And There Were Clowns
As of last Friday, “Mom?” officially turned one year old. The show has come a long way in a single year, but let me start at the beginning. “Mom?” was the devised culmination of our year at Dell’arte International School of Physical Theatre located in Blue Lake, CA. Laura, Jeff and I were given the opportunity to devise a piece completely of our choosing in one of the styles we had covered throughout the year. We all agreed to continue forward with the clowns we discovered in the previous style block. Beginning our exploration with almost a dozen suitcases of various sizes, we created a journey in which whenever a suitcase popped open (which of course, happened quite frequently) the entire atmosphere would change to the world within that suitcase. For example, there was a birthday party, mom’s garden, the ocean, Victoria’s office and many, many more. We showed our piece at the end of that first week, received notes, and decided to change almost everything about the initial proposal. All we kept from the first week were two suitcases: Mom’s garden and the Void, which was a trunk we all got sucked into. Taking these two elements, we moved forward into production week, essentially creating an entirely new piece in less than a week. We relied on the guidance of our clowns to lead the way through the darkness and we came out the other side with a show all three of us loved quite dearly.
The three of us decided to stick together and move forward with “Mom?” after the school year had ended. By Thanksgiving of 2013, all three of us had moved to Portland, OR and began our company Box of Clowns, with the premiere show “Mom?” Most of December, January and February was dedicated to recreating the box as it was with the addition of some beneficial modifications to the structure and overall design. In the middle of March, we had our first public showing of “Mom?” after Dell’arte at the event “Someday Incubator,” located at the Star Theatre in downtown Portland (https://www.facebook.com/incubatorpdx). Our second showing was aboard the S.S. Legacy (the boat in which Jeff is contracted with for the summer) located on the Willamette river. Both of these venues were perfect for trying out new material and playing with different types of audiences. We have plans for two more showings some time in August before we head off to the Vancouver, BC fringe festival in September.
That brings us up to date on most of the major landmarks in our process. From here this blog will be dedicated to the day to day progress in which we hack through gnarly jungles, cross raging rivers, and skydive through the tornadoes of our artistic adventure. This friday Jeff is back in town for a whirlwind 24 hours and we have an entire day of rehearsal planned out. If we survive, I will be sure to let you know about our progress! Thanks for following!