I'm proud of what we staged for PALABRA last wk-end

The cast members all worked diligently, consistently, to make this production a strong and dynamic presentation of the written word. Rose Ann Meredith, in her role as stage manager, and Rebecca Redfox, who helped with costuming and some props production, were also very instrumental in our show going as smoothly as it did. Some folks mentioned that some of the literary pieces we interpreted were actually growing on them, becoming "favorite" poems or stuck in their head--in a good way.

Although our audience numbers weren't that great, I was pleased with the prevailing response of the lucky few who did make it on Friday or Saturday. Long-time collaborator (in dance, theater, and literary performance) Natalia Dominguez breathlessly shared that our show was beautiful and was received like "a box of chocolates--no two pieces alike" but each uniquely delicious and tasty in its own way.

Fellow poet and long-time friend of over 20 years, Kendall McCook sent the following words by email after seeing our Saturday performance:

"I had such a wonderful time last night at the show, The music man was perfect. The entire cast was so well-practiced and in spirit with the poems. Your Mexican grandma ironing seemed real, made my own arthritic bones ache. Thanks for all the hard work and for the opportunity to feel the power of art on a Saturday night in North Fort Worth."

The Friday night performance was videotaped, in its entirety, by Logan Gilpin of Under the Tower Productions. Here now is an excerpt from the show, specifically our interpretation of the poem "Help Me Believe We Will Not Be the Last People on Earth" by Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli.

Untitled from Logan Gilpin on Vimeo.

In the near future, I hope to upload more segments from PALABRA to YouTube for your watching/listening enjoyment.

All in all, I am quite pleased with the results of our hard labor and, most importantly, feel that my love for and curiosity about the great literature of Latino America has grown immensely. I will savor the poems and prose pieces from PALABRA for the rest of my life.

Thanks to Adam Adolfo and the folks with Artes de la Rosa for seeing fit to produce and otherwise support this unique presentation the written word.

Opening tonight! PALABRA at the Rose Marine Theater in FW, TX

19 poems, prose pieces, excerpt from a prison memoir, and scene from a play--each interpreted and dramatized for the stage by 8 talented performers who themselves are unique writers and musicians, dancers and actors. Two shows only: Friday and Saturday, December 3rd and December 4th, at the Rose Marine Theater, 1440 N. Main, Fort Worth, Texas. For more info, call the box office/theater at 817.624.8333.
(Or visit director Tammy Gomez' Facebook page: Tammy Melody Gomez.)



PALABRA: The Written Word, Spoken (La palabra escrita, hablada)
Viernes 3 y sábado 4 de diciembre @ 7:30 pm

Una noche de poesía latina nos presenta la palabra escrita de poetas hispanos.
Acompáñanos en esta producción especial en la que participan actores, bailarines y músicos interpretando piezas escritas por poetas de España, Latinoamérica y Estados Unidos.

Dirigido por Tammy Gomez. Evento Bilingüe.
Admisión General $15. Estudiantes y Adultos Mayores $10.
Para boletos o mas informacion llame al Teatro Rose Marine al 817-624-8333.
Tambien pueden comprar su boletos en linea www.rosemarinetheater.com.

Mourning dress

For !Ay! by Lorca.Imagine this with a greatly oversized crying handkerchief.

Scroll down to November 3, 2008 entry.

Otto Rene Castillo's legacy and inspiration lives on through...

the Castillo Theatre in New York City.

Love the look of this show--scenography, lighting, staging

Go to "The Laramie Project" and click on (Photo Gallery).

The Gotan Project

Video for their song, "Mi Confesion."

ideas

dancer in front of wall of doors

Jose Marti poem

No. 5 from Simple Verses - by Jose Marti

If you see a hill of foam
It is my poetry that you see:
My poetry is a mountain
And is also a feather fan.

My poems are like a dagger
Sprouting flowers from the hilt;
My poetry is like a fountain
Sprinkling streams of coral water.

