Ever since I really saw this painting at the Met in New York City,
I wanted to somehow capture this:
I was pretty pleased with getting a photo of it, and my butterfly net of words managed to at least capture some of its vertigo with poetry, but then I desired to dance. And to sing. In fact, most of Vincent’s great paintings make me bounce my knees. And lean in too close.
I sang the songs for them (and amazingly, I wasn’t nervous! which is great progress for me) and they are singing back, tapping an improvised drum back, and expanding with harmony. I’m teaching them some of the soundscapes I have, up until now, only plucked out on my guitar, and their voices fill up those dream-songs like hot air balloons. I’m going to try and share some more of that music with you soon.
We have also begun to try to contain Vincent’s paintings (or let them vibrate, or sing or fly away) in/through our bodies. Here are some of our first corporeal responses to those lovely paintings… Just a taste, I hope you’ll enjoy.
If you’re in Chicago, please consider coming to our first fundraiser party June 22nd, a week from tomorrow!
Tuesday, JUNE 22nd at The Spot(4437 N. Broadway Avenue) at 7pm
Play TRIVIA! Win Money! Drink! $5 entry
Things are rolling right along, and there’s no stopping it now…
Firstly, I’d like to tell you that rehearsals are going great, we have sat around talking about the script for hours now and are finally ready to jump on our feet. Tonight we had our first dance rehearsal — and it was awesome! I am very grateful to have my lovely co-choreographer Katie Eberhardy onboard with this project, a dancer whose passion is to create work inspired by visual art. It was wonderful to finally start getting our bodies into the curves and colors of these paintings, and my media director Timothy Caldwell got a little video that I might put up next week.
Secondly, I’d like to invite all of you to our fundraiser parties in Chicago! We have three super awesome nights planned all for your enjoyment, and money made at each event will help Vincent’s Yellow come to life.
Tuesday, JUNE 22nd at The Spot(4437 N. Broadway Avenue) at 7pm
Play TRIVIA! Win Money! Drink! $5 entry
Thursday, JULY 1st at 63 East Lake Street (at Wabash) at 8pm ROOFTOP EXTRAVAGANZA! Raffle! Jacuzzi! Great views of Chicago! Drinks! Sponsored by Magic Hat! $10 entry, email me to get on the guest list
Thursday, JULY 14th at The Spot (4437 N. Broadway Avenue) at 8:30pm
Sing KARAOKE! Free drinks for an hour and a half!
$15 entry
Now, I don’t care if I hardly know you, I’d love to see you at any and all of these events. You can go out and drink anywhere, anytime, but why not support great art while doing so? I think there are pretty much no excuses. ;)If you do not live in Chicago, and cannot come to these parties, or — heaven forbid — cannot come to the show, I’d like to encourage you to make a donation to this project. I am self-producing Vincent’s Yellow, which means the whole budget (except for what I raise) is coming out of my own pocket. Your help, even if it’s $5, would mean the world to me. If you can’t come to the show, but wish you could, then why not donate the price of a ticket, $18? Every penny helps us buy costumes, paint, chairs, postcards… the list goes on and on.
Also, you’d be helping a project that I’m convinced has huge amounts of karma blessing it, and so that karma would also be spread to you. This I’m positive about. Press the donate button in the right-hand column of the webpage, it will allow you to donate through paypal.
Lastly, I wanted to share a little yoga with you all. Yoga is a major part of our ensemble’s practice within rehearsal. It builds our strength, our flexibility, our stamina, and our team spirit. Enjoy the little video (also by Timothy Caldwell) and have a wonderful week!
So firstly, I’d like to say: Look at my beautiful cast. They are wonderful, intelligent, thoughtful human beings with whom I have the honor to play, to question, and to riff on my script. After a week of rehearsals, I am so very happy with my casting. I know I made the right decisions.
Introducing…
Jesse Aukeman
Emily Cross
Jesse Manson
and Liza Renzulli
Aren’t they beautiful? I think so. They are also awesome.
It is pretty damn cool to finally dig into this text I’ve been dreaming about for three years and have smart, warm people ask me the tougher, deeper questions. It’s kind of a privilege.
I also want to mention that I spent the long weekend driving my media director/boyfriend to Chicago, from New York. He will start taking video (for this website!) and designing our promotional materials soon. He will also make me happy, but that’s a side note, I suppose. Actually, one of my actors asked me last week how my boyfriend feels about my love for Vincent, and I told my cast the truth: my boyfriend told me not so long ago that he knew he would always be #2. And that is why he is my boyfriend.
Lastly, I had a wonderful meeting with my possible props master. I gave her some reference images for what the apartment should look like, that might be familiar to some of you who have been reading for some time… This is what I want the space to feel like:
The asylum near Saint Remy…
The town of Saint Remy…
Auvers-sur-oise, where you passed away, Vincent…
And, of course, Arles…
My obsession with time — specifically the markings left by time — rears its head here (though I’d argue it’s not an ugly head). My photos which were originally meant simply to capture, now are tools to inspire. I want my audience to walk through a door like a portal, into a room from another place and time.
I write to you now from that room, where magical things will happen. I smile and await the future.
And your arrival.
As of today, June 1st, you can buy tickets to Vincent’s Yellow. Check out the home page, or just go here.
"..art is something greater and higher than our own skill or knowledge or learning. [Art] is something which, though produced by human hands, is not wrought by hands alone, but wells up from a deeper source, from man's soul..."
Vincent van Gogh, letter from March 1884
Twelve years ago, like many others, I fell in love with Vincent van Gogh. I followed this love, never letting go, reading about him and visiting his paintings all I could, and I am still journeying - I hope you will join me, Reader. This path has led me to you and you to me, and both of us to beauty, to art, to life, to death and to something greater...
