posted by Ronee Penoi, New Works Senior Producing Fellow at Arena Stage's American Voices New Play Institute. The Foundry Theatre's "The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue" is a Distinguished New Play Development Project Selection.
Its crunch-time at the Foundry, as The Provenance of Beauty goes into previews this weekend. This past Tuesday we opened our bus doors to the press, and I went along for the ride. The most noticeable difference to me, having taken the tour before, is that traffic on a Tuesday morning is NOT traffic a Saturday or Sunday afternoon… it was a very different show. Due to traffic, trucks blocking the road, and people double-parking, we took a number of detours (Casey, our stage manager, negotiated the traffic beautifully, traffic map in hand), while still embracing these changes as part of the unique experience that is Provenance. But, for every obstacle that was less-than-ideal, there'd be a happy accident - during Tuesday's run, an open fire hydrant was spraying water up into the air, giving the bus an unexpected shower effect as it drove by. Or, in one instance, a new detour gave inspiration for a more interesting route. Good or bad, a team of people in the back of the bus makes gut-instinct decisions about how to respond - changing the volume of the outside mics, the audio track, the live actress on mic, telling Mary our bus driver to drive faster or slower, or change the route… Negotiating these challenges is a part of the piece itself - and what makes no performance like another.
From a producing standpoint, it certainly feels like we're not in Kansas anymore. Yesterday, members of the production staff went to Coney Island, where the bus is parked, and gave the bus a makeover before preview weekend. Cleaning bus floorboards with seagulls cawing outside, is not what most people would think about as an integral moment of a production process. Even setting up the box office is a challenge, as we're not in a theatre space, but a church classroom that changes, given the day and time. Even finding the language to market the piece clearly and truthfully is a new experience. This adventure creates its own sets of rules and needs, and everything is new territory.
All this is happening while Melanie Joseph and Shawn Sides (our co-directors) still have to keep an eye on what this juxtaposition of elements - the poetic text, the reality outside, the actress, the video and sound experience- what all the elements say together artistically. The Foundry has a history of doing great work in the face of infeasibility - on the Brooklyn Bridge, in a diner… and yes, this is another chapter. But every challenge is different, and just because challenges have been faced in the past doesn't make it any easier this time around. It really feels like 'Team Bus' over here- and we're on the last leg of this trip. Almost there…
See what the press has to say about Provenance here:
Village Voice
NY Daily News
The L Magazine
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