PlayCo Commission: LUDIC PROXY Workshop Day 7: Choose your own adventure…

We continued mapping out the Fukushima scene as a video game today, which proved to be a lot like reading (or constructing) one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80s.  God I loved those books.

We were trying to create not only a variety of different possible trajectories for the story, but also cover a variety of game genres.  In one ending, if Saori’s character opened the window, she would notice that it was raining black rain (radioactive) and that there were people walking towards the house in the rain (radioactive zombies).  Eventually these zombies would arrive, knock down the door and eat them.

In an alternative trajectory, the game would veer off into more of a puzzle game (like Tetris — a game used to treat PTSD) — but what the player didn’t know was that the puzzle was unsolvable and would eventually run out of time, leading to Makiko’s character having a nervous breakdown and emergency situation with her pregnancy.

Yet another possible story line required a careful psychological tactic in order to succeed.  Many video games now incorporate similar psychological aspects, where the player controls how their avatar responds to other characters or stimuli, and that behavior determines whether or not they are able to accomplish the mission or task successfully.

We mapped out all the storylines like this:

 

This was a super time-consuming process, even if trying to sketch everything out very roughly.  At the next rehearsal we will be able to “test” this game out on some kind volunteer audiences.

Finally, what came up towards the end of rehearsal was concern from one of my actors about the manner in which I was choosing to handle this material.  Obviously, the situation in Fukushima was and continues to be dire and harrowing for people who live there or have been evacuated — and what does creating this kind of lens in portraying those events reflect on us as artists?  My answer to the actor was that I am trying to push irony to its limit, and this was my attempt to hook the audience in on some level — whether they are horrified and offended or amused at the outright ridiculousness of suggesting that radioactive zombies were attacking people there.  The fact is that in the U.S., the news covers events and happenings at such a rate, and our collective memories are limited that we have a difficult time tracking what is going on, all over the world.  Since the earthquake of 3-11, news about Fukushima has much faded from the headlines, and people outside of Japan need to really seek out the most updated information on how everything has unfolded.  Drawing a parallel to Chernobyl, we’ve also reached a point where we have made video games and horror movies about the event.  So when will there be a horror movie about Fukushima?  As a Japanese person who hasn’t even been directly affected by the disaster, the idea that the disaster would serve as fodder for sensational entertainment seems appalling to me — and yet, I live in a culture in which that is not only acceptable, but somehow it is necessary for us to be able to process it…  Anyway, there’s a lot more to say on this topic — which I will save for another time.

PlayCo’s Cajun Invasion Week 7: Dedupes, Diversity, and Dell’arte…

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great Thursday! The past few days have been pretty PlayCo-tastic to say the least!

At the Play Company, our mission is to advance and foster the work of artists from around the globe. This mission is precisely what drew me to my marketing internship with PlayCo. Working here has been a much different experience than my other internships simply due to the fact that PlayCo strives to not only showcase foreign work, but to also inspire dialogue amongst its audience members about different points of view around the world. Think of a recent, popular sporting event that does the same thing…. the currently celebrated Olympics! In the same way, the Olympics has a similar focus. Every few years, everyone is called to put aside their differences for a little while in order to show support for the Olympic Games. Keep in mind that I am not the biggest sports fanatic, but in my opinion, the global conversation that is sparked by the Olympics continues to fascinate and inspire me. I am proud to work for a company that has a similar focus on a smaller scale. I always thought arts and athletics couldn’t go hand-in-hand, but I assumed wrong.

Right by the New York Observer building is a sports bar that is showing support for the 2012 Olympic Games!

On another note, my responsibilities in the PlayCo office are becoming more and more pressing towards the end of my internship! This  week’s huge responsibility is de-duplicating our PlayCo “culture vulture” list. This involves compiling every single list of every person that ever came to any one of PlayCo’s shows or events. I think I just set a world record of using “ever” so many times in a sentence. Anyway, I have to compile these lists, delete the duplicates, and pick out which patrons have attended a good number of PlayCo events. It’s really cool to see the number of PlayCo fans grow as I go through the lists, and hopefully that number will increase with the coming seasons.

