Nov01

Happy Halloween!

by bindlepunks on November 1st, 2011 at 8:02 AM

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Oct26

When shit got real: Our American Myth and #occupyoakland

by bindlepunks on October 26th, 2011 at 7:05 PM

Our American Myth Publicity ImageToday, I spent my evening watching the first dress rehearsal of Our American Myth, and my breaks keeping up with the twitter feed from #OccupyOakland.

Even as I’m writing this, I’m seeing the constant pings in the corner of my screen talking about tear gas, solidarity, and the 1%. It’s a little disturbing how immediately relevant the project we started nine months ago has become in the past two weeks, especially given the dark places it goes.

The shooter in our story is definitely part of the 99%.

The ultimate difference between our Citizen and the thousands of voices we’re hearing is that where the #ows and other #occupy movements have chosen peaceful protest and engaging the community, the Citizen ultimately makes the more cowardly decision, solitude and violence. Sitting in the room tonight, though, reading that about what was going on just across the Bay, I had two major trains of thought running through my head.

 

The first was the question that our show is ultimately trying to answer: is political violence ever justified?

Despite the fact that it’s been a question on my mind for months, tonight it hit closer to home than ever before. I was seeing the result of civil disobedience, reading about it live and first-hand. Less than an hour’s drive away, people who could be my friends and neighbors are raising their voices in opposition, and my own government is shutting them down. This isn’t happening in Egypt, or in a documentary about the Civil Rights Movement or Vietnam. This are my people, with my problems, and I largely agree with them, The only thing keeping me off the street are my obligations and my fear.

 

The second thought, and the one that really scared me, was my fear that we were making a hero out of a potential killer.

In the weeks after the Giffords shooting, we discovered that Jared Loughner, her shooter, is most likely mentally ill. We wanted to make our Citizen more identifiable than that – we’re asking the question “why does political violence occur” and we know the answer is more complicated than “because of crazy.” Even though some of the Citizen’s words are my words, from my pen, tonight was the first time I sat there and REALLY saw where he is coming from. That terrified me. I don’t believe we’re anywhere near a situation where violence is necessary. I think it’s so far down the list of options that it should basically never be considered. Tonight, though, I saw how someone could get there. I’m even more impressed with the #occupy movements for being as peaceful as they are, but for the first time, I’m really concerned they could escalate.

 


DONATE TO OUR AMERICAN MYTH

 

 



Bindlepunks is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Bindlepunks must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

OAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

 


To reserve a spot, click above:

OR
call/text (650) 458-PUNK

$10-20 sliding scale at the door.

Dates:

 

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Oct25

Live Sound Design and Mythic Results

by bindlepunks on October 25th, 2011 at 4:32 PM

Clockwise from Left: Alika U. Spencer, Jason Kapoor, Patricia Pitpitan, Celestial Tranquility

I’ve been a sound designer for several years, and one of my common fantasies is to have an infinite sound library at my fingertips during any given moment, so that I can play that one song that someone’s comment reminded me of, or a Three Stooges audio clip when someone fumbles brilliantly. Bindlepunks gave me the opportunity to briefly touch this fantasy.

 

During the rehearsal process of Our American Myth: A Theatrical Experiment, we used what we’ve dubbed Live Sound Design. During the many viewpoints sessions, I watched for opportune moments to find music that fit what the actors were doing in their open viewpoints. Furthermore, I could shape the energy of a viewpoints session by changing the music’s tempo or genre.
One of the more brilliant moments came when the actors were doing lots of slow motion running, and I turned on Chariots of Fire, followed by Thriller, which immediately turned them all to zombie mode.
This is not, of course, how the actual performances will be run, but it allowed me a much more in-depth view into what the energy of the show needed. Usually, I get a designer run-through, and then I show up during tech week with all the sound ready, hoping the energy didn’t change in those weeks I was absent. Because I was in the room for every rehearsal, I was able to grok the show and it’s sound-design needs.

 

I hope that my design will complete the show and add that special theatricality that separates a rehearsal from a performance. Come and see the show, and you can let me know in person if you enjoyed the results of Live Sound Design.

 

-Nicholas J. Ferraro
  Stage manager, sound designer, and political consultant

 

And don’t forget about our new incentives on IndieGoGo

 


DONATE TO OUR AMERICAN MYTH

 

 



Bindlepunks is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Bindlepunks must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

OAM PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

 


To reserve a spot, click above:

OR
call/text (650) 458-PUNK

$10-20 sliding scale at the door.

Dates:

 

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