Cosmic Certainty

We close our Senior Emphasis show, Cosmic Certainty, at BoCo today, after a very short week-long run. I'm very proud of my students: they wrote all the material themselves, and they put their heart and souls into the project.

Here are my program notes, which describe our process a little bit:

"Welcome!

The theatre piece you are about to see did not exist a few months ago.
It was created by the people performing it, and the text, with a few exceptions, was written by the actors. It is brand new!

Isn’t that exciting?

We began working together in September,
talking and collectively dreaming about what kind of an event we would like to make together.
What questions would we try to answer?
How would it be structured?
What person or place or event could anchor us, so as not to fly away in a million directions?
We found a wonderful structure that inspired us all:
The Zodiac
A twelve-tiered, circular structure that encompassed fire, air, earth and water.
We began researching the different zodiac signs, creating a physical vocabulary for each. Characters and scenarios and speeches and ideas and conversation and improvisations began to form.
Within this structure we tried to answer a question:

Do we make our own destiny,
or is our fate written in the stars?

Our anchor emerged slowly from a seemingly mundane location:
A Post Office
where messages are both sent and received
and connections are both made and broken.

A world of paper and plastic and boxes and bubble wrap and letters.

A place in which almost no identity or personality exists, but where great possibilities await.

It takes enormous bravery to create and perform your own work. It also takes exceptional trust and generosity for a group of actors to form such a connected ensemble.

It has been inspiring to work with this talented group of actors.

Enjoy the show!

John Kuntz

SEE Funnyhouse of a Negro at Brandeis!!!!

It seems that some of the best theatre I've ever seen is at schools and Universities. Robert Woodruff's Pheadra and Marcus Stern's production of hamletmachine recently with the ART Institute. Now my good friend David Gammons has directed Adrienne Kennedy's not oft-produced classic "Funnyhouse of a Negro", which I had the good fortune to see today at Brandeis University. It was absolutely stunning! They only have two performances left, so sorry for the late notice, but if you are free, you should really check it out!

Here's all the info!

FUNNYHOUSE OF A NEGRO
By Adrienne Kennedy
Directed by David R. Gammons
Choreography by Susan Dibble
Scenic Design by Carlos Aguilar
Lighting Design by Ben Williams
Costume Design by Lisa Polito
Sound Design by David Wilson
Friday, February 12 at 8:00
Saturday, February 13 at 2:00 & 8:00
Sunday, February 14 at 2:00
http://www.brandeis.edu/arts/btc/0910season/Funnyhouse.html
http://www.davidrgammons.com/