And some photos (this update is coming together in pieces, instead of the reverse)

First, this is a Lumia, made by Thomas Wilfred in, I think the 1940s.

There aren't many of these around, but the guy who is directing my show in 

Seattle collects them.  He and his uncle have the biggest collection in the world.  

It's better than tv.  It's slightly psychotropic.

But you can't tell that here, this is a still photo.  It moves, the light reacts with these spinning metal 

plates inside, they spin and make very groovy images, really like a lava lamp except

it feels somehow more, uh, what's the word, more complex.

This is a production photo of 'I Never Betrayed the Revolution,' my play in Seattle 

that is going to preview tonight (in a couple of hours).

I wrote the play 24 years ago, half my life nearly, so it is bizarre to see it come

to life like this.

This is a still from the media for 'Hotel Athena,'

part IV of Monsters of the Sea.

We closed this last weekend, the house was always full, we never had enough room,

but everyone who came got cake.  There were some interesting things that came up in regards to the

trance (mentioned in the previous blog).  I'm doing interviews with the performers soon,

in a week or two, and I suspect I'll find out more.

Some of the performers didn't feel like they went into an altered state at all,

others had very intense experiences.  

I like it that the method does not work for everyone.

I am thinking about possession and trance in terms of embodiment and representation.

Not just because those terms all look good in art proposals (I'm not sure if they still

do, I hope there are other words that are hot by now).

But because I am thinking of trance as a metaphor for performance in general, 

inhabiting a role, being inhabited by something else.

The idea of ghosting, doubles, and absence.

Herbert Blau and Peggy Phelan are my favorite theorists this month.

XO

Oh, also, romeo&juliet/VOID will go up in two weeks.  No photo yet, but those are coming, I'm told.

I saw a run-through last night, and it is stunning.

Although I kept ritual out of it (I took out the stage directions),

it didn't stay like that.

A very astute dramaturg, who spent part of her childhood in Central Africa, and has a Bantu middle name, was onto me from the start, and started researching Yoruba culture and cosmology when 

rehearsals started.

So.  The production team has been working with African concepts, particularly West & Central African-derived ritual, and are playing with mirrors quite a bit.

The design team for this is amazing, live degrading video and sound, and many other things

too complicated for here, at least right now.

I have to go see a preview.

This has been a fun month and I am exhausted but no longer tired.

C