FLOODESIGN

CM: Yeah. ES: Well, they're a breed apart in terms of action heroes. They have an appetite for this close encounter, and they understand timing in a physical way. Also we use lots of different kinds of equipment. We invent action instruments, and this is a scenario I think that's so apropos for what Anne and Chuck and I are doing. AB: And as I understand it, Elizabeth starts with the design, and then she really starts with what are the obstacles of creating what you want to create, right? ES: Yeah, and what rhythms will emit from the scenarios, or where can you go in space because of these instruments? I mean, we think of them as instruments, but they're pieces of equipment. And each one provides a certain rigorous tempo and physical scenario. And with this we're also trying to figure out how we can hear the actors' words and — I mean, how it goes together, you know? Anne is such a master of that. AB: The actors have body mics, so they are able to speak intimately and be heard above the din. But it has to be visually clear too, so you can see it all. SM: Are you the glue that marries these two elements together? AB: No, I'm one of three elements. I don't think I'm necessarily the glue, although I think my job is to take what Elizabeth has done in terms of her structure, and then arrange our work through, among, and change the timing a little bit — in terms of things that happen physically. ES: But yeah, it could be that they're swinging with no people in there, just your actors, right? AB: Yeah, so in that sense maybe I'm the glue, because I'm maybe the last element, so. ES: I can only imagine how the whole mixture of the three ideas: words and direction and the way words get said and when they get said and when these things drop their stuff. We're all familiar with how things fall based on the viscosity, their own particular adhesion or how they deal with air pressure — what do you call that when things fall at a different rate, not because of their weight, but be- cause of their nature? Styrofoam and gravel don't fall in the same manner. And I think that will be an added set of vocabularies. AB: I mentioned to you before, we found this paper which we used for the piece we did with Ann Hamilton. It's rolled-up little bits of paper; you could hold it in your hand and it's like little tiny pebbles, but thousands of them, and they fall. The actors made a floor of it. SM: So you were telling me a little bit about your process of cribbing from multiple sources. What are the actors doing? CM: Among other things, they're speaking bits of a text. I stole all these pieces of text from plays of mine and got together with Anne and the acting company and arranged them, put them together, threw stuff out. Some of the actors had new stuff to add; her company had done a bunch of my plays, so some of the actors said, "Oh, you know, there was this piece of the text, we could put that here." The collaborative process of reducing a script — I never do that. I hate to do that. I only want to write what I write. And nobody can say, "I like it, I don't like it, you should do this, you should do that." No. I don't like any of that. But this time it's a totally collaborative process. I loved it like crazy. And so the script we have now is just a bunch of random pieces of text, except they're not random because we organized them in chunks titled "Spring," "Summer," "Autumn," "Winter," "Spring." SM: I can't help but think of "Seasons of Love" — that's what's popped into my head now. Elizabeth said something that really struck my attention, about thinking about the obstacles that we create for ourselves. And ANNE BOGART: Yeah, so in that sense maybe I'm the glue, because I'm maybe the last element, so. Photo: Craig Schwartz ELIZABETH STREB: So all of us together is this beautiful idea of square pegs in round holes and square holes with round pegs. It's a gorgeously combative set of aesthetics, I think. Photo: Tom Caravaglia CHARLES MEE: Among other things, they're speaking bits of a text. I stole all these pieces of text from plays of mine and got together with Anne and the acting company and arranged them, put them together, threw stuff out. Photo Provided 25 | PEAKPERFS.ORG

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