Going back in time to... 1990

1990... the year of 21 Jump Street and Edward Scissorhands.

Jessica is looking through this magazine at one point during the play.

Oh... johnny depp. what a treat.

so sassy.

Scenic design for KITA Y FERNANDA

Scenic design by Ian Zywica

The separation, all under one roof but isolated, is a great way to see the play, so the three platforms work well to accomplish this.

The three drops represent the Mexican flag itself in shape, color.
Our musings on the set: Think these are not literal flags but are abstract flags, Tanya said like a watermark. I really like that. We like that the three drops represent the Mexican flag itself in shape and idea. Maybe use color as the element that draws us together and then apart? Red and white are the what unites us. Red also is female and red is blood. Blue and green are the separators. Blue separates the US and Green separates Mexico.

A Conversation with Elizabeth Berg

by Maggie Carlin

First thing I really would like to ask, after reading and seeing your play is what inspires you to write?

I really believe that writers are born, not made. Some people love horseback riding or baseball, it is what each person feels most comfortable doing, and for me that is writing. That has been true since I was a kid.

In the play, Nan as a child has these dreams and as she gets older she has felt like she has lost these dreams. I know you started writing when you were a child and found yourself discouraged and for a while became a nurse. Do you feel like in a way that was modeled after you?

Wow, I really never thought of it that way. You know, when I was a child, I was so positive that I was going be a famous writer. I used to tell my Dad that I was going to be rich and buy him a Cadillac. And you do, you just let it go. As I got older I just thought too much. I believed you had to be a man even though I knew people responded to my work.

So what brought you back to writing?

Well, I have two daughters and when they were 9 and 4 I really knew that I wanted to be able to spend more time with them. I was working as a nurse back then and I thought about what I could do to be at home and still bring in some income, which we needed. So I started writing! I started out working for magazines and did that for 10 years then I moved on to novels. It just kind of happened that way.

What made you chose to adapt your novels into plays?

I love plays! It is my favorite thing to do, to go see a play. For me, when I’m writing I feel like I’m acting. It just seemed like the most logical step for me. It’s funny because if I had to pick one of my novels to adapt it would not be The Pull of the Moon. But a friend of mine really encouraged me to do it. I guess it’s because people respond to this story.

What was the hardest thing about adapting this novel into a play?

Understanding that the vehicle is different. Half of what I wrote was lost. You need to pick the essential and emotional parts but still be able to link them together in flowing manner that is true to the piece.

How are you hoping your audience responds to this play?

Tears and laughter! I guess that’s the easy answer. Beyond that I’m hoping for some identification. It feels so good to identify with people and know you’re not the only person going through it.

Is there anyone you would like to thank?

There are so many people who have been behind me and helped me throughout this. I really want to thank the actors, and director Kevin Fox, and Ann Filmer for teaching me how to be a playwright.

encouragement from MiLkBabY

i send this message to encourage you...

encourage you that the world is not a machine...

encourage you to leave the house, be with other human beings, and share
something...

encourage you to fly out of your skin and be with a bird, a lady, and a magician @ 7:30 (before the MiLkBabY show @9:30) and see THE SCARLET IBIS
directed by Ann Filmer, music by Barry Bennett, and video by Kristin Reeves.

i encourage you to make a small statement to our friend , laurie, that even if the monetary amount raised at the MiLkBabY show seems inconsequential in the long run; that a group of hUmaNs came together to celebrate her healing...

OK
enough!
it sounds bit new agey, but i am a ROCKER at heart and can sort of get away with it!
i shouldn't have to encourage you to have an awesome time, but i am.
on top of everything else, i feel a real rebirth in the MiLkBabY beast
with Davidly's visit and the show we have planned for you on FRI AUG 1ST is
the kind of shows that MILkBabY want to keep doing in the future.
We would love to have you come out and be a part of it with us...

summing up for ED in vienna...

MiLkBabY + DavidLy (from berlin)
FRI AUG 1ST

LIVE @ 16TH STREET THEATER
6420 W 16th Street ** Berwyn
9:30pm sharp ... all ages ... $5
have a fever dream with us....

love
milkme
www.milkbaby.net

Audience responds to THE SCARLET IBIS

Hi, Ann,
Well. You were right. I have never seen anything like IBIS. And it was such an interesting experience, watching it. I started out feeling overwhelmed. As a lover of poetry, of it's (usually) necessary intimacy between page and reader, or poet and listener, I didn't know what to pay attention to. But then I settled down and let it happen and got comfortable and just really really enjoyed it. It was moving and funny and truly magical. It made me want to get the poems and read them, which I did.
I am so proud to be associated with a theater doing things that are so artful and different and risky and satisfying.
Thank you for all you to bring such richness to your community.
xoxo
E.

Ann,

Just wanted to reiterate that your staging of the poetry was brilliant -- very David Lynch -- and all three actors were superb.

Will

Hi Ann,

just wanted to say congratulations again for doing such a beautiful thing. I am so impressed.

As I was saying when we spoke after the show, I felt grateful to you for carving out a space and time in the world where the kind of communication and experience that happens through poetry and dreams got to have a little play in waking life. And I think you did succeed in allowing the witness to relate to the images, actions and words with as much room for personal experience as we have in the arenas of dreams and poetry. I think you succeeded in embodying ephemeral important things without limiting their expansiveness or possibility very much at all, which is a wonderful thing.

I also feel like you did what my favorite absurdist theater does, which is to represent dynamics that are recognizable to us, without any context or detail of situation. I felt like the bird and the woman and especially their relationship to each other in the second half was archetypal, and wordlessly familiar... and didn't need any time or location of description to be deeply understood. very yay. :)"

And I felt the same about seeing you. I thought, 'gosh that lady shines'. It was really fun to see you again, and nice to be there on that night. I liked that you had so many women in attendance who you've worked with/are going to be working with this season... that was cool. :) I'll definitely be out to see more of your work!

