Tonys Blog

Fornes in Chicago

Written by Tony Adams Monday, 25 January 2010 15:23

As part of my research for curating the festival, I compiled a production history of Fornés in Chicago. Four of her works (Summer in Gossensass, Manual for a Desperate Crossing, Sarita, and Letters From Cuba)  are playing for the first time in Chicago, What of the Night was previously produced here in 2001. Below is every local production of Fornés I could find.

The Reader's Archives and Conducting a Life, were the two best sources I found when looking. If you know any I missed, let me know in the comments. (UPDATE: this list doesn't track college/university productions, which seem to be pretty impossible to track.)

The Successful Life of Three
1968- Baird Hall
1975-The Orphans
1987-Lakeside Players

Promenade (Music by Al Carmines)
1972-Kingston Mines

Dr. Keal
1997-Goodman Theatre

Fefu and Her Friends
1984-The Blind Parrot Company
1990-Arts Alliance

The Danube
1988-Organic Theatre
1993-Links Hall

Mud
1986-Court Theatre
1988-Element Theatre Company
1991-Big Noise Theatre
1992- Piven Theatre at Victory Gardens
1998-Collaboraction
2007-The Hypocrites

The Conduct of Life
1988-Organic Theatre
1994-Pillar Studio
1997-Frump Tucker Theatre Company
2009- Tooth and Nail Ensemble

Lovers and Keepers (Music by Tito Puente and Fernando Rivas)
1988-Blind Parrot

Abingdon Square
1990-Next Theatre
2003-Piven Theatre

What of the Night
2001-Inequity Theatrical Collaboration

Enter the Night
2001-Will Act For Food

UPDATED: Delicia sent a couple over on the facebook that I had missed. Collaboraction's Mud in '98 and Frump Tucker's Conduct in '97. They're added above. Any more I should add?
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"His Feet Are Where?"

Written by Tony Adams Thursday, 03 December 2009 11:48

Opened up this months issue of American Theatre, and Jenn and I both had a Letter to the Editor catch our attention:

"His Feet Are Where?"
I found the cover photo on your Sept. '09 issue most disturbing: The man has his feet on the stats--on the theatre seats! What kind of message are you sending? What kind of audience behavior are you encouraging?

There's an implied symbiotic relationship between actor and audience, where by one performs before the other, who "attends" (and all that that word implies). Such a posture shows disrespect for that relationship and is an insult to those who cherish the theatre.

How reckless and indifferent of your editor to allow this oversight, and how arrogant of Mr. Tarell Alvin McCraney, who, as an emerging "major new voice," should have known better.

The letter is not online, but the photo in question can be found here. (Scroll down to September 2009.)

I myself have been known to put my feet up in the seats. I spend a lot of time in theatres. I'm very comfortable in them. I also believe that the notion that a modern theatre building is a sacred place is complete horseshit.  (What can happen in side the bricks is a different story.)

I think this also intersects with Rebecca's post:

So here’s my question to you: are we trying to put square pegs into round holes? The tradition of theatre is that of a sacred space–and in that space, silence is demanded. For the sake of the performers, and for the sake of fellow audience members. While I do think that it’s important to show respect for others in the audience, I wonder if we are mistaking engagement for rudeness. As a field theatres go out of their way to keep people from enjoying themselves.

I'll never forget seeing Troilus and Cresida at the National and being shushed for having the audacity to laugh with Thersites. Silence in the wake of Culture was demanded. I dunno. If the audience is talking or texting through a performance, it's not their fault a show can't keep their attention.

But what does that say when people freak out about a writer relaxing in an empty theatre by putting up his feet. That people are shushed for laughing at comedic bits. That (some) actors will stop a performance if there is the least bit of distraction while they are working. (Because no one else has distractions at their job.)

Should we trade the notion of sacredness for the sake of being a living thing? Have codified behaviorial instructions taken the place of theatre that demands attention be paid by being breathtaking? What kind of audience do you want? How does your offstage attitude intersect with what is happening onstage?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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The Problem With Keeping On

Written by Tony Adams Monday, 23 November 2009 15:42

Jenn and I had a fight yesterday, all the stress built up and led to the kind of fight normally happy married couples have all the time. Stress builds, it leads to an argument which leads to a bi-annual fight, which leads to talking about what's really bothering us, which leads to six more happy months until the next time we get frustrated with each other. (I'm 32, so I'm hoping we have about 136 more six-month fight-ups.)

But, I wonder what the kids see. If Jenn and I disagree about something, Tony Jr. immediately tries to get us to stop. We have to tell him, it's okay, mommy and daddy are just talking. We just disagree about a play. He gives us a weird look to see if we're telling the truth, then moves on to the next thing he wants to do.

I think back to when I was a kid. I never saw my parents happy unless it was something to do with us kids. With everything going on, do I stop moving long enough for my kids to see that I actually am happy?  That I love their mom. Not in some abstract notion, but in the I can't imagine a day without her kind of way.

Can they see that amid all the frustrations, that I love what I do?

I know that my parents didn't. They worked so we'd have food and a roof over our head. I know the difference. But what happens if I get so caught up in the minutia that my kids don't ever see that?

It's difficult for me to keep it all straight sometimes. Jenn's joked that the past festivals have gone up primarily by my willpower. The festival and the reason behind it are things I'm extraordinarily passionate about it.

I remember the first time I got the sense that anything besides us kids had made my mom happy. I was out west on this backpacking trip/class that my high school and two neighboring schools did. (Not the whole schools, but there were around thirty kids and faculty from three schools.) We stopped in a town and there was a care package waiting for me with some goodies, snack etc, and some mix-tapes to listen to that my mom had copied for me.

I've been thinking of that a lot lately. The cancer's back. She's in chemo again.

At the bottom of that care package was a stack of poems she had written. I was seventeen and had no idea my mom had ever written anything more than a grocery list. She'd been squirreling them away for God knows how long. It was the first time I'd sensed any true joy on her part. Writing made her happy. I was seventeen before I had seen anything make her happy.

If we're so busy keeping on, how can our kids even tell the difference between what we do for them, to keep food on the table, and what we love? How can we tell the difference?

Amongst all the pain in the ass things around us, I have to remember to not gloss over the reason that I do it. When I'm filling out stacks of paper work, or reviewing a grant application, or trying to help directors cast fifty plus roles, I have to remember that I'm not doing it for money. That all the work I do on the festival is my way to connect my mom's dream, what made her happy, with my daughter's potential, what might make her happy. I love what I do, who I do it for, and who I do it with. I hope my kids can see that. And I hope my mom has a chance to see the future festivals and can see that too.
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What's With the Bird?

Written by Tony Adams Thursday, 05 November 2009 14:18

A question I get a lot is (and I'm paraphrasing a little bit): what the hell is a bird doing in your logo?

It's a simple answer, really. The bird is a halcyon (also known as a kingfisher.) Technically, the bird is a Stork-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis capensis) And technically it is no longer classified in the Halcyon genus (but still in the Halcyonidae family,) but who's counting?

The name of our company is taken from the Greek myth of Alcyone and Ceyx who were transformed into halcyons. (Longer version from Ovid here.)

So if you wondered, that's why there's a bird. (Also why the name of our festival is Alcyone.) Add a comment