Documentary on artist Jocelyn Skillman for whizARTbang! Vol. 2 held on Sat. Aug. 7th, 2010.
Artist’s Statement:
I am fascinated by the encounter of consciousness embodied–that is to say, the existential platform of self encountering otherness. I am also enchanted by the exploration of “reality” as an embodied relationship between finitude and the transcendental.
My visual art depicts monsters and suffering as a metaphor for the state of despair and suffering that Self encounters as Separated Consciousness (e.g. arising into a body/Separation from Source). Thus, my art also seeks to explore the embodied point of contact between that state of despair/separation and the state of reconciliation: Enlightenment, the Kingdom of God, Relationship to Unconditional Love.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jocelynskillman/
I feel called to producing visual images because they seem to convey deep and subtle relationships–e.g. between objects that are involved in suffering and freedom or relief from that suffering. My spiritual “work” usually evolves into the imagery I am drawing, and I will find myself in agreement with a principle that appears in the work: of reconciliation or aspects of despair, separation, or transcendent love. Teachers and traditions that have been fundamental to the development of my thought and art are Buddhist Foundations: Chogyam Trungpa, Shunryu Suzuki, Christian Foundations: Soren Keirkegaard, Thomas Merton, Other: Hafiz and other Sufi voices, Martin Buber, Early Indian theology, and my Friends!
The following article, Many many words on working with The Satori Group in their Open Training, by Steven Gomez, originally appeared in the Gomezticator on Aug. 2nd, 2010.
So, Satori… this group was born out of 11 students from the University of Cincinnati and Williams College who wanted to collaborate and produce organic theatre. They produced some shows in the Queen City before deciding to migrate a couple years ago and picking Seattle out of several candidate cities. From an interview with Adam Standley (who BTW is a very cool guy in person) in this article:
We often got together and were like, ‘Well, there’s so much wrong with the current regional theatre system, and so much right work that could be done,’ that we all kind of agreed that now was a good time for young people to be making theatre because it seems in desperate need of an evolution. So we all said, we’re going to do the ensemble thing, but we’re going to do it right. We toured four cities: Portland, Austin, Chicago, and Seattle. And we decided on Seattle, and all eleven of us moved out here, none of us having any roots here at all.
Moving here cold turkey? I can relate to that.
Since moving here, they’ve produced some interesting work. They advertised a free open training session on August 1 and I attended along with a couple dozen others.
The scenario is a familiar one, a scenario I saw for 2-3 hours a day 3-5 days a week for a year plus at UNLV while training in theatre. We get on the floor in a studio (in this case, Satori’s Loft in Pioneer Square) in our socks and we work on movement technique. What that ‘technique’ is depends on who’s running the show. In Satori’s case, we did so using variations of Suzuki training, a post-methodology that utilizes trained basics to start, then works towards creative and collaborative exercises that in time produce creativity that the troupe turns into theatre.
Not knowing what specifics I’m at liberty to share and not share, I’m compelled to remain vague. Adrienne directed the morning movement session and Caitlin directed the collaborative afternoon session. We first focused on standing in place and defining our center, as many methods do, in defining a strong and balanced lower body with a tension-free but balanced upper body and our feet firmly in balanced contact with the ground. Defining this physical base is crucial to doing the six exercises we spent about two hours doing, and if that seems like forever note that the exercises were in many cases lengthy and elaborate and we did stop to discuss matters between exercises.
Some exercises focused on constant movement from your center, while some emphasized stops and starts, with total balance throughout so that the stops were indeed total stops, with you in total control and able to move any direction from that stop if need be. One exercise did invite creative movement using a prop. One exercise had us moving in tandem arm in arm as a group, leading everyone to work towards a common pace and direction. Every exercise was set to music and many worked with the rhythm of the music to emphasize body control through timing.
We finished with a long, somewhat random medley of the given exercises that continued over 30 minutes and had us moving all over the space, forcing us to stay alert and be ready to adjust at a moment’s notice, while staying in control of ourselves through these challenging exercises the entire time.
We broke for lunch, came back and focused on improvisational word association, where someone says something and you say something based on what that inspires. Somewhat similar to Meisner work, it does unlike Meisner compel you to go into your head, sometimes drawing from experience and memories, before you respond. But the responses are expected instantly, again forcing you to think on your feet (literally too: all this was done while standing) and quickly. On paper it looks like it’d get boring quickly but many of the responses produced some interesting topics that led to more interesting responses, and a few stories as the exercises allowed for more elaboration.