With love,

Janna

A conversation with Susan Hahn

The Poet.
A conversation with Susan Hahn by Gina Tarullo

“I felt like the bird had come into my life and kept informing me as to what to do next.”
- Susan Hahn, on writing The Scarlet Ibis

You are an experienced poet and this is not your first play. How would you describe The Scarlet Ibis in relation to your body of work?

Susan Hahn: Of all the books I’ve written, The Scarlet Ibis was a complete surprise. I never intended to write it.

It probably – as oddly as it sounds – is my most personal book. And if someone had said to me, “Someday, Susan, you’re going to write a book about a bird and a lady and a magician and it’s going to be your most personal book of poetry,” I would have just looked at them and said, “That’s nuts.”

How did the idea for the book come about?

SH: It happened exactly like it is in the play: I saw a picture of a scarlet ibis in a book and I became enamored by its beauty… I am not a person who goes and looks at birds. I’m not a birdwatcher. I had bought this book Earth From Above – it’s a gorgeous book, and because I loved it so much, I bought the version for children. It was in the children’s version that I saw the scarlet ibis. I remember opening it up and thinking there was something about the bird that just insisted on its appearance.

I decided that I would find out more about the scarlet ibis and consequently, I started doing some research. It became unbelievable to me what I was learning in terms of this bird – the wealth of information and the possibilities to write poems. I always felt like the bird was leading me somewhere.

I never, never imagined writing The Scarlet Ibis until I saw that picture in the book. It was almost like something was happening to me that I wish for every poet – that the muse comes to visit them in such a way that it almost carries them. I really have not had an experience like that – where the intention for the book appeared out of nowhere. It was a very odd, very magical experience. That’s why I added the [bird and lady] tricks.

Had you always intended for this book to be produced for the theater? How did you come to know it could work as a performance?

SH: I had asked one rather accomplished poet to do cover copy for the book and he said no –that he didn’t do that anymore – but he gave me a greater gift because he asked, “Do you realize what a theatrical piece this is?”

… I immediately e-mailed Ann [Filmer] and asked if she would read it as a theatre piece. Suddenly I saw the possibilities. She read it saying she couldn’t get it out of her mind. I knew that was a good sign that she would probably take it to the next level.

16th Street Theater’s production of The Scarlet Ibis incorporates a number of artistic elements, including original music and video. How would you compare this performance to the experience of reading these poems on the page?















SH: This performance of it is like a fully fleshed-out version of the book – it’s so unified, it’s got so many facets to it – it informs the audience so much better.

With the added layer of videography, at first I didn’t quite know where to look. And then I just allowed it in with the music and with the language – and once I embraced it as a whole, then I decided I could look at the entire stage and it’s such a rich experience. As a poet, it’s almost overwhelming to have all that happening; to see the different layers of intention in the language highlighted in such a way.

Would you call this piece autobiographical?

SH: Emotionally, it is. With the publication of The Scarlet Ibis, I think what I did is I took my book Mother in Summer and reinvented it. [Mother in Summer] is a very personal book about losing my mother but I think The Scarlet Ibis takes that subject matter to a much higher level. When I see The Scarlet Ibis, it seems the most accurate way of putting what I wanted to say about the loss. And I am struck by that. I knew that was happening while I was writing the book but I had pushed it out of me and gone on to other things since. And it was only when I saw it staged that it really hit hard.

I think it can be enlarged for anyone about any kind of loss and about how you replace it.
In my case, I had this bird visit me.

###

The Scarlet Ibis performs July 24 – August 2, 2008 at 16th Street Theater in Berwyn.

Audience responds to SAINTHOOD and CARLOTTA

Dear Ms Filmer,
I was so moved by Arlene Malinowski's Aiming for Sainthood. It was a beautiful piece of writing and the acting was astonishing. I don't gush, but this show left me speechless. Her story, her energy, her honesty was amazing. I will enjoy coming back to 16th Street Theater. Great job by everyone!!
Grace


Dear Ann,
Another great evening at 16th Street. A terrific show. Our friends were knocked out by the theater, the show, Arlene, and of course, you. They'll definitely be back.
Thanks.

Donna

Ann,
I just wanted you to know how terrific I thought the play "Aiming for
Sainthood" was!!!
Arlene Malinowski's story and acting is awesome!

Mary

Dear Ms. Filmer,

I just wanted to say how much I loved your recent production of Will Dunne’s “The Ascension of Carlotta.” I was talking with my good friend Arlene (Malinowski), and she asked me if I had shared my appreciation with you. I told her that I had wanted to Saturday night but that my courage faltered. Arlene’s mantra—and I love her for this—is that artists love to have their work appreciated by other artists, so I am taking her advice.

I live just down the street on Harlem, and it is nice to finally have a theater in my back yard. And as a working-class boy myself, it was so refreshing to go to a theater dedicated to this kind of work. I had thought that this voice had all but been silenced. (Maybe I am going to the wrong theatres.) Will Dunne’s play presented a range of working-class experiences rather than just presenting a monolithic picture of that experience. It is an insider’s view; I am sure of it. When Romeo—what a great character!—accuses Carlotta of stealing his dream—however small—I felt as if Will Dunne truly knew what he was about. More than anything, I feel, this is the way of things for the children of the working class.

All I wanted to say was, I hope to introduce myself at the next show. I wouldn’t miss Arlene’s show for the world. She also mentioned that you might need people to help out for your summer programming. If you have need of me for anything, please don’t hesitate to write.

Thanks,

Carlo Matos