And finally, after months and months of anticipation and money-saving, I had the privilege of seeing Richard Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors last night. It is a British comedy based on Servant of Two Masters , a commedia dell’arte play by Carlo Goldoni. While I have seen several excellent Broadway and off-Broadway productions, I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard as an audience member in my life. Let me tell you, this show is a riot! From the improvisation to the physical comedy, each actor was spot on! My favorite performance came from the lead actor/ harlequin, James Corden, who simply blew me away. His ability to interact so well with the audience while maintaining the tremendous amount of energy necessary to excel in the role was unbelievable. Even more so, the supporting cast incorporated the improved bits into the production flawlessly simply by working so well with each other onstage. Also, I could tell that the cast was having loads of fun “playing” with each other, and that joy is infectious to the audience in the theatre. If you want to spend an evening squealing from laughter, One Man, Two Guvnors is a must-see!

Next week is my last week as PlayCo’s marketing intern, so please be sure to tune in  for my final PlayCo post!

PlayCo Commission: LUDIC PROXY Workshop Day 6: Stepping into video games…

July 12th, 2012  |  Published in News

We started to play with a video game format today, basically transforming the very realistic scene about the two sisters in Fukushima into a video game.  That may seem like a very odd choice, and it felt pretty risky in many ways.  But I wanted to begin to tap at into the potential of placing a character  or the audience in a position of power and control of a very sensitive situation, and see whether the gaming mechanism would change the way the scene might play out.

We experimented with a few different modes:

Magin was the “player” of the game and Saori and Makiko were character within the game.  In one iteration, Saori, as Magin’s avatar, was both a character in the game but also had the ability to speak to Magin to communicate what she felt her options were in the scene.  Then Magin would give her directives like “be more aggressive,” etc.

In another version, the basic set-up was the same as the above, but Saori was a character in the game as well as the designer of the game, so she had the ability to change fundamental givens of the game design, should she be directed to do so by Magin, who was kind of the player but also someone who seemed to be evaluating the game.  So for example, in the middle of the scene, Magin told Saori to “go back to the other version of the sister,” changing the kind of character Makiko was playing to make the game less challenging for the player.

Our exploration today really uncovered some pitfalls in the way this all worked.  For one thing, the roles needed to be more clearly defined.  The Player could not also function as someone who is permitted or able to manipulate The System.  The Avatar could not doubly function as The Designer.  Also in the space that was created for the manipulation of character and choices, the scene immediately lost its emotional veracity — which is not necessarily a bad thing, but something we need to be conscious of.  Also it became clear that we would need to map out the entire storyboard of all possible actions in the game as opposed to letting the controls be so loose.  An important day that will determine how we work over the next few rehearsals.

PlayCo’s Cajun Invasion Week 6: PlayCo’s Fashionista, Social Media, and a Weekend with a Special Tourist

Hello to all, and Happy Wednesday! 

It’s the middle of the week, and I realized that I have left PlayCo’s audience in the dark about last week’s adventures! With no time to waste, here is what you missed on last week’s episode of the Cajun Invasion…

Throughout last week, the focus of PlayCo’s marketing team (i.e. Delena and I) was to get a firmer grasp on each other’s views of various social media strategies. Delena is a major trailblazer as far as producing and PR is concerned, so she and I brainstormed about how to incorporate new social media outlets into PlayCo’s marketing routine. While I can’t reveal PlayCo’s secrets about promotional plans for our upcoming season, I can tell you what I took away from our meetings last week. Every tweet, blog post, or  “Like” should be relevant to the company’s overal objective. PlayCo’s objective, for instance, is to produce and advocate work created around the world. It’s an international focus, so every social media outlet has to advance that somehow. I know you are thinking that that is a no-brainer. While this concept is rather obvious to you marketing mavens out there, my internship with PlayCo has allowed me to expand on this idea and apply it to other organizations I work with. So for anyone who wants to learn how to expand their horizons and use social media as an important means of promotion, theatre companies are a great learning environment for that. Working for non-profits has definitely taught me valuable lessons in identifying every single resource I have and then stretching it to use it effectively and efficiently. 

On a funnier, PlayCo-related note, Patrick (another fabulous intern) and I had a small photo shoot with some of the old costumes from Invasion! that PlayCo donated to The Salvation Army. Check us out! 

 

On a less career-specific note, my Mom visited this past weekend! She had only been to New York once before, so we had a lot of sites to see. Since I have been here for a couple of months, I gave her an informed tour of NYC, and I showed her the New York Observer building where PlayCo is located. We also went to an awesome steakhouse and an italian place that was a little off the beaten path. While I wanted to take her to some of the less touristy parts of the city, she insisted that we walk around Central Park and visit some shops on fifth avenue. I couldn’t help but think that there were better things to do than shop in this great city. Despite the fact that I dislike shopping, there was one tourist attraction that neither I nor my mom (or any five-year-old) could resist: FAO Schwarz! 

