. I ended up writing 3 plays in 4 months.”
Hoes on the Bus was one of those plays, which the play- wright tells me about. “Hoes On the Bus tells the story of a night on the Las Vegas Strip, A group of prostitutes have been
arrested and are being held on the holding bus before being transported downtown for booking,” Ms. DellaCascata tells me. “These women have a wide range of backgrounds and stories. The women are joined by Kitty Brown, a naive recent college grad from the Midwest, off on her first solo adventure, mistakenly arrested as a prostitute, and consigned to the Holding Bus.
“What Kitty learns from the hoes on the bus is a far deeper and more real education than she received in the classroom, one which opens her eyes and teaches her true compassion. The story is based upon one of my sister Kate’s many wild adventures that took place when she was about 24 and in Las Vegas playing blackjack to raise money for a school for the kids of Scientologists. She was taking a break out on the sidewalk outside the casino when an undercover cop started questioning her, thinking that she was a prostitute. When he realized that her jewelry was real gold, he decided to release her rather than put her on the bus where detained prostitutes were kept until releasing them at dawn, after business hours were over.”
The Playwright Café has offered Ms. DellaCascata’s plays their debut, something the writer expresses abundant grati- tude for. “It’s just one of many examples of the devotion that Theatrikos unfailingly exhibits in bringing the artist and the audience together in creative collaboration and celebration.” Theatrikos.com
and the flashlight’s in this draWer ...
NAU Theater brings to the stage an electric, humorous and provocative play written by Sarah Ruhl: In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play). Opening November 14 at the Studio The- ater on NAU campus, some of these performances will begin with pre-show mini discussions, Curtain Colloquiums, be- ginning at 6:45PM.
On Friday, November 14 — “Thank God something still flickers ... Light & Shadow/Natural & Artificial in The Vibrator Play.” On Saturday, November 15 — “For God’s sake why must there be so many buttons ... Costumes and the Actor in The Vibrator Play.” Friday, November 20 — “It is a kind of religious ecstasy to be half blind ... Sexuality in Victorian America.” And Saturday, November 21 — “I lie very still, close my eyes and try not to think ... Love, Marriage & Intimacy in The Vibrator Play.”
Performances begin at 7:30PM on November 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 & 22; and 2PM on November 16 & 23. NAU.edu/cto
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