Workshop: Site-Specific Creation Lab – Postponed!

September 16, 2019October 28, 2019 | directorebeccer

This workshop has been postponed due to wildfires and bad air quality on October 27. Stay safe! We’ll reschedule this workshop for early 2020.

Come play with us — outside the box!

Peter Brook famously conceived of the theater as an “empty space,” but in site-specific performance, the space is anything but empty. In this workshop, we’ll explore the rewards and peculiarities of creating performances for non-traditional spaces, both public and private, indoors and out. We’ll offer prompts, provocations and structures for creating new work, and you’ll move, write, reflect, question, and share. Together we’ll build strategies for integrating the rich layers of a space to inform, inspire, and infuse our work.

This all-levels workshop is for performers, dancers, writers, and theater-makers aged 15+ with an interest in creatively exploring the world around us. Whether you’re a veteran of site-specific work or have never heard of such a thing, our explorations will challenge you to try something new.

THE BASICS:

What: Site-Specific Creation Lab
When: Saturday or Sunday TBD 2020, 12pm – 3pm
Where: Port Costa, California

More details:

Cost is $40, which pays the workshop leader and supports both Idiot String and the Port Costa Conservation Society. Residents of Port Costa, Crockett, or Tormey pay just $10 thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Crockett Community Foundation.
PAYMENT & CANCELLATION POLICY: Payment is due 7 calendar days before your workshop. You may sign up within the 7-day window, as long as you make payment when you register. You may cancel your registration up to 48 hours before the workshop for a full refund; cancellations made within 48 hours cannot be refunded.

This workshop is part of Idiot String’s residency in Port Costa sponsored by the Port Costa Conservation Society.

After the workshop, explore the wonderful and tiny town of Port Costa, where you can hike the hills, relax with a book, or discover whimsical artwork and fabulous antiques — making the whole day an invigorating experience.

We are excited to play with you!

WHAT TO BRING:

Water bottle
Notebook or journal and pen(cil)
Snacks if you need them
Closed-toe shoes and clothes you can move in
Rain or sun protection (hat, sunscreen, etc) and anything else you’ll need to be comfortable outdoors — we won’t stay outside if rain is heavy, but may be outdoors in a light drizzle.

Rebecca Longworth (workshop leader) is co-founder and artistic director of Idiot String. As a theatre-maker, Rebecca is dedicated to creating original ensemble performances and rich audience experiences. She co-creates and directs each of the Samuel Peaches Peripatetic Players’s productions, and devises original performance with the Hatch Collective. Other directing credits include New Conservatory Theatre Center, Ragged Wing Ensemble, SF Theatre Pub, Boxcar Theatre, Theatre Q, Dragon Productions, El Gato Family Theatre and Jump! Theatre, where she served as artistic director for four years. Rebecca has performed with Ragged Wing Ensemble, We Players, and FoolsFURY, and has also designed motion graphics and projections for Jump! Theatre, Crowded Fire, Custom Made Theatre, and Shotgun Players. Rebecca teaches acting and theater-making to students of all ages throughout the Bay Area, including workshops and residencies with Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, and San Francisco Opera Guild. She holds an MA in Text & Performance Studies from King’s College/R.A.D.A. and is a member of the 2009 Lincoln Center Directors Lab.

A Port Costa sneak peek at ELIXIR

Against a backdrop of an ornately carved wooden bar decorated with barren branches, Josephine, dressed in dark lace with a locket at her neck, receives a drop of mysterious liquid from Doctor Vitae, who wears a top hat and gently holds a vial.

Image | October 5, 2017October 8, 2017 | directorebeccer

On September 30, we accepted the invitation of artist Bethany Carlson Mann to present excerpts from Elixir of Life at the opening of Bethany’s art show, Fairytales for Feral Children, now on exhibit at the Burlington Hotel.

Serena Morelli photographed the event — enjoy! — and don’t forget… Elixir of Life starts October 20!

Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) consults with Doctor Vitae (Julie Douglas) in ELIXIR OF LIFE.

Hobble (r, Joan Howard) watches over Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) in a scene from ELIXIR OF LIFE

Brother Calvin (Sam Bertken) and Anita (Kristen Matia) in a scene from ELIXIR OF LIFE.

Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) holds herself aloof in a scene from ELIXIR OF LIFE (2017). Photo by Serena Morelli.

Doctor Vitae (Julie Douglas) offers a helpful tonic to Josephine (Maria A. Leigh) in ELIXIR OF LIFE.

Elixir Inspirations

September 22, 2017March 3, 2019 | directorebeccer

Take a peek inside some of what’s inspired our development of Elixir of Life, playing October 20 – November 12.

Port Costa, California

Our friends at the Bull Valley Roadhouse, Burlington Hotel, and Port Costa Conservation Society generously co-sponsored three weekends of on-site devising and research in Port Costa, California. There we had the privilege to study the history of Port Costa and the surrounding area, and to talk to residents about their experiences of living in a small community amidst the larger Bay Area.

With a generous helping of poetic license, we’ve based aspects of our characters and the town of Port Promise on stories we’ve gathered in Port Costa, and hope to honor Port Costans sense of pride in their community and sense of connection to one another in the themes of our play.

Some photos from our time in Port Costa: (l-r) examples of artist Wendy Addison’s Victorian-inspired poster designs for her shop, Theatre of Dreams; two photos (both courtesy of Wendy Addison), one featuring some Port Costans around the turn of the century; the other a circus parade through town (notice the elephant!) from the early 20th century; and the Elixir workshop ensemble outside the Port Costa School.

A sampling of posters and cards created by Wendy Addison for her Theatre of Dreams.

Vintage Port Costans in front of their shop. Photo courtesy of Wendy Addison.

The circus arriving in Port Costa, California, circa 1915. Photo courtesy of Wendy Addison.

Elixir of Life workshop cast in Port Costa, May 2017.

Crockett Historical Museum

We hear that it is also called the “Hysterical Museum”… and the wealth of artifacts, photos, ephemera, and oddities is a wonder to behold. There we were inspired by the good works and mysterious rites of fraternal orders, old pharmaceutical bottles, and the sense that storytelling can take many forms. Here’s a fun article about the museum from Roadside America. And photos we took there: