“They Were Taking Care of Each Other”: Anna Maria Luera Reflects on the Quixote Nuevo Story Circle

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Ray Stubblefield-Tave

[Image Description: a collage of 9 photos, in a 3 by 3 grid. Each photo shows close up shots of story circle participants, talking animatedly, listening, or laughing.]
“Someone paid for you to be here.” -Joy DeGruy

In March of 2018, I was asked to facilitate a story circle with Latinx members of our community: an infinity circle, with just us. Octavio Solis, a long-time friend, was in the process of writing the play Quixote Nuevo.

As a facilitator, I try to do two things: hold a space that is safe enough for folks to be in depth of themselves and their community, and keep it moving to create a story in the space with a beginning, middle, and end. I think deeply about the beginning and the ending. The middle, now that I’m thinking about it, isn’t really up to me.

When walking into the Cal Shakes rehearsal space, the cast was wrapping up a read-through. I hugged Octavio and he said, “this play is cast with all-Spanish speaking Latino/a actors.” I said “that’s amazing” because it is. He was still writing the play. We went over the questions for the story circle and changed some based on what he was exploring.

As people began to arrive, some actors stayed, as well as Octavio and the director, KJ Sanchez. People began to filter in of different ages. It was an intergenerational space. My 10-year old son was doing homework on the side. Throughout the evening he would ask me questions, tell me he’s done with his reading and ask if he could get on the Ipad. It’s the little things I remember. The Spanish interpreter, Sylvia, and I met. We decided she would sit with the Spanish speakers and I would pause to make sure the facilitation was clear. I remember her being kind and grounded, kind of like someone I already knew. The chairs were set in a large circle for 30 to 40 people.

[Image Description: A group of about 30 people, sitting in a large white room with windows and high ceilings. They are seated in 6 circles on green chairs, and are engaged in conversation.]

The beginning: I introduced myself and Sylvia. Cal Shakes is doing a play called Quixote Nuevo and we are here to have a conversation around love, loss, memory, and how we take care of our elders.

[Image Description: A line of 7 people seated and facing the camera. Two women, Anna and Sylvia, are standing in front of the line of chairs and talking. Anna, on the left, has dark brown, curly hair and is wearing a purple top and black pants. Sylvia, on the right, has short grey hair and is wearing a bright purple ankle length dress.]

I requested two agreements:

Listening

Respect and take care of yourself, your struggle, your joy and your story.

[Image Description: A large white post-it note that has community agreements written. It reads: “What we need: Listening; Respect and take care of yourself, your struggle, your joy and your story. Lo que neccesitamos: Eschuchar; Respetarse y cuidarse a sí mismola, su luche, su alegría y su historia.”]

I asked for everyone to get into groups of 5 or 6 and build mini circles. There’s a structure in story facilitation: a Check In, sometimes meditation, the main sharing, and a Check Out. I asked the groups to Check In with My name is … and I come from… I got here by way of… The room was filled with stories of origin, sometimes down the street or crossing of borders, and the names of parents and grandparents and great grandparents. I remember hearing different countries, states, cities, and stories of where we come from. They told stories in Spanish, English, or English mixed with Spanish. I was at a talk with Joy DeGruy about a month before and when we sat down, the first thing she said is, “someone paid for you to be here.” That’s when I sat up and paid very close attention. It’s an honoring and a grounding to call out the names of our ancestors in circle.

[Image Description: Anna Maria Luera stands facing away from the camera, and writes on a large white post-it note on the wall. The post-it reads: “Our Story: bringing gifts to Mexico; Abuelita; Making food without a recipe.”]

I originally thought they could switch groups to mix it up with different folks. I began walking around and noticed how quickly and deeply folks connected with one another, how open they were with each other. So I said, “I originally thought people could switch groups, but it feels like you all are connecting and want to stay in your own groups.” There was an agreement to stay. I thought 6 degrees of separation. In the Bay, I think there’s only 3 degrees or no degrees at all.

[Image Description: groups of about 6 people sit in green chairs in small circles spread throughout a room with white floors and large windows with sunlight coming through. There are 5 groups pictured, and people are talking and listening to each other.]

We did a meditation focusing on an elder or ancestor in our life: Who is an elder or ancestor in your life, what do they look like, who are they, think of a memory of them, what are they wearing, think about their hands, what do their hands look like? It’s interesting to think of the work we do and how our hands move to do that work. Sometimes we remember the tiniest things. Sometimes those tiniest things mean the most. What we carry with us. Then they shared. I watched the listeners. There was a stillness in some of the groups, respect and a kindness.

[Image Description: A group of about of about 6 people in focus are seated. Everyone holds one hand over their heart and the other hand over their stomach. They all face off towards their right-hand side.]