My poems are light green
And flaming red;
My poetry is a wounded deer
Looking for the forest's sanctuary.

My poems please the brave:
My poems, short and sincere,
Have the force of steel
Which forges swords.

excerpt from DROWN by Junot Diaz

Junot Díaz, Fiction,
“How To Date A Brown Girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)

Wait until your brother, your sisters, and your mother leave the apartment.
You've already told them that you were feeling too sick to go to Union City to visit that tia who likes to squeeze your nuts. And even though your moms knew you weren't sick you stuck to your story until finally she said, Go ahead and stay, malcriado.

Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator. If the girl's from the Terrace, stack the boxes in the crisper. If she's from the Park or Society Hill, then hide the cheese in the cabinet above the oven, where she'll never see it. Leave a reminder under your pillow to get out the cheese before morning or your moms will kick your ass.

Take down embarrassing photos. Since your toilet can't flush toilet paper, put the bucket with all the crapped-on toilet paper under the sink. Shower, comb, dress. Sit on the couch and watch TV. If she's an outsider her father will bring her, maybe her mother. If she's a white girl, you're sure you'll at least get a hand job. After an hour she arrives and says her mom wants to meet you. Run a hand through your hair like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.

White girls are the ones you want most, aren't they? If she's a halfie don't be surprised that her mother is the white one. If the girl's from around the way, take her to El Cibao for dinner. If she's not, Wendy's will do. Hope that you don't run into your nemesis, Howie, the two-hundred pound Puerto Rican kid with the two killer mutts. A halfie will tell you her parents met in the Movement. Back then, she'll say, people thought it was a radical thing to do. You'll wonder how she feels about Dominicans.

Pollutants have made Jersey sunsets one of the wonders of the world. Point it out. Get serious. Watch TV. A local girl will have hips and a nice ass but won't be quick about letting you touch her. A white girl might give it up right then. Don't stop her. She'll say, I like Spanish guys, and even though you've never been to Spain, say, I like you. You'll be with her until about eight-thirty, and then she'll want to wash up. After she leaves the phone will ring. Don't answer it. Don't fall asleep. Put the government cheese back in its place before your moms kills you.

"Gezeiten" - my introduction to Sasha Waltz

Amazing.

Google Sasha Waltz.

working with vertical space

Wall fabrics are part of set, eventually get peeled off...

...by the performers and pulled on as garment pieces.

Time to Send Someone Away - Jose Gonzalez

Taped live at Blanton Museum of Art in Austin. Wish I'd been there. (sigh)

Yes, i'm gonna go there.

Tabletop hand dancing.

Thinkin' about movement...

...and how our vocalized expressions may be enveloped with bodily motion.

I always, always, go back to butoh.

This morning, early to work, I took a little time to watch butoh dancers via YouTube videos. This is one that i will need to reference again and again.

Ikeda Carlotta - a great butoh dancer.

New project, new post!

Palabra: The Written Word, Spoken is the title of my forthcoming performance project, to be unveiled at the Rose Marine Theater on Friday and Saturday, December 3rd and 4th, 2010.

It seems that it's been a while since I've directed a spoken word show for the stage that involves more than a coupla performers and writers. I'm very much looking forward to this new exploration of word--specifically the published poetry of Latin American writers, both passed and present--and am pleased and honored by the invitation of Adam Adolfo and the RMT/Artes de la Rosa crew to create this production.

Already, I've been studying poems/poets whose work we will likely embody in live theatrical recitations. It's been fun traveling around town with copies of Neruda, Roque Dalton, and Victor Hernandez Cruz poems in my backpack--snatching brief interludes of reading here and there, on the bus, during lunch breaks, etc.

Also, I've been making lists to make myself lista: lists of performers to be invited to present w/ me; lists of poems that will make the final cut; lists of rehearsal dates. I'm hoping this process will be smooth and sweet.

All posts below this one relate to the She: Bike/Spoke/Love project.

Thank you!