Such improvisation work is certainly more personal and involving than standard Meisner work. That’s not to say standard Meisner work isn’t productive: As I’ve mentioned before it certainly adds a lot of value, and in fact Satori’s work utilizes a lot of Meisnerian principles. But in Meisner someone’s red shirt and angry face can only spark so much creative interest, while someone uttering a word that compels a childhood memory that compels someone else’s explanation behind their favorite TV show which compels someone’s experience at the supermarket last week is much more interesting, and generates creativity from everyone. It’s a microcosm of Satori’s internal collaborative process, and we could all see how that process can generate material in a moment, let alone over time, that ultimately becomes the shows they’ve produced and will produce.
We ended with a lengthy and physically demanding group exercise (probably the most physically demanding of all, or maybe we were just beat after 6 hours of work) where we all moved in unison, the leader evolving naturally from the movements rather than being delegated. From there we bid goodbye and, needing a meal and a nap, I quietly ducked out after a quick word with Anthony Darnell about the work we did and their forthcoming whizARTbang! show this Saturday.
I slept about 11 hours thanks to a big meal and a tiredness we often refer to as good-tired, the feeling of exhaustion from a worthwhile exercise. I’m looking forward to the next session, which apparently will happen at some point in the next month or so.
The Satori Group celebrates the two-year anniversary of their Seattle residency with the World Premiere of Making of a Monster at the 2010 Northwest New Works Festival at On The Boards. Monster is our fourth ensemble-generated piece and second original composition in Seattle.
Making of a Monster
Created by The Satori Group
Directed by Adam Standley
Written by Jessica Hatlo
June 11th - 13th, 2010
Video from On the BoardsA boy and a girl: notice the slight feline quality of her cheekbone, his lean body, and their feral smiles. Between classes they peer over schoolbooks and sneak shameful glances. But when an older man chases this nymphet her metamorphosis is exposed. This is the mishandled sexuality of children: a multi-media Manga (comic) for the stage.
Featuring Adrienne Clark as Harper, Gabrielle Schutz as Cool Girl #1, Nathan Sorseth as Coach, Adam Standley as Monty, Ray Tagavilla as Dennis/Jason, and Lindsey Valitchka as Cool Girl #2.
Asst. Director Adrienne Clark; Stage Manager Amanda Stoddard; Production Manager/Costume Design Greta Wilson; Scenic/Kuroko Design Anthony Darnell; Video Design Andrew Lazarow; Visual Artist John Airwin; Sound Design Alex Matthews; Lighting Design Monty Taylor; Dramaturge Caitlin Sullivan, Spike Friedman, and Davey Young; Anthropomorphic Design Shannon Waits, Cara Romanik, Signe Predmore, and Rebecca Shepherd.
Artifacts of Consequence has closed after selling-out the 8 final performances! The Satori Group is previledged to have had so many great experiences meeting new artists, audience members, and friends. We want to keep these new connections strong. If you saw the production, please use this space to share your thoughts.
The following review, Get Out Today: Tragedy, a tragedy @ the Little Theatre, appeared on the Seattlest.com on Sunday April 5
About halfway in to Will Eno’s Tragedy, a tragedy (2 p.m. April 5, $12), we began to suspect the playwright was suffering from insomnia. There’s a dark, plastic, wandering nature to the play that signals a mind on the edge of–but kept from–sleep. Depending on how recently you’ve been afraid of the dark, you’ll be right back there, hearing your breath, your heartbeat, and strange noises, and the night will seem like a suffocating cold, black ocean, everything and everyone you know a small flicker that is guttering out.
The play doles out bits of biting comedy to keep you on the path: a character says as a child he was given a dictionary and made his way through it thinking it was the “sad, confusing story of everything.” If the story has nowhere all that surprising to go, it’s not fatal–its power is like a ghost story’s. It chills in order to warn, and to warm.
Eno drops a local TV news team into a brooding abyss when the sun sets one evening, and everyone somehow realizes it’s never coming back up. It’s a terrific concept because while it’s easy to chortle at their attempts to “cover” unending night–yes, dogs are still barking, the governor has a statement, and a family may or may not be returning home–the news team is us, our daylight selves, freshly scrubbed and full of can-do optimism, professionals ready to make sense of things.