The next question was think of a time you cared for someone or someone cared for you. I walked around and kneeled next to chairs to listen. In some families it’s ingrained that we take care of each other. We do what we must for each other and sometimes the caring for is difficult because sometimes it’s illness. Sometimes it’s grief. Sometimes it’s just plain old hard times. Sometimes generational trauma creates struggle in relationships. Sometimes we switch places with the people who changed our diapers and taught us how to ride our bikes and we become the caretaker because we must and we love them. People we love who struggle, get sick and the breakdown of bodies is sometimes hard to watch, hard to care for, and hard to talk about. So some folks cried, some laughed, some analyzed, and they cared for each other. I’m still in gratitude for the care that folks showed while holding circle for people that they met maybe one hour before, and they were all beautiful. And I got to witness it. My job was simple; ask questions, listen, make some requests, hold the group, and make sure everyone was breathing. They were taking care of each other.

Other questions included, for elders in the room:

What has been one of the best things you’ve discovered about being seniors?
What is one of the hardest things?
What do you think you have lost as a result of aging?

For younger folks in the room:

What do you remember most fondly about the elders in your family/families?
And for elders, too: What do you remember most fondly about the seniors in your lives?

The elders chatted about having each other and how important they are to each other. I couldn’t hear all the conversations, and wish I did.

[Image Description: a group of 3 elders sits and talks with Sylvia. One man in focus is wearing khaki pants, a red long-sleeve shirt with a grey vest over it, and a black baseball cap. His arms rest on a black cane.]

Finally we entered our last full circle. I asked for folks to share in a big group any connections to stories, or just anything they needed to share. A man shared that he and his wife came from Mexico. Neither of them could remember or find anyone in their families. So they started creating a wall of pictures of their children and grandchildren. A creation for their family of remembering. I was reminded then that we are doing theatre. We are remembering and re-remembering and telling it the way we see it and telling the truth and building and creating and then sharing. I think that’s the part I take with me and create inquiry in my mind. What do we want our world to be like, look and feel like, and how do we create it? Art? Liberation?

I have to be honest, when asked to write this blog I couldn’t remember what I changed that evening in the facilitation. I couldn’t remember if I got to all the questions I planned to ask. That’s not the part I remember. I remember the stillness and pieces of stories. I remember blood and my friend, who I consider my brother, sitting with watery eyes. I remember laughter and an elder looking so elegant and wearing heels. I remember thinking life goals. I remember a woman speaking in English and switching into Spanish so beautifully the way my family would when I was growing up at my Nana’s. I remember a young man saying we need this and we don’t do this enough and stories that reminded me of my brother-in-law who passed from cancer and the week I spent with him before he died. I remember the thank yous and the gratitude people showed to each other near the end of the evening. I also remember how everyone did a surprise, joyful clap when we introduced the writer, director, and actors in the room. That is one thing I knew was going to happen. I remember thinking, when we introduce the folks from the play, they’ll be excited to see the show, something to look forward to. That’s how we ended it.

[Image Description: Anna Maria Luera looking directly into the camera. She has brown curly hair, and is wearing a red top, a black long sleeve cardigan and red lipstick. She is smiling widely and holds a crystal pendant she is wearing towards the camera.]

Anna Maria Luera is a mother, partner, theatre artist and youth worker. She is a familia company member with Campo Santo Theatre. Currently, she is the Senior Program Manager at Destiny Arts. Anna is the co-creator of the Rysing Womyn’s project, a theatre project that uses ritual theatre, poetry, storytelling and political education to tell stories of young women of color. She was a performing artist with the Love Balm for my SpiritChild Project, a theatre of testimony workshop series and performance for and about mothers who have lost children to systemic violence. Anna believes that when we are actively engaged in our own creative growth and vision for the world, we not only positively transform and heal ourselves, but our communities as well.

All photos (except for Anna Maria Luera’s headshot) taken by L. Herrada-Rios.

Of Forests and Metal: an Interview with Composer Byron Au Yong

Posted on September 13, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

Dramaturg Philippa Kelly chats with composer Byron Au Yong, composer for The War of the Roses. Get tickets to the final performances here!

Byron at rehearsal; photo by den.

Philippa Kelly: Can you tell us a little about your background—something different from resume info? Early life?

Byron Au Yong: My elementary school was inside a forest. Classmates and I made shelters from gigantic fallen tree boughs. The best part of the year was singing after a storm surrounded by the trees and structures we built. I read recently that when trees feel comfortable, they will comfort you. I know that when trees feel powerful, they impart power. Last June, I was back in the Pacific Northwest walking in an old-growth forest. I asked the trees if they knew of other forests being clear cut, then burned. They said that their roots could feel the pain. They added that as we protect them, they protect us. My music connects with nature. It’s thrilling to work at Cal Shakes, where even the distant cows contribute their mooing to the performance.

PK: In terms of composing, who inspires you and which scores do you love?

BAY: I’m attracted to music which is dangerous. When J.S. Bach died, he was less famous than his sons. A critic called his work “contrapuntal caterwauling.” Nowadays, this accusation would be a compliment. Collaborating with theater artists also gives me energy, as dramatic solutions have a way of reaching the heart.

PK: I love that thought! Can you share some insight as to how you compose?
How do things come to you?

