Projects
I Should Have a Party for All the Thoughts I Didn’t Say
I Should Have a Party for All the Thoughts I Didn’t Say
Work in progress performance by Samanta Shay with actors from Teatr ZAR and Source Material in collaboration with Pina Bausch Zentrum.
Most of it is scored movement that is understandable without language, and Polish surtitles will be provided for sections of the piece in English.
I Should Have a Party for All the Thoughts I Didn’t Say
Is an original dance-theatre piece about the social awkwardness of grief, inspired by the writing of Anton Chekhov. Structured as a funeral and funeral afterparty, the piece enters into a tragicomic world beyond known logic, asking questions Chekhov posed years before: how do we move forward when an uncertain future presses on a dying past, where emblems of nostalgia are intertwined with the complexities of human suffering? Is connection possible in a world drawn taut by the force of imminent change? Hitting the inflection point between past and future, this piece and is a powerful sum of collective and individual experiences, and a subconscious reaction to the living world of memory.
Just as the writing of Chekhov approached the blurred frontiers of past and future, so does the artistic team. By gathering artists from two significant artistic lineages of performance: current and former artists of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
as well as the Grotowski Institute-based physical theatre company, Teatr ZAR, the performance will be a kaleidoscope of artistic influences, erupting from one medium to the other, refusing to impose a single viewpoint, leaving the door open for the audience to comprehend a myriad of themes.
By collaborating with these artists, we reflect on the lineages of two post-war artists: Jerzy Grotowski, of Poland, and Pina Bausch, of Germany, and the relationship between the two, and how their work resonates today. This project will invoke the cross-generational tensions vitally woven into Chekhov’s text, written at the precipice of change. In content, form, and context, we look our histories, both personal and shared, in the face and see what, if anything, can be salvaged – and what must be left behind. Our production will be built around the vibration of a community caught at the inflection point between an imperfect past and an unknown future.
Directed by Samantha Shay
Co-Created and Performed by Ditte Berkeley, Kamila Klamut, Mertcan Semerci, Anthony Nikolchev, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak, Tess Voelker
Choreography: Emily Castelli, Łukasz Przytarski, Julie Shanahan, Samantha Shay, Ekaterina Shushakova, Julie Anne Stanzak, Tess Voelker, Anthony Nikolchev
Text: Anton Chekhov, Kamila Klamut, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Mertcan Semerci, Julie Shanahan, Julie Anne Stanzak
Set design: Salmah Beydoun
Lighting design: Maciej Mądry
Technical assistant: Jakub Dziedzicki
Costumes: Ana Lena Dresia, Samantha Shay
Sound design & musical dramaturgy: Aslaug Magnusdottir
Vocal training: Ditte Berkeley, Orest Sharak
Rehearsal assistant: Sara Europaeus
Producers: Ornella Salloum, Julie Runge Bendsen
Project coordinator: Jaroslaw Siejkowski
Carpenter: Andrzej Walada
Curtain: Pracownia 17
The piece has undergone many drafts and iterations over time when it began as a student project. Numerous artists have made contributions to its ongoing artistic growth. The artists whose imprint lives ob with tremendous gratitude for their involvement in the project are: Sam Szabo, Sadie Schwolsky, Keenan Reilly, Sandy Levitan, Donna Simone Johnson, James Cowan, Kaiso Hill, Nikhil Pai, Tiara Jackson, Raven Scott, Miles Hartfelder, Nina Caussa-Rius, Jenna May Cass, Annelise Lawson, Stephanie Regina, Jo Ann Endicott, Emily Castelli, Oleg Stepanov, and Łukasz Przytarski.
The work in progress performance and the meeting “Dance Tradycja Transgresja” are carried out as part of the ZAR Theater project. Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund under the “Dance” program implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
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