 

And that’s it for last week’s adventures in NYC! Check back next week for more insight about what it’s like to be a southern intern working in the Big Apple!

PlayCo Commission: LUDIC PROXY Workshop Day 5: Shifting Gears… Fukushima

Ludic Proxy Workshop Day 5: Shifting Gears… Fukushima

After spending half of the workshop period on the storyline of Brighton Beach / Pripyat, today we embarked on a journey in another direction.  With the wonderful actresses Saori Tsukada (former collaborator of John Moran and more recently in hoi polloi’s All Hands) and Makiko Ikeda along with Magin Schantz, we created a scene that would be the foundation for the rest of the workshop period.  The setting is Fukushima city, in Fukushima prefecture.  Technically this location is outside of the exclusion zone, and evacuation is not mandatory — in fact the official government line has been for residents to stay put and continue their regular lives.  In the scene, Saori lives in Tokyo and plays Makiko’s sister, who is pregnant and is living in Fukushima.  Saori is visiting her sister with the intention to convince Makiko to come back to Tokyo with her, fearing the affect of the radiation on her sister’s unborn child.  Makiko, whose husband works for city hall and is committed to the recovery efforts, does not feel she can leave her home or husband.  The scene they improvised was very realistic — difficult, with many pauses, and also in some ways quite mundane.  There were no big dramatic moments, just two very rational people trying to exert their opinions on the other. The gravity with which the actors tackled the improvisation was remarkable, and a testament to just how laden the subject matter is — even though it has disappeared from the headlines in the U.S. media.  The video of the scene was too long to post – but we’ll keep touching on this scene this week.

Check back next week for a new LUDIC PROXY update from Aya!

PlayCo’s Cajun Invasion Week 5: The gears are turning!

Good afternoon to all!

The week after a nice holiday is usually a difficult time to build momentum in an office environment. The PlayCo team, however, was a testament to the fact that there is little rest in the theatre world– especially when there is a season to plan!

If there is one thing I have learned working for various arts institutions, it’s that time is of the essence. When something needs to get done, an audience won’t care if it was done at two in the morning or five in the afternoon. A finished production doesn’t know how many lunches you had to skip or if you only got four hours of sleep while mulling over potential donors in your insomnia. If there is a season to plan, timelines must be adhered to. You can say that a theatre company staff member lives “on the edge” in this regard. For instance, one of my main responsibilities in the season-planning process involves gathering and de-duplicating mailing lists from fellow theaters. While there’s nothing nerve-wracking about gathering mailing lists, it is often daunting when your goal for patron mail is thousands upon thousands of potential audience members. My purpose as a budding PR professional is to create loyal customers/patrons for PlayCo as well as any clients in the future. A big challenge I have faced while working with PlayCo is brainstorming new ways to reach out to people who are less familiar with  the company’s work. While I have not seen a large amount of PlayCo’s shows, one of my first tasks was to go back and read both past and future scripts. These productions are some of the most diverse, perceptive pieces I have ever come across, and I think anyone who deems themselves a “culture vulture” of the arts needs to make a point to see them onstage. I know that I am on the inside looking outward, but promoting PlayCo’s goals and values in innovative ways via social media will create and target specific audiences.

Speaking of social media and new audiences, I have a new supervisor! It is my pleasure to introduce (on my blog atleast) PlayCo’s new marketing associate, Delena Turman! We met for the first time today and brainstormed new ideas to strengthen PlayCo’s social media presence and search engine optimization. Her leadership and ideas will create a loyal PlayCo fan base as well as fill the seats this coming season. She previously worked for Anderson Cooper’s show, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and MTV! I have a feeling that she will not only enhance PlayCo’s image, but she will also teach me so much about different industries and social media strategies.

On another note, Thursday was Lauren Rayner’s last day in the office. She was my marketing mentor here at PlayCo and has taught me so much about social media and outreach tactics this summer. Last week she was teaching me all of the ins and outs here at PlayCo so that I could fill Delena in on the basics of the marketing department. I will miss her, but I look forward to working with Delena and building on the things that Rayner accomplished here during her years with the company.