BAY: The music for The War of the Roses is grounded in Viking aesthetics. Shakespeare was influenced by Old Norse culture. Check out Amleth, the precursor to Hamlet. Moreover, Queen Margaret’s agency is similar to how Viking women held power, from managing their husbands to fighting in battles. Two contemporary musicians I adore include Norwegian metal folk composer/musician Einar Selvik and Faroese singer-songwriter Eivør Pálsdóttir. I was also influenced by 13th century French polyphony, known as the Ars Nova, and the neo-folk metal band Heilung from Denmark, Germany, and Norway. For this production, I got to work with actor/composer/musician Josh Pollack. Josh creates an astounding array of sounds using the electric guitar with effects pedals. These sounds range from low rumbles to whirring orbits to Viking metal riffs. Every project requires a tailored working process. Outside sources inform musical ideas and sketches. Rehearsals provide crucial time to determine which sonic moments become part of the show.

Effects pedals operated by Josh Pollock

For example, Aysan Celik has a vocal solo in the show that we call “Queen Margaret’s Battle Song.” I initially set 27 lines of text. It felt clunky and was way too long, so I simplified the song to allow Aysan’s powerful voice to resonate.

PK: What led you to Cal Shakes and us to you?

BAY: Director Eric Ting asked,”Hey, you wanna compose music for The War of the Roses?” I responded, “The War of the What?” Not knowing what something is, is always a good sign. Learning with this wonderful team at Cal Shakes shows what theater can do best: bring people together to create moments of beauty and pain that move us towards a deeper understanding of who we are and how we can affect change.

PK: I feel similarly—that in making art we wrestle with ourselves and with our capacity to understand the world in new and surprising ways. My husband (composer Paul Dresher) feels that if he weren’t a composer he would be one or more of three things: an attorney, a vegetable-grower, or a carpenter/handy-person. If you weren’t a composer, what would you be?

BAY: I would be a tree…western red cedar or mountain hemlock…definitely not a rose bush.

Introducing Awele: Assistant Dramaturg, The War of the Roses

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

Interview by Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg

Awele Makeba’s very being illuminates a room. She glows with humane warmth and light. Awele is a professional actor and storyteller, and a drama teacher at Skyline High in Oakland. Almost all of Skyline’s students are bused up the hill from the Oakland flats to a school that overlooks the San Francisco Bay and the glittering cities below. Awele often digs into her own pocket for change to buy her students tickets to see professional theater, and sometimes needs to help out with supplies, food, and transportation—challenges that don’t face middle-class families in the Orinda Hills nearby. Awele also gives her students inspiration and skills to perform great theater—these kids shine! They’ve performed in theaters and festivals around the Bay Area as well as at the High School Theatre Fest in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2017. Their light is ignited and sustained by the dedication of a great teacher.

Awele also gifts her talents to Cal Shakes. This summer, we partnered with Awele and the Oakland Unified School District so she could join us on an externship, which allows her to observe dramaturgy, production, and directing. She spends what time her school duties permit her with us in production: and on school days, she does her own “homework” after school is out, working on research on a shared google doc that helps us in the rehearsal hall. Here she speaks with dramaturg Philippa Kelly.

Philippa Kelly: First off, Awele, where does your passion come from?

Awele Makeba: I began as a four year-old dancing and continued in ballet, had piano lessons at 12, adding tapdance and modern dance in high school, and then was accepted into a conservatory of theater arts. So I’ve always been immersed in music and dance and theater. It wasn’t until high school that I experienced theater as an actual class. And it helped shape my belief in what theater can do, how it can change lives. For real. And how storytelling on stage can be a transformational experience. I was invited to Russia before the walls came down—a five city tour over three weeks—as a storyteller performing in schools, pioneer centers, museums.

PK: You’ve done some amazing productions with your students, including the award-winning Prospect High: Brooklyn by Robert Daniel Sullivan. What is it like to have students in the audience watching YOU on stage?

AM: Having students in the audience is a pretty awesome experience. The first time this happened was my first year at Skyline I performed in a play xtigone, by Nambi E. Kelley, which was a hip hop adaptation of Antigone. I bussed the students over to the theater, and no one knew I was actually performing in the play. I came out on stage and I could hear students in the audience saying “Oh My God, Miss Awele‘s in the play! Miss Awele‘s in the play!” They were so excited. And this gave them the belief that they could be on stage too. They stayed for the talkback, and, because they’d studied the play, they were able to give wonderful jewels of feedback. I love to help my students get to performances, and sometimes this entails getting together $500-$700 to charter a bus or to purchase BART tickets for my students! But I think it’s so important for my students to go to the theater and see people who look like them and speak like them. This is a great gift that they get at Cal Shakes through its student matinee program that sponsors all my students. I will never forget when they saw Othello directed by Eric Ting. It was a transformative experience for them, and they received a stunning gift from Clive and his team of a pre-post show engagement with superb teaching artists.

PK: what appeals to you about dramaturgy?