The Satori Group’s production is anchored by Frank in the Studio (Alex Matthews, visibly shouldering the weight of his concerned gravitas), John in the Field (Anthony Darnell, playing the Action Jim Forman role), Constance at the Home (a stay-pressed, brittle Lindsey Valitchka), and Michael, the Legal Advisor (Spike Friedman, offering bearded analysis, occasionally en espanol).
Set design by Andrew Lazarow and Clare Strasser evokes a Dick van Dyke-era TV studio, and in Monty Taylor’s busy lighting design, spotlights fly about the stage like a restless mind, as the team gradually loses their shit on camera.
Adam Standley and Caitlin Sullivan co-direct the play, and we applaud their work–the whole play is the news team reporting and kicking it back to the studio, and Eno worrying away with linguistic legerdemain and pratfalls, and yet the play walks its attention-holding tightrope. Even when the Witness (a surprising mousy-to-radiant turn by Adrienne Clark) steps forth with an earnest Moral, it isn’t tedious, but simply a reassuring sign that the lights are about to come back up.
The following review, The End of the World - on the Nightly Newscast, by Misha Berson, appeared on the Seattle Times Online on Thursday, April 3 and in the Print Edition on Friday, April 4
“And now, reporting live from the existential abyss … ”
You don’t hear those words in “Tragedy, a tragedy,” a recent Will Eno play that meshes the media satire of TV’s “The Daily Show” with the sci-fi scare of “War of the Worlds.” But you might as well.
Eno (also author of the more pretentious “Thom Pain”) may go on a bit long, but in a vein that’s quite funny, and oddly moving. It blends the utter vacuity of typical TV news dispatches, with the metaphysical whammy of environmental apocalypse.
What’s going down at the end of the world as we know it? News at 11!
Though the piece outruns its concept, the Satori Group has chosen well for their Seattle debut. The young fringe troupe moved here recently from Cincinnati, Ohio, and if this is what they’re capable of, they’re very welcome to hang around.
Eno’s premise: One day the sun simply disappears from the sky, an event earnestly but cluelessly covered by a local TV news anchor (played by Alex Matthews) and his field reporters (Lindsey Valitchka, Spike Friedman and Anthony Darnell).
They start out in cheerily pompous mode, covering the story as if it was the opening of a new mall or a highway traffic jam — but with a lot fewer details
“I’ve just received word that we don’t know anything more yet,” is about the level of reportage they muster, while babbling on brightly.
But the hilariously banal news-speak gives way to fear and awe, as reality sinks in: the Earth has been plunged into eternal darkness.
As an addled newsman opines, this may just be the end of “the long, sad, confusing history of everything.”
Smartly staged by Adam Standley and Caitlin Sullivan, the show also incorporates some aptly hazy video, shot live by Adrienne Clark — who also plays a local denizen unrattled by the encroaching existential void.
A big thank you to all who came out to see our (SOLD OUT!) opening night of TRAGEDY: a tragedy. For those of you who didn’t come, you missed a sold out show followed by drinks and revelry and such. Good times all around. I think co-director Adam Standley said it best when he said, “I kinda can’t believe that this play which I’ve had in my head for a year and a half became that show on this night. Awesome.”
So, you missed it? Whoops. But! There is good news! We have more shows!
So come and see the show that someone on my Facebook feed said is “good, and you should see it.”
TRAGEDY: a tragedy, running through April 5th. BUY TICKETS HERE.
Clare Strasser
Whenever I am in the middle of designing a set, that’s exactly where I am. I forget about the end of the process a little bit. I forget about building and painting the set, and about load in. I end up getting lost in the space I am creating onstage, in the relationship between actor and other physical objects onstage.
But then when I approach the end of the process, ie the building and painting part, I rediscover the another reason why I am in theatre: the actual manifestation of the design. The building part of this journey was a little bumpy at times, (I’m not about to go into it here) but now we are to the painting part…my favorite part. 
There is something really satisfying about watching colors mix on a really big canvas. Sure any artist probably gets the same satisfaction as they are creating, but there is something more to scenic painting.
Take the floor I’m painting for example. It has its own story to tell, one that is in service to the greater production, but it needs to stand alone too. Its an old floor, one that has lived through many people traveling in an out of this room. But if you were to look closer, you could see places that are more worn than others, where people have paced up and down, or maybe boards that have been replaced. In a way its telling both the current story of the news team, but is also hinting at the history of the room. Which is kinda cool.
TRAGEDY: a tragedy, a play by Will Eno; March 26th - April 5th
Buy tickets at Brown Paper Tickets Now!