To emphasize the sweet in a rather bittersweet farewell, the PlayCo office had a sweets and champagne party for both Melissa’s birthday and Lauren’s last day! I bought a small chocolate cake for the office, and Kate brought delicious chocolate and red velvet cupcakes! To add to my joyous sugar high, Ruth Hendel gave me lovely programs from the musical Follies and Nice Work if You Can Get It! Needless to say, that day was definitely a highlight of my summer in NYC.

A little blurry, but it’s Lauren and I on her last day.

Sugar coma, here I come!

PlayCo Commission: LUDIC PROXY Workshop Day 4: Field Trip to Brighton Beach

Ludic Proxy Workshop Day 4: Field Trip to Brighton Beach

It was the perfect day for our field trip to Brighton Beach — it was warm but overcast, and since the rides at Coney Island were not yet operating, the boardwalk had a desolate feel.  We were very lucky to have our tour of the neighborhood guided by Veronika Litvinova, who is something of a celebrity Russian radio host in that neighborhood. She gave us a quick and dirty run-down of the history of the neighborhood and walked us up and down Brighton Beach Avenue, stopping at her favorite shop, the Russian bookstore and souvenir shop St. Petersburg (Veronika is from the St. Petersburg).

Later we walked down to the boardwalk and had lunch at the famed Tatiana’s (actually the Grill, not the Restaurant — which are both side by side) and tasted some wonderful traditional Russian dishes.  Borscht, marinated vegetables, dumplings, potatoes and mushrooms, all with a healthy slathering of sour cream.

After lunch we made our way towards the other direction to Coney Island and were able to get some great shots with the actors.

—

Check back soon for another update on LUDIC PROXY by writer/director Aya Ogawa.

PlayCo’s Cajun Invasion Week 4: Fireworks, Frick and Fish.

Happy Monday to all (and a belated Fourth of July)! It’s back to the workweek for this Cajun intern. After a few nice afternoons out of the PlayCo office, it’s a pleasure to hit the keyboard and share my holiday week with you. However, the downside of having half of a workweek off is the lack of PlayCo-related topics I can discuss. But never fear–we did have a marketing meeting last Tuesday where we discussed the most cost-effective ways to design, print, and mail a brochure. The PlayCo staff also talked about season marketing in general and how important it is to foster a loyal fan base for each season. While these meetings aren’t the most riveting topic on the surface, it does mean a lot to me that as an intern, I actually have a voice in the season-planning process. As a seasoned intern, (get it, “seasoned” because I’m Cajun?) in the arts, I highly recommend working for a smaller but reputable theatre company. Not only do you gain hands-on experience in whatever aspect of the company interests you, but you also play a valuable role in the season-planning process. It is truly an inclusive, creative environment here at PlayCo.

On another note, my Fourth of July celebration was full of fireworks and pizazz! For the summer I live practically on the Hudson River, so my apartment has a plain view of the annual fireworks! I have to admit, I felt a little guilty as thousands and thousands of people tailgated for hours in the hot sun outside of my building waiting for the display. But I also have to admit how awesome it felt to walk outside to see the fireworks a mere five minutes before they began! This year’s new, explosive designs included that of smiley faces, golden rain, and even heart shapes! Needless to say, I got my pyromania fix!

As a Cajun who has moved rather far away from home in Louisiana, I naturally started to crave a good, blackened fish. I’ve tried some Cajun-themed restaurants in the city, and honestly, they just don’t cut it. Seeing as I have started dabbling in the culinary arts, I got the urge to learn a “blackening” technique that’s featured in my new, favorite cookbook. So, I created my own blackening spice and successfully cooked my first blackened tilapia! I am not just tooting my own horn here. It was absolutely delicious (and also low fat!). This dish will definitely be an inexpensive, healthy staple in my diet for the rest of the summer. Here’s a photo of the tilapia itself from the cookbook I used. I couldn’t get a good picture of my meal because my friend ate the fish before I had a chance to take the snapshot!

On another note, my friend, Blake, and I also took a trip to the famous Frick Museum! It’s a collection of European art formerly owned by Henry Clay Frick. I took a few fine arts survey courses a while back, and some of the art that I learned about was actually featured in the museum! It was truly awesome to walk around someone’s mansion instead of a huge museum hall, and have the opportunity to see more works by Vermeer, Monet, Rembrandt and other artists. If Mr. Frick were alive today, I think he would enjoy    a PlayCo production given his flair for international art.

PlayCo’s Cajun Invasion Week 3: archives, movies, and Max Brenner’s!