AM: Before I knew the terms, “Dramaturg” and “Dramaturgy,” I had always been a dramaturg of sorts but just didn’t know it. I have always been a lay historian and a lover of it, because my father brought it into my life. I saw that history is not always accurate. I had my father, and other people in my life, who helped me to see that in studying history and challenging master narratives, we can be change agents in society. Being able to help students to see beyond and behind master narratives and to be able to do my research on this—what a gift. My research for my Master’s thesis was focused on Claudette Colvin and Mary Louise Smith—two young teens who were arrested before Rosa Parks’ case. There was already an ordinance in place that if there was a spare seat elsewhere in the bus, a person of color did not have to move. So in a sense the mythology behind Rosa Parks’ case presents an exhausted working woman who could barely stand on her feet, but behind this is a flagrant denial of an ordinance was a denial of a social movement of people, change agents who had been taking action against segregation, a system of structural racism, sanctioned by the government, and the mere fact that Ms. Parks very much like Fannie Lou Hamer, was sick and tired of being tired. These women spurred a boycott of the busses, many of them walking to work for 361 days to make the point and force the bus system to change the rules if they wanted to stay in business. So that was the issue that ignited my Master’s thesis and I made a performance piece about it.

PK: When finances look appalling, things look grim, what keeps you shining?

AM: What keeps me shining? Knowing that the power of storytelling on stage is huge. I believe through and through in the power of storytelling, and I love the thought of times when people would sit around a campfire and tell stories. I draw on this model in my classroom (though of course without throwing logs on fires.) Bringing in music and lighting when we can afford it is wonderful, often through the generosity of colleagues. I took my students to perform in Scotland at the Festival two years ago. We still have $15,000 to raise, and have put up a go fund me campaign, which people have been donating to. And I’m hoping that with my Go Fund Me campaign, match my $200, if 15 people contributed $200 and invited 4 friends to contribute with them, this would help us tremendously.

Ask Philippa: The War of the Roses edition

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

by Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg

Have a question for Philippa? Email pkelly@calshakes.org, or comment below!

The Henry VI and Richard III plays marked the young Shakespeare’s creation of a national history that spanned the rules of Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III. Shakespeare has Henry VI’s infancy mark the beginning of the War of the Roses—the rivalries between England’s bickering nobles in the power vacuum created by the death of a powerful king (Henry V) and the reign of an infant (Henry VI). We see Shakespeare’s geographical scope contract in the course of the tetralogy—from the looming rivalry with France, we move inward to the bickering within one ruling family, the Plantagenets (Yorkists v. Lancastrians), and then inward again to the corrosion of the York family by Richard Gloucester of York, who clambers up a power vacuum, destroying everyone in his path—even his own brother, nephew and wife—to become Richard III.

Dr. Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, is also a professor and author. Her 2010 book, The King and I, a meditation on Australian culture through the lens of King Lear, garnered international praise in its very personal examination of themes of abandonment, loss, and humor).

What happens? The War of the Roses Synopsis

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

We’re about to embark on the most epic Shakespearean undertaking in Cal Shakes history, including presenting the Henry VI trilogy for the first time ever! Many of us are familiar with the title character of Richard III (even if just from the headlines a few years ago after his body was finally found under a carpark), but seeing the Henry VI trilogy leading up to Richard’s terrible reign gives us a unique opportunity to watch the making of a monster as well as his downfall.

What combination of infighting and political turmoil brought us here?

Henry VI

Part one: Affairs Abroad

Temple Garden—in the power vacuum created by the death of King Henry V and the imminent crowning of his infant son, the ruling Plantagenet family is torn in two. Half support the Lancaster faction (the red rose); the others support the York faction (the white rose).

Meanwhile, in France, the French forces led by Joan of Arc have risen up in rebellion against the English armies.

The baby Henry is crowned King Henry VI. Time passes.

In the midst of growing conflict within England, Henry—now a young man—seeks peace and amity. He restores Richard Plantagenet to the title of Duke of York.

Meanwhile, Margaret of Anjou is captured in France by Suffolk, who intends to present her to his king as a royal bride. King Henry accepts Margaret as his Queen. Many (including Henry’s uncle Gloucester, Lord Protector of the young king) are unhappy with the match.

The fractious Lancasters maneuver to strip Gloucester of his position, accusing his wife of witchcraft and himself of treason. While awaiting trial, Gloucester is murdered. Henry, heart-broken, moves to exile Suffolk, whom he believes to be responsible for Gloucester’s death. Queen Margaret convinces Henry to relent. York uses this moment of regal instability to declare his claim to the crown.

Across the channel in France, Joan of Arc is executed by fire. As civil war breaks out in England, Margaret gives birth to Ned, Prince of Wales.

Part two: The Battle Between

After the first battle of St Albans, the Yorks are now in control of England. The Duke of York threatens to take the throne. Henry cuts a deal to keep the crown, agreeing to relinquish it to the Yorks upon his death. Margaret—appalled that their son has been thus disinherited—leads the Lancaster forces against the unsuspecting Yorks and wins. In the ensuing battle, Rutland, youngest son of York, is killed. Margaret taunts the captured Duke of York, placing a paper crown upon his head and ordering his execution.

