Aug 122010
Aug 112010
Aug 112010
We are extremely delighted to embark on our second season at Ambassador Theater with the most prominent Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist, and Nobel Laureate: Maurice Maeterlinck, whose very symbolic works aroused so many artists around the world and demanded a new artistic vision. Despite the passage of time, Maeterlinck’s words still inspire artistic exploration and experimentation with new eyes. Maeterlinck wanted to reveal the interconnectivity of the inner and the outer world, a mirroring of the macro to microcosm. Today in the Information Era, as in Maeterlinck’s time with the Industrial Revolution, we search for spiritual connectedness with the universe, with each other, and within ourselves. We search for a common tongue to provoke each other into dialogue. With these two of Maeterlinck’s very different plays, a fairy-tale and a satire, death is a main subject, seen from distinct perspectives. Both pieces provoke us to laugh, cry, think and enter into a shared conversation. As the author and translators have inspired me to present both plays, so the actors and designers helped to craft the artistic vision for which I am extremely grateful. We invite all to an open discussion about life and death and Maeterlinck’s artistic vision presented to you with the gracious partnership of the Embassy of Belgium.
Enjoy the show!
Hanna Bondarewska
Jul 182010
There are so many interesting people and places in the world but we did not find one as interesting and vibant as Nohant. Turning the black box at the Mead Theater Lab at Flashpoint was a real creative effort. Thanks to a great artist, Andrzej Pinkowski, who used his artistic magical hand and eye and at a flip of a magic wand, he changed the place into a 19th century salon.
The three act play took us all on a great tour into a 19th century salon where we discovered the beauty of erotic passions, turmoil, and artistic inspiration, where “among kitchen squabbles- something so full of transcendental genius was being produced!” It has been a great pleasure to rediscover this very interesting play depicting a part of the lives of these very special people, George Sand and Fryderyk Chopin with such a great group of American actors and take them on a tour of France and Poland. It has been a very interesting ride, full of passion; snow days and stormy weather which still did not stop us all from bringing some sun to “Summer at Nohant.” Thank you to all its dear “inhabitants” for all their passion and hard work, especially my dear assistant Magda and her family who tirelessly worked to make our salon so beautiful and vibrant. I love you all and let us all breathe in the very extraordinary air of Nohant! Hopefully, we will come back to it very soon!
I’ve been in chorus roles before, and I know that they are never easy. I tried to simply be ready for anything and make as many clear choices as possible. While each chorus member may be expressing one unified action, each one is going to express that action differently. We`re not all the same person. So the challenge of the chorus is to find a unity that incorporates the uniqueness of each chorus member in that chorus. It’s a challenge, not an impossibility, and it`s absolutely awe-inspiring when it works.
I think Hanna did her best not to make character decisions for the chorus, allowing the chorus to organically find which was the most comfortable choice. While the constant temptation in some situations is to allow the director to prescribe motivations and character choices, I feel that wasn`t as possible in this production. I enjoyed the extra work it took to find directions and motivations for myself along with the rest of the cast, and I hope the audience enjoys all our ensemble efforts as well.
linda
Rula will be back performing her one woman show “Not My Label: A Journey of Self-Discovery” at Flashpoint on March 14th at 7:00 PM followed by a wine reception. Get your tickets online at InstantSeats