Did you know that you can die from eating too much chocolate? Ok, well maybe not, but I almost passed into the light this past weekend. First, let’s rewind to the beginning of last week!

At PlayCo, I honored my typical marketing intern duties. These often include answering phone calls, maintaining press archives, and helping my colleague, Lauren Rayner, take care of time sensitive marketing business. I used to think that one of my main responsibilities, press archiving, wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, you make copies of reviews, previews, and press mentions. Simple, right? Not exactly. This job is actually very important because the press archives must be done in a certain way so that they can be used to get grants for PlayCo. Not-for-profit organizations such as theaters and human rights groups need a lot of these grants to stay afloat in these tough economic times. Because PlayCo is a thriving company in the off-Broadway scene, the many great reviews that I organize are essential to the grant-getting process.

Of course, there is only so much I can say about press archives. So, for the rest of the week, I attended some pretty cool events. One of them included watching the short film segment of the Manhattan Film Festival. My PlayCo colleague, Rayner, produced a short film called Moving Forward, which has previously been featured in other film festivals across the nation! I was even able to meet some of the creative team behind the film, and it was fantastic to actually be able to compliment filmmakers on their work and vision. Not to mention the casting of Moving Forward was spot on, and I could not imagine better up and coming actors to star in the movie. Luckily, I was able to sit through more films, which varied in length. Working at PlayCo as well as other artists this summer has been both inspiring and enlightening, and it’s one of my favorite aspects of interning for so many arts venues and companies.

And then there was chocolate. So. Much. Chocolate. My friend, Blake, and I took a trip to Max Brenner’s. This Cajun NYC intern has never experienced anything quite like this! When I walked into the store, I immediately saw pipes running along the wall and ceiling…filled with CHOCOLATE! I felt just like those kids in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1971 hit, of course!) during that scene when they open the doors and stare into the confectionary wonderland of edible treats. My mouth was agape the entire visit. There were countless cookies, pies, chocolate treats, and even a CHOCOLATE PIZZA with marshmallows! I simply couldn’t believe that a place like this even existed. My friend and I actually ate an entire peanut butter fudge ice cream sundae, complete with bananas, whipped cream, hazelnuts, hot fudge, and peanut butter! It was absolutely delicious, and it’s one of those things you have to experience yourself. Until then, here are some photos:

And here’s a fun fact. Did you know that the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, was filmed in parts of Munich and Bavaria, Germany? PlayCo will be producing a play this coming season that was written by a German playwright!

PlayCo Commission: Ludic Proxy Workshop Day 3: Chekhov

Ludic Proxy Workshop Day 3: Chekhov

There was something that clicked into focus for me yesterday when we juxtaposed Masha’s description of her childhood apartment with images from Pripyat, specifically a photograph taken from inside a dilapidated room, looking out the window at the abandoned ferris wheel.

Something about the collision of description and image worked well to create a confusion of time and place — and that lead me to Chekhov. So many of Chekhov’s plays are about people who are trapped and long for another place or another time. They want to go back to Moscow, are back to a time when they were younger, when they were in love. They are paralyzed in an impossible sense of nostalgia, in a limbo world, within which they circle around each other, provoking each other out of boredom, desire, desperation. This state of limbo of the Chekhov characters seemed to resonate with our other exploration — the state of someone who is displaced and for whom “home” only exists in memory and not in reality, the state of someone who is captive in her own home due to the invisible toxicity of radiation, and who is forced to stay indoors.

I also began to have this desire to see a scene in which, against the backdrop of a white-washed, bleak Pripyat landscape of peeling paint and abandoned structures, a group of  Chekhovian characters bustling in in fur coats, lively and robust, chatting away about the trials of their daily existence.

I was trying to find ways to drop into the Chekhov text from within the Brighton Beach world, as a portal to get to Pripyat.  So today we played with lots of text lifted from Chekhov’s plays The Seagull, Three Sisters, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard —  and Masha brought in the original Russian texts too.  The monologues that seemed to work best taken out of context of the plays and into this nebulous world between Brighton Beach and Pripyat were Astrov’s speeches about how humans are destroying the environment, and Nina’s performance of Treplev’s play within the play.  That text particularly, about the universal spirit waiting to be reborn after all life on earth has been destroyed, was resonant.  It’s still difficult to see how the Chekhov text will work its way into the play, and I know it is a pretty heavy reference, but I feel like there is something key there.

—

Check back next week for a new LUDIC PROXY update from Aya!