The remaining sons of York—Edward, Richard, and George—retaliate. During the battle, King Henry watches from a place of exile in a field and wonders what and who he is without his crown. He observes a father who has unknowingly killed his son, and a son who has unknowingly killed his father. As the tide turns for the Yorks, Suffolk is killed, Margaret flees to France with her son, and Edward, oldest son of York, is crowned King Edward IV.

Warwick, the Kingmaker, goes to France to secure the hand of King Louis XVI’s sister for King Edward. Meanwhile, back home, King Edward chooses to marry an English widow, Lady Elizabeth Grey. Furious at this betrayal and humiliation, Warwick switches sides, declaring his support for Queen Margaret and Prince Ned. Henry is captured and taken to the Tower. Richard Gloucester begins to plot.

Warwick and Queen Margaret lead the French forces to England where they confront King Edward’s armies and are ultimately defeated. Warwick is killed. Prince Ned is killed. Queen Margaret is exiled. Richard travels to the Tower and there assassinates King Henry.

Richard III

Part three: The War Within

Richard Gloucester begins his bloody journey to the throne of England. Those ahead of Richard in the line of succession include his brothers George, Duke of Clarence and King Edward; and Edward’s young sons, Prince Edward and Prince Richard.

Queen Margaret appears, now aged, cursing all who have had a hand in her family’s demise. Meanwhile, Richard has arranged for his brother Clarence to be killed in prison. King Edward, ill after years of sexual indulgence, mourns Clarence’s death.

Although he has killed both King Henry and his son Ned, Richard manages to seduce Lady Anne, Ned’s young widow.

King Edward IV dies. Richard is made Lord Protector and guardian to Edward’s two sons. He sends the princes to the tower, supposedly to keep them safe until prince Edward can be crowned. Richard promises Buckingham rewards in exchange for his aid in seizing the crown. The two maneuver to eliminate all opposition.

Part Four: Ghosts

Richard is crowned King Richard III.

King Richard orders Buckingham to kill the princes in the tower, but Buckingham falters. Richard then turns to Tyrell to murder them instead.

To further secure his crown, Richard decides to kill his wife Anne and to quickly marry his niece Elizabeth, the dead King Edward’s daughter, before the arrival of Richmond, who is rumored to be coming from Wales (“the Western coast”) to marry young Elizabeth himself and claim the crown.

As King Richard ventures forth to confront Richmond’s and Buckingham’s forces, he is confronted by Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of York, his mother—who have been taught by the Old Queen Margaret how to replace their laments with curses that they lay on Richard.

Richard attempts to convince Queen Elizabeth to secure her daughter’s hand in marriage.

Richard’s paranoia grows as the ghosts of those whom he has killed come to haunt him. Richard goes to battle—first with himself in the middle of the night (“Is there a murderer here?”)—and the following day with Richmond.

On the field of battle, Richmond fulfills an earlier prophecy, killing Richard and taking the crown. The newly crowned Henry begins the Tudor line which continued through Shakespeare’s time, ending with the death of Elizabeth I.

The War of the Roses plays from August 23 through September 15. Get tickets here!
Click here to read more blog posts about our production of The War of the Roses.

Artist Spotlight: Interview with Lana Russell, The War of the Roses assistant director

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

Philippa Kelly: I notice that your middle name is Rosalind. Is that a conscious Shakespearean choice on your parents’ part?

Lana Russell: No, it is actually my family name going back through 4 generations—I wish I could have Shakespeare take credit for it!

PK: It’s great to have you here, with your intimate knowledge of the tetralogy. Can you tell me a little about that?

LR: I’ve worked on these plays twice, the first time in grad school [The New School in New York, with 4 people, the cast composed of 3 men and 1 woman] and the second in a new adaptation made for the company I’ve just started called the regroup (this production being 4 women and 1 man). So I’ve seen Richard played by a very tall white man, and also by a 5 foot-tall black woman. We did explore Richard’s disability in different ways, for example, on one half of the body, but truly I love Eric’s vision that the disability is about otherness, however that manifests.

My deep love for examining Richard III comes from his being the first Shakespearean character I discovered in middle school. I was flipping through a Shakespeare Complete Works on my own and discovered the longest soliloquy in all of Shakespeare (the famous 2nd last line being, “Can I do all of this and cannot get a crown?”) and I learned it. I felt, even at that age, that I had an incredible ambition but not yet a voice to express it. Then I delivered and delivered that monologue over the years every time I auditioned. The reason that this particular monologue still really holds true for me is that in everything I do, I’m interested in seeking out why the most evil people do the things they do, and how and why they are still human.

By the way, people thought I was absolutely insane giving this psychopathic monologue, so occasionally I would switch to giving a Margaret monologue from Richard III… And truly, I’ve spent so much time on Richard that the thing I’m most excited about is diving deeper into Margaret’s story. I was really thrilled and am inspired by is Eric’s commitment to keeping the women’s voices and storylines in this play so dynamic and vivid.

