Thursday, August 14, 2008

First Halloween Story Board Meeting 2008

In Attendance:  Soozin, Amy T., Mark, Douglas, Emily, Arwen
General notes from meeting ...  group discussed the need to have these initial meetings to brainstorm ideas for the show. Everyone was encouraged to participate but, not hold on to any idea to tightly as the Barebones process in many ways is an on going brainstorm  until the actual show is up and running.   The ability of the group to give and take is very important to the process.  We also had a short discussion on the production roles for the 2008 Halloween Show.  

In the past the brainstorm process has often begun with a big  Commmunity Brainstorm  held in June or July.   Because everything is starting later this year, a decision was made to start with a smaller group to come up with theme. Then extend the process for feedback and brainstorming to the lager group thought this Blog and a series of community meetings...hopefully the blog can be an open forum to add input and read about how the process is unfolding.
The brainstorm started with a review/ recap of the 2008 Barebones Retreat Notes...
Themes that were remembered were addiction, how are we addicted to things, what does addiction mean to us,  desert, deserted places,  war zones,  abandoned places, wastelands, t.s. elliot "waste land",  harpies, monsters......
Following the review... we moved into where we are now ... what is the interest of the group?  What images are people thinking about... story lines, themes....
  • Mark talked about researching and thinking about the giant mythological bird the " ZIZ" a Giant bird that is part of the end of days.  He has had some ideas of creating a giant bird that lays and egg and the cracking of the egg reveals an egg that hatches a giant chick... that has wings that can spread over the entire audience.    According to the Myths the "ZIZ"  had wings so large it could block out the sky.  Is a Hebrew and Syrian myth.
  • Soozin has been thinking about the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts.  Thinking about it in particular to the question what is the Golden Fleece and why are we questing for it?? Is this a for of addiction?  Especially thinking about how this might connect with current events// Four years ago we took everyone to the river with candles to call out their HOPES for the future as the NORNS took them to the other world.... this was all just days before the election.  If we are questing for the Golden Fleece... maybe a result is that the fleece really isn't the answer.  Maybe something that has to so with community... .... also Jason and the Argonauts has lots of possibilities for adventures.
  • What does this story have to do with the season... Halloween.... mark noted that the season is about the thinnest of the veil between the worlds  maybe the story is being told by skeletons or ghosts  showing us the age old stories and what has been important and finding ways to connect it to the present day.  
  • Emily the fantastic nature of the story is really great  .. has death, monsters....
  • Scariness is important!!
  • Mark heard lindsay this years show needs Vultures  .....
  • Amy T. is very interested in harpies....read a quote from "Jason and the Argonauts" based on what the Harpies represent.
  • There were thoughts on the idea of doing a Greek Myth.... interesting.... Emily thinks it would be good to have a Greek Chorus.... maybe they could be singers announcing scenes??  
  • There have been a lot of comments about having more songs in the show... having a chorus... could be a good way to utilize this request...There was some discussion about not having togas as clothing... maybe making it more modern.. somehow this led to the dance styles . Something in this led to a discussion thinking about the dances of Isadora Duncan... pre modern dance??? created using toga style outfits... based on the ideas of freedom from corsets, health and wellness of women.
  • Could be good to incorporate Greek Music and Greek Dances
  • Arwen told an abbreviated version  of the Jason and the Argonauts story... which has numerous adventures or islands that the Argonauts travel to, which ends with Jason coming back to claim his kingdom and betraying Medea.
  • Douglas mentioned that the early story was not about Jason at all but the called the Argonauts... and was about the group and it challenges.   Douglas also mentioned that Julian was the first to introduce this story last year... but, had a different take on the story...
  • A thought was posed to the group to think about what is the scale of the show... is it human sized actor based?  or is it puppets large scale...???  maybe the Argonauts could be kids.. skewing the scale and making puppets seem even bigger????  Maybe these Argonauts are superheroes. Trick or treaters?
  • Towards the end of the discussion there was some  play on the idea of Medea and Media... our love hate with media...  
  • Is this part of television... a voice that comes from it ???? or cell phones  are we addicted to media???
  • The group then set up a schedule for future storyboard meetings.. These meeting will be held in two parts  7:30 -  8:30 discussion on the storyboard homework assignments,  8:30 - ? movie Jason and the Argonauts, version from the 60's.  We would like to show and watch different versions of the film at various locations and have community members come and watch them and help further the storyboard process.   
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday August 20th in the back yard of David Pitman, on the big screen as part of the Monoplex.  The address is 2224 26th Ave South.  Storyboard discussion 7:30 - 8:