Day Three: Buran Summit

Yesterday we began with a workshop conducted by Eric - who is working on a methodology of performance that engages both the physical and emotional life of the actor. He is particularly interested in using this methodology in drama therapy. Participants were led through a workshop where they played with and discovered rhythmic patterns based off of key words Eric had chosen to use. I had to leave half way through the workshop to pick up Ben at the airport, who joined us from Kansas City yesterday, so I did not get to stay for the whole session. I am sure that there will be further written on this by any of the numerous participants communing here in Albuquerque this week.

In the afternoon we workshopped a new play by Josh, or rather Josh gave us a little bit of "Greek Mythology 101" before jumping off and talking about his own process and means of attack on his new work. After seeing a production of Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" last year he was invigorated by the experience but not fully satisfied by the script's outcome. This sent him into what has been almost a year of writing and investigating and sharing and getting down to writing a triptych of plays centered on Eurydice, Orpheus and Persephone. Josh spoke breathlessly about his work and although we did not get a chance to read it out loud or get it on its feet, a very important dialogue occurred for Josh as the playwright. These type of dialogues will continue throughout the week, both in Summit sessions and outside of them.

One of the most exciting elements of this week is Tricklock Company's Revolution Festival - a three week long festival that brings in theatre companies from all over the world.

In the evening the company attended the Tricklock Company Revolutions welcome party, where we perhaps drank a bit too much and spoke a bit too loud, but in the process met members of the Polish company Teatr Figur, who are in Albuquerque to co-produce a show with Tricklock.

All in and all in was another wonderful day of work and creative exploration.

As fast paced and busy as this week has been, these daily updates are certainly brief and only distill the sweeping events of the day. Once the summit is over I hope to go into more specifics about the overall happenings - workshops, discussions, roundtables, new theories, new texts- and how they can be shared and extended to our sallelite system that reaches from Los Angeles across the country to Kansas City, onto New York City and across the waters to Lithuania.

As it was said by Summer, co-artistic director of Tricklock, last night, "Buran is so different from anything I've encountered in American theatre - you have the potential to have Burans occuring in different places and different times all over the world. And that's a rare and special thing." Everyone who was in on this conversation agreed.

And I have to say, from my own eyes and participating in the work being done this week: Yes, this is very much possible.

-Adam