PK: Oh yes, a lovely curse from Margaret—works every time. But actually it’s intriguing that Shakespeare really understood and played with the limitations of women in his time – he puts Margaret on the battlefield and then, when she’s taken off it, he has her curse—which is one of the “worst” (or most socially challenging) things a woman in his time could do besides speaking at length at all. BTW, speaking of women speaking, our audiences will want to know how you landed with us for this production.

LR: I thought this was the most exciting season, so (I was living in New York at the time) I got in touch with Eric to tell him so. I contacted a few of my friends who know Eric (Octavio Solis being one), and they made an introduction.

PK: …and the rest is history! Well, to be more accurate, a history play.

LR And being born and raised in the Bay Area, this is a fabulous homecoming. I’m staying with my parents, and my mom tried to make lunch for me and I did not allow it…

PK: Well, Queen Margaret would understand the impulse.

LR: But she would never make it herself.

The War of the Roses plays through September 15. Get tickets here!

Lana is a director, producer, teacher, activist and founder of the [re]group. She has developed plays at The Lark, Primary Stages, New Georges and Naked Angels. She is a producer and resident director for Goldfish Memory Productions. She is lead teaching artist with The Other Side which is a global drama exchange organization for young women. She was a producing fellow at Naked Angels and Cape Cod Theatre Project and the Literary Associate at Primary Stages. Member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. MFA, Directing New School. Lanarrussell.com.

More about Lana’s company, the [re]group: The [re]group is an artistic collective and social impact organization dedicated to the empowerment of public spirit and communal healing. Our mission is to provide art that is innovative, accessible and audience-driven. The adaptation of Henry VI 3 and III was the company’s first production, called “[re]consider,” which focused on the privilege, power and opportunity of choice: making the audience complicit in the question: is free will really free?

The [re]group toured the [re]consider adaptation to both traditional and non-traditional theatre spaces alike. The most meaningful performance was for veteran transition home, Samaritan Village, in midtown Manhattan. With only chalk, a chalkboard, three flashlights, five actors, and the most important prop, snacks, we joined their weekly meeting to share our performance and stay for questions, conversation and ideas about future action. It was the most powerful theatrical and human experience of my life. Our audience cheered out loud, cried, chanted. Their spirit filled the room and there was no gap between audience and actor, a truly communal experience.

Form Following Function: Costumes in The War of the Roses

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

Costume designer Anna R. Oliver has designed the sumptuous costume pieces for our epic War of the Roses. Our 14 actors play over 30 characters and their costumes and characters span over 65 years!

Anna says,”I wanted form to follow function: we have a very small number of people playing a very large number of roles in a compressed amount of time. So we needed to create a rhythm that we could maintain through the production; we did not want actors saying, ‘excuse me’, then exit…(we wait)… and then return in a new costume. There had to be a fluidity as well as a character defining clarity to the ways the clothes were designed and used, with the fewest number of pieces generating the largest number of looks.”

“Another function of the design was to bridge a play from the mid- to late 1400s—the end of the middle ages—and our current time. So the form the clothes took needed to function as a visual bridge between these worlds. I looked for silhouettes that could mirror one another and then played with details: the women’s clothes are based in both a medieval silhouette and our current “fit/flare” shape with athletic sleeve details and modern fabrics. The men’s battle garb was the real catalyst for the the search for links between the past and present as we have people fighting with swords in a modern context.”

Anna continues, “In terms of function, the way one arms oneself for combat with a sword is completely different from how we fight now. Tomorrow, a guy can walk into an office in DC wearing his shorts and tennis shoes and take out a village halfway around the world with a drone. The whole technology of warfare has been about the maximizing of distance and lethality. With the safety of that distance, the function of how a person arms themselves changes. The way one protected one’s body for hand-to-hand combat with a sword is a very different from the drone operator in D.C. To that end, I found contemporary tactical gear that mirrored the late medieval shoulder silhouette and added the anachronism of breast plates. In our production of The War of the Roses, we are trying to fold this more intimate form of battle into our modern time; we are weaving anachronisms into the fabric of our modern world.”

The War of the Roses begins performances Thursday, August 23. Get tickets here.

Down to the Wire: Sunday stumble-through

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

by Philippa Kelly, Resident Dramaturg

Now we’re getting down to the wire… We’re in our Sunday stumble-through, the last full run-through before the designer run of The War of the Roses this coming Wednesday, what Aldo Billingslea calls “the first bite of our epic apple.” And, due to the scope and size of this epic apple, it’s also the first time we’ve run the complete show, underscored with beautiful music composed and played by Josh Pollock, Byron Au Yong, and Brendan Aanes. When Eric starts to blanch at the thought, I remind him that Shakespeare’s company didn’t believe in rehearsals and periods of “discovery” at all—they would read a play through, have all but their own lines and cues taken away from them (so that they couldn’t steal the script and stage it elsewhere), and go off to “con” their lines at home. Many of them refused the one rehearsal offered, meeting their cast-mates for the first time on-stage in front of an audience of 2000. So really, I say to Eric, we could even declare ourselves over-rehearsed.

