little helena’s big adventure…

Painting by Marcel Duchamp

Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,
A gold of lemon, root and rind,
She sifts in sunlight down the stairs
With nothing on. Nor on her mind.

We spy beneath the banister
A constant thresh of thigh on thigh–
Her lips imprint the swinging air
That parts to let her parts go by.

One-woman waterall, she wears
Her slow descent like a long cape
And pausing, on the final stair
Collects her motions into shape.

X. J. Kennedy

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we talked about this painting this morning during my principles of design class.  I had never heard of the painting or really the artist- Marcel Duchamp.  His “work and ideas had considerable influence on the development of post- World War II Western art, and whose advice to modern art collectors helped shape the tastes of the Western art world.”  I was lucky enough to have my computer in class, so I could look up the picture.  I love how broken down the piece is.  Even with the broken aspect of it there is great cohesiveness and unity.  There is such elegant movement.

later today, i checked out the book “The Theatre Posters of James McMullan” from Gregg’s library.  I started looking through it and found a quote from Jim McMullan that really connected with me and what I felt in response to the painting “Nude Descending a Staircase.”

Jim McMullan: “I don’t invent from thin air, but from my response to real physical information…The vitality of the human body, closely observed in its idiosyncrasies, is what has always fascinated me about the posters of Toulouse-Lautrec…the body itself became a quickly understood gesture like the movement of a mime or a dancer.”

I can see what he is talking about,and I can see it Duchamp’s work as well.  The human form has obviously been a subject for design and art since there was art; and it will continue to be.  Personally, i’ve always been daunted by the human form.  I’ve taken classes and workshops and had live models… there is so much to take into consideration when drawing each line.  If it is off by just a centimeter the whole shape is off.  I love the words McMullan uses: vitality, idiosyncrasies…etc.  I also greatly admire Toulouse-Lautrec.  I can see admiration for Laurtrec in McMullan’s work.  There is such focus and attention payed to the emotion behind the body position and facial expressions.  So much is said with so little.

I was lucky enough to be able to talk to Jim McMullan for about 20 minutes this past Friday.  The converstaion started off slowly and kinda generically.  I could tell he had answered these types of questions many times before; and he was hoping for more intriguing and personal questions.  I reasured to him that I didn’t want to sound like a broken record and what I really wanted to hear was his story, not just a formula as how to make it as an artist.  Be bluntly told me…”You just have to be talented.”

This made me question though… what exaclty is talent?  Some people are so talented, but are never really “discovered.” I thinks a combination of being talented, of course; but also being in the right place at the right time.  Jim McMullan told me that he was working at drawing book covers, and doing theatre posters just came about because a friend (another artist who designed theatre posters) passed along his name to the Lincoln Center Theatre.

My conversation with Jim McMullan puts things into a more “blunt” perspective.  Jim was very to the point.  He said he’s always been a devoted reader, and is focused on the “density of writing” and interested in “serious dense subject matter.”

He’s very grateful that he’s had the opportunity to do what he does.  He describes designing the theatre posters as a way to reach the audience and pull them in. Each poster is an identity- an opinion.  He also told me something that I never really thought about before. The posters make the the actors feel good about the production. It’s true- I love seeing the posters…i love seeing them go around campus, and people stopping and looking at them.

I had a really great talk with him, and I’m so grateful.

free time…? what is this? i actually have free time.

(this is a koala napping… i thought it was appropriate…)

well its a lovely Tuesday afternoon, and i just woke from a wonderful nap. I can’t remember the last time i was able to have a nap. Obviously since the show isn’t running this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday… i actually have some time to get things sorted out in my life haha. Things have been so hectic, its weird to have a time when it’s not now. I dont really know what to do with my self.

I hope this break will just give me the motivation and rest I need to finish the play as strong as I possible can. This past weekend was rough. There were nights when I was really proud, and really did want to perform for the audience…and then some nights were a little less- not that shows were bad, but I just didn’t feel like we were doing it complete justice. i really want to finish the show of with a bang. i want my emotion and strength to be at high point (and not speak too fast, to follow a note hah) I really want to push myself to prove to myself, to gregg, to whole cast and production team that I can be Joan, and give my strongest performance yet…

wish me luck, actually lets hope i break appendages…

alright…well the show has opened. it went well, and i am proud of the show. the road has been rough; very rough…but sadly, and some what thankfully, the end is near hah.

i know a lot of people have been coming out of the theatre not know at all what they just saw on stage. the play is weird. i know this. i heard about kids coming out of the theatre and saying, “how am i going to be able to write 3 pages about that?..” still, i think you could write many pages about this piece. Not really just the piece, but the idea behind it. what if the world really boiled down to a world where everyone was against one another. but i really hope it makes people think, at least.

its funny- i have a hard time describing the show. when people ask…”oh, whats it about?” i always seem to be a little loss for words. i usually say- its an interesting anti-war piece. i had a really different experience working on this show. i think its some-what refreshing that i can’t describe the show very well. it has many different and important ideas behind it: relationships, family, war, struggle, survival… and the list could go on and on…thats probably why is so hard to describe…its amazing how caryl churchill can put so much into only 50 minutes…

well had another weekend full of rehearsal. things are definetly coming along. Mitch and i got to work with even more props. its a little hard to grasp everything and keep in mind that I am actually constructing a hat from scratch. i really admire the process. I cant wait till we finally get to use the actual props. I feel like that will help me understand exactly what i am doing. gregg keeps talking about the precision about the work… and i want to be so comfortable with my work that i would actually be able to carry on a conversation with a co-worker and still sew on buchrum. i have to deal with a steamer on stage, and i am really intrigued to see use how it looks. i really think it will create a whole new texture to the show. i really want to keep pushing my self with this production, its been draining so far, but it know if i keep pushing myself i will make choices that i would never have made if i was just settling for what i had done. i’m proud of the show so far… and i’m awaiting when things really come together.

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i realized i haven’t talked about ashley, the mini me (the young Joan), at all so far involving the process of the show. she provides such a great happiness and joy, and almost simplicity of the show. it always makes me smile when she insists on giving every single person in the cast and team a hug when she arrives and when she leaves. I was lucky enough to join her and her mother in down town fredericksburg and the hyperion coffee shop with Steve on friday. its adorable how much Ashley and her mother interact. they are so similar in so many ways, even though there are so many years between them. it helps me see how i could see myself, Joan, as a young child. i’m so impressed with ashley. she has done a great job so far, and i can’t wait to see her in her adorable night gown on stage being her adorable self.

i had a great moment with her back stage this sunday. after we had finished the second act, and i was waiting to go on in the third act…she came up to me and again gave me a hug, and she said “you’re doing great!… but…i dont get the show.” it was so sweet and genuine. and I told her, “well sometimes i don’t get the show either. but soon enough things will come together and hopefully it will make more sense to you.” and she responded with, “yes! i’m so excited.” i love ashley and i’m so glad she has had this great opportunity to do something so adventurous at such a young age. when i was talking with them at the coffee shop i was saying that Ashley is going to have much more experience with acting then i did when i started college. She’s got a head start haha.

apparently ashley’s mother wants to go back to school and she wants to start taking classes again…and/or dabble in theatre and art… but she’s not sure what she wants to be when she grows up…

and ashley said, “But….Mommy, you’re already grown up.”

She replied, “No, ashley. I actually have a lot left to do.”