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In our continuing journey to present new work in new ways for new audiences, The Satori Group is pleased to host the arts collective whizARTbang.
whizARTbang! Vol.3
Sat. Sept. 11th, 2010
6:30PM Dinner @ Cafe Paloma (93 Yesler Way)
8:15PM Show/Gallery @ the Satori Loft (619 Western Ave.)
$5 Suggested Donation**
RSVP info@satori-group.com to attend.September’s gathering features a sampling of work from: Dance, Sketch Comedy, Experimental Theatre, and Visual Art.
Featured Artists include:
Gabrielle Schutz
Dana Raike
Killer Donut
Ubiquitous They
Boom!
Nikolai Lesnikov
Mark Brill*The dinner portion is not free, but we work out deals with our culinary artists so that it’s always affordable.
**As part of whizARTbang!’s mission, all proceeds from the event go directly to supporting this months artists. We ask you to donate what you think the event was worth. Help us foster a community of well fed (physically and metaphysically) artists of all sorts.
About whizARTbang!
Where ideas and visions collide…
Dinner.
Gallery.
Show.
Party.Each month, whizARTbang hosts an intimate gathering featuring culinary art, visual art, live performance, and libations. They are intent on connecting, collaborating, and supporting each other in any way they can.
Video
From July 3rd, 2010. Video by Elliot Trotter. From the show portion of the first event.
THE SATORI GROUP is teaming up with the New York City-based ensemble presenting deCOMPOSITION under the leadership of Jess K Smith and Melissa D Brown to offer a ONE DAY WORKSHOP for teachers, students, writers, performers, designers, directors, dramaturgs, and artists interested in practical tools for generating and developing new work with an ensemble. Using hands-on techniques both ensembles employ in the rehearsal room, you will have the opportunity to both learn and practice ways of working with an ensemble to create new material, refine text, and explode a concept. These are tools that can help students use their full imagination to embody and explore an idea, and to open up the many ways to collaborate as an artist in the room while creating new theatre. In addition, participants will join us for the evening performance of deCOMPOSITION, a piece that was devised by the company under the guidance of Anne Bogart.
Saturday, August 28
1pm-6pm with 8pm performance of deCOMPOSITION
Erickson Theatre
1524 Harvard Avenue, Seattle WA
$20 (includes your ticket to deCOMPOSITION), limited capacity
email decompworkshop@gmail.com with questions and reserve your space now at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/122370
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.
In our continuing journey to present new work in new ways for new audiences, The Satori Group is pleased to host the arts collective whizARTbang.
whizARTbang! Vol.3
Sat. Sept. 11th, 2010
6:30PM Dinner @ TBA
8:15PM Show/Gallery @ the Satori Loft (619 Western Ave.)
Donations Encouraged!**
RSVP info@satori-group.com to attend.September’s gathering features a sampling of work from: Dance, Sketch Comedy, Experimental Theatre, and Visual Art.
Featured Artists include:
Gabrielle Schutz
Dana Raike
Killer Donut
Ubiquitous They
Boom!
Nikolai Lesnikov
Mark Brill*The dinner portion is not free, but we work out deals with our culinary artists so that it’s always affordable.
**As part of whizARTbang!’s mission, all proceeds from the event go directly to supporting this months artists. We ask you to donate what you think the event was worth. Help us foster a community of well fed (physically and metaphysically) artists of all sorts.
About whizARTbang!
Where ideas and visions collide…
Dinner.
Gallery.
Show.
Party.Each month, whizARTbang hosts an intimate gathering featuring culinary art, visual art, live performance, and libations. They are intent on connecting, collaborating, and supporting each other in any way they can.
Video
From July 3rd, 2010. Video by Elliot Trotter. From the show portion of the first event.
The following excerpts come from the article, …How the Satori Group Makes Awesome Theatre, by Jeremy M. Baker, which originally appeared in the SunBreak.com on Saturday Nov. 21, 2009.
…Their success lies in the eleven core members’ unusual devotion not only to the process of creating their work, but to the group itself, to the point of relocating themselves to Seattle to set up shop…
…Once here, the company began an aggressive workshopping and training process. When not producing a show, the company manages to aggressively maintain a three-part weekly process including training, a laboratory workshop, and the development of their main presentations, which they refer to as their “Body of Work.” Artifacts is the first show in this season’s Body, to be followed by an original adaptation of George Saunder’s short-story “Winky” (from the collection Pastoralia), and closing out with a new staging of Complicite Theatre’s The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol, as well as presenting an experimental work as part of On the Boards’ Northwest New Works Festival in June 2010.
Satori’s process for bringing a show to the stage is a long undertaking. Standley offhandedly mentioned that the company had workshopped out at least a half-dozen shows to near completion before staging Eno’s Tragedy, none of which have yet seen the light of day, save for the odd (and unpromoted) workshop performance. One of those was an original interpretation of Peter Pan that, as Lazarow told me, the company performed as a work-in-progress both around the Seattle Center campus as well as on the waterfront, up and down the Harbor Steps, to the mystification and excitement of both passersby and sleeping homeless people…
…After the show was cast, the script was actually put aside. The first round of workshops fell into the traditional category, with the company relying on Meisner-based exercises to explore the relationships and conflicts between characters. At the same time, they began exploring design concepts as related to performance. One of the play’s central themes is the idea of legacy, so the company developed another piece as an exercise that they took to a festival at Smoke Farm, in which they explored the idea in a performance for audiences who could only experience the work through sound and feel…
…“We think that the theatre thing needs a turn,” Adam Standley told me over our beers, treading, as most company members do, the fine line between ambition and humility. “Not that we can provide it—we just want to be there when it happens. Because we’re ready for that kind of thing. Like, our mentors have said that television killed radio. But it didn’t kill it, it made it grow into its essential self. And so film, people have obviously said it killed theatre…well, I’m firmly in the belief that it’s still evolving into its essential self.”…
Open Training w/Satori
Sunday Aug. 1st 10AM-4PM
The Satori Loft (619 Western Ave. 4th Floor N.)
RSVP Training Manager Adrienne Clark (adrienne@satori-group.com) to attend.The Satori Group has trained consistently as an ensemble since their inception. Are you interested in finding out what that means? Join The Satori Group as we explore a variety of approaches to developing performance, performer, and generative ensemble work.
All levels of participation/experience are welcome and encouraged.
There will be an hour break for lunch. The morning session will focus on Suzuki and the afternoon session will focus on an exploration of generative ensemble work.
Please come ready to move.