Fight direction by Dave Maier, choreography by Erika Chong Shuch (l-r: Lance Gardner, Sarita Ocón, Aldo Billingslea, Danny Scheie, Aysan Celik, Catherine Luedtke, Stacy Ross); photo by Jay Yamada.

There is a battle on stage, a beautifully charged moment of movement and menace choreographed by Erika Chong Such. Aldo Billingslea, playing the Earl of Warwick, moves off-stage with his shield and sword, and I am reminded of descriptions of medieval armor which required the soldier to wear no shirt, a doublet (vest) pierced with holes for ventilation, covered by a closed-up padded jacket, a cuirass (made of multiple metal segments) to wrap around the torso, metal coverings around both legs, metal shoes, a plate skirt to cover the genitals and buttocks, a metal basinet to cover neck and chest, and a helmet to shield the face and throat, with a dagger on one side, a small knife on the other, and a sword in his hand. The entirety of medieval amour would weigh 55 pounds, evenly distributed around the body so that the soldier could remain quite agile. But he would not, as does Aldo, carry a purple cell phone, a bundle of script, and a coffee cup.

Rendering by Costume Designer Anna R. Oliver.

It’s fascinating to watch this production come together, built around three consecutive kings, one (Henry VI—Joseph O’Malley) who believes that warring people can be united through “love and amity;” another (Edward IV—Stacy Ross) who spends his time in lustful pleasures; and, after Intermission, a third (Richard III—Danny Scheie) who will clamber up the vacuum created by these two unsuccessful kings to rule in tyranny. The production is built around resourceful women as well, one of them Queen Margaret, whom Shakespeare tracks through all four plays in his tetralogy, a woman who battles on the field of war and, when forcibly disarmed, focuses her energies on the power she wields to curse.

Margaret curses Richard (l-r: Danny Scheie, Aysan Celik, Sarita Ocón, Lance Gardner, Marie Sadd, Jomar Tagatac, Aldo Billingslea, and Catherine Luedtke); photo by Jay Yamada.

If I had to think of a way to describe War of the Roses, I’d say that it is an exploration of human beings who experience love, ambition, power, and disappointment in the context of forces larger than themselves. In this world of constant threat, betrayal and warfare, everything is at stake, as characters battle each other for control over England. Writ large on England’s stage, I’m reminded of the current battles we have, not just against military powers, but (as with those on Shakespeare’s stage) against the forces of our own appetite and potent disregard. No matter where or when we live, it is human beings who create the histories from which others will dig in their struggle to create their own lives and legacies.

The War of the Roses begins performances Thursday, August 23. Get tickets here!

Who cares about crying on stage?

Posted on August 13, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

by Scott Horstein, guest blogger and freelance dramaturg

Last week Philippa shared our coffee talk about Richard III, the last of the four plays in the Shakespeare Tetralogy that makes up Cal Shakes’s War of the Roses. I dramaturged Richard several years back (at Denver Theater Center), and when I talked with Philippa, it made me think of my favorite scene in the play.

In Act IV, Scene IV, three wretched queens take the stage to wail about their dead husbands and sons. Richard has outsmarted and slaughtered them all on his way to the crown. Now the play suddenly stops and risks becoming an exaggerated sobfest. Why?

Richard’s mother, the Duchess of York, has lost her son (Richard’s brother). The previous queen, Richard’s sister-in-law Elizabeth of York, has lost her two young sons, heirs to the throne. And their enemy, the former queen Margaret from the House of Lancaster, has lost her husband, Henry VI, and her son. Shakespeare dramatizes the deaths as horrible, bloody affairs, the scions of powerful families brutally destroyed in the prime of youth. Margaret initially chortles at the abjection of the fallen York queens; but she comes to empathize with them, as Elizabeth keens:

Ah my poor princes! Ah, my tender babes,
My unblown flowers….
Hover about me with your airy wings
And hear your mother’s lamentation…

Elizabeth is calling out to the invisible souls of her sons, whom the audience imagines to be hovering about her. The play is set in the 1480s, a hundred years before Shakespeare wrote Richard III. By Shakespeare’s time, Elizabeth’s kind of mourning had become blasphemy.

As Philippa mentioned in her post on Everybody, Catholics believed the soul hung around after death, in Purgatory, awaiting its final destination. Loved ones wailed to God, beseeching Him on behalf of the departed. The body was openly displayed in mourning rituals, emphasizing this persistent, tangible, earthly connection to the departing soul.

But by Shakespeare’s time the official religion had become Protestantism, as decreed by Henry VIII in 1532. Protestants believed the soul was predestined at birth for either Heaven or Hell. The Protestants did away with open mourning and bodies on display. Attempting to intercede with God on behalf of the departed was “womanish” and “popish.” The Pope reference here shows how political this all was—Protestants were paranoid that Catholics, with backing from the Pope and Catholic Spain, would try to retake the English crown. Catholic mourning practices weren’t just blasphemous, they were treasonous, too.

