Playwriting & Writing
Mind the Gap Intergenerational Theatre Workshop
Over the six weeks of this workshop, I was challenged to explore different approaches to playwriting--a new mode for me compared to my more familiar experiences in documentary and narrative writing. We experimented with various exercises in voice--monologue and dialogue, scene setting, and stage direction while challenged to interview participants. The goal wasn't necessarily to recreate a short play based on their particular life events but to become inspired by some aspect of their story.
The young man I interviewed, had a keen interest in horror films, and since my work with Rwandans and post-trauma seemed connected, I found my way into a play based on the "Bystander Effect" named after the historic murder of Kitty Genovese in Kew Gardens, Queens, more than 50 years ago when it was reported that at least 37 neighbors heard her screaming out for help from the street below their apartments or homes and did not respond.
I developed a short play, "The Pain of Others," to imagine the psychological effects of a witness of the violence and the possible effects on her memory of her lack of response and the psychological effects. This issue of the way extreme violence and apathy lingers for both the victim and the viewers/witnesses raised the profound damage that stays with a person--victim, viewer, or victimizer.
Over the six weeks of this workshop, I was challenged to explore different approaches to playwriting--a new mode for me compared to my more familiar experiences in documentary and narrative writing. We experimented with various exercises in voice--monologue and dialogue, scene setting, and stage direction while challenged to interview participants. The goal wasn't necessarily to recreate a short play based on their particular life events but to become inspired by some aspect of their story.
The young man I interviewed, had a keen interest in horror films, and since my work with Rwandans and post-trauma seemed connected, I found my way into a play based on the "Bystander Effect" named after the historic murder of Kitty Genovese in Kew Gardens, Queens, more than 50 years ago when it was reported that at least 37 neighbors heard her screaming out for help from the street below their apartments or homes and did not respond.
I developed a short play, "The Pain of Others," to imagine the psychological effects of a witness of the violence and the possible effects on her memory of her lack of response and the psychological effects. This issue of the way extreme violence and apathy lingers for both the victim and the viewers/witnesses raised the profound damage that stays with a person--victim, viewer, or victimizer.

The Pain of Others Play | |
File Size: | 112 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Dance & Music
Ingoma Nshya Dance Troupe
We drove south to Butare to explore the experience of this first ever, Rwandan women's drumming and dance troupe. The women are using dance as a form of testimony, an expression of their personal and historical life stories. My team and I interviewed them and offered to show them how to use donated cameras to document their expressions. Using still photography--both digital and film--as well as video, I was able to capture the energy. Here is one of the videos from my YouTube channel, studio239.
We drove south to Butare to explore the experience of this first ever, Rwandan women's drumming and dance troupe. The women are using dance as a form of testimony, an expression of their personal and historical life stories. My team and I interviewed them and offered to show them how to use donated cameras to document their expressions. Using still photography--both digital and film--as well as video, I was able to capture the energy. Here is one of the videos from my YouTube channel, studio239.
Printmaking
I was able to assist colleague, Dan Welden, in his tutorial at Commack High School with art students, to research various types of printmaking for the creation of book arts--learning about the processes and students' creative impulses. The class worked in intaglio and solar plate. These engagements and experiences have inspired possibilities for further creative ventures, to blending printmaking styles.
Warhol: By the Book
Xu Bing: Book from the Sky
The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas, Austin. January 2017
This exhibit in Austin offered insight into the possibilities for book fabrications, emphasizing variations of construction, relationships of word to image, and the viewer experience and involvement in final work.