(I’m drawing much of this from a fascinating article by Katharine Goodland called “Obseqious Laments: Mourning and Communal Memory in Richard III.”)

Back to the play! When Elizabeth calls out to the souls of her murdered sons, Shakespeare’s audience would have felt the frisson of her doing something forbidden. Forbidden in the world of the play because she’s calling out to those murdered by Richard’s regime. Forbidden in the audience’s time because she’s acting so Catholic.

This is why Shakespeare stops the play here. As Katharine Goodland points out, this is the first uninterrupted mourning rite in the whole Tetralogy. Richard III opens with a spectacularly aborted mourning ritual, the Lady Anne escorting the body of her dead husband Edward, whom Richard has killed in battle. Richard disrupts Anne’s mourning and somehow manages to seduce her. Still, mourning is such an essential social act that Shakespeare stages it again, in my favorite scene, Act IV, Scene IV. At the height of the carnage, at the darkest moment of the Tetralogy, at the point where Richard’s ascendance to the throne is complete, at the point where his monomania and paranoia have destroyed all social bonds, the example of Margaret, Elizabeth, and the Duchess offers an alternative social vision. The queens’ resistance to Richard is a kind of insurrection, and it presages Richard’s demise, which comes just a few scenes later in Act V. It is also a kind of healing. As Goodland says, “the ability to mourn as a community…is essential to the functioning and continuity of a cohesive society.” Shakespeare would pursue these themes a few years later in Hamlet, connecting the corruption of mourning rites to the corruption of the self and of the state.

Let’s be clear, Shakespeare is no more sentimental about political resistance than he is about political hegemony. The queens are still as vicious as they are elsewhere in the play when it comes to Richard, describing him as a “bottled spider” and an “elvish, rooting hog.” What Shakespeare is documenting here is how people respond to calamity, to the ebbs and flows of power, to grief.

I love watching this scene, and I’m excited to see it on stage in September.

The War of the Roses begins performances August 23.

Scott Horstein is Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance and Associate Professor of Contemporary Theatre and Dramaturgy at Sonoma State University, where he also heads the campus Arts Integration program as SSU Arts Dramaturg. He was formerly Manager of Play Development for Cornerstone Theater Company and Literary Director for the Black Dahlia Theater. Numerous freelance dramaturgy credits include Denver Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Rep, and the Old Globe, where he dramaturged for Arthur Miller on his penultimate play Resurrection Blues. He has directed at Native Voices, East West Players, and the West Coast Ensemble, and taught at SCR, AADA, AMDA, and UCSD. MFA in Dramaturgy from UCSD and a proud member of LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas).

Rehearsal Day 8: Power and Privilege in the World of the Roses

Posted on August 6, 2018 by Alicia Coombes

By Resident Dramaturg, Philippa Kelly

“I can’t sit on the throne with this big-ass table here, can I?” says Lance Gardner (playing the Earl of Suffolk) as Joseph Patrick O’Malley (playing King Henry VI) leaves the room. We are rehearsing the top of the play, in which, with stunning speed, the Earl of Suffolk procures a penniless French royal beauty for the English King, crawls into bed with her himself, plans to get rid of the Lord Protector and his wife, and, in the long run, believes that he can pick off all impediments to his own control of the English throne. We are stopping and starting, working out how to tell the story of the play while keeping track of an important through-line—no matter what is said behind his back, the King is at all times King (until he’s not, later in the play) and must be treated with the respect due a medieval regent.

Which reminds me of the discussion I had last week at Peet’s Coffee with my colleague, fellow dramaturg Scott Horstein, our chatter filtered by the morning sun. (Look for a post by Scott soon.) We were talking about the peerage—the rank of a Duke being above that of Earl (an Earl inherits his title, but may be poor as a church mouse; whereas a Duke is anointed to his position by the king, and his Dukedom usually includes the possession of valuable land.) In our play the Duchess Eleanor, wife to the second highest-ranking male character in the play, has dreams above her station—but because her husband, Duke Humphrey, is brother to the deceased Henry V, Eleanor’s insubordinate dreams are not at all far-fetched: if young Henry were to die without issue, Duke Humphrey would be next in line to the throne.

In America today, we see a constant parade of “actors” streaming in and out of the White House. It might seem strange that some of the anointed seem to have gone from principal coffee-maker to Secretary of an important department (and all-too-often walking a path straight from the White House to prosecution). But in the England of The War of the Roses, similar things are seen to happen. Treason, murder, wealth beyond the imaginings of the common people—this is the world of the ruling Plantagenet family, who divide themselves into those of the house of Lancaster and their enemies from the House of York. Which is not to normalize what’s happening on our 2018 “stage”—on the contrary, modern democracy has never looked so much like the distant realm of those who were born with wealth and privilege and spent their lives shuttling portions of it back and forth between each other while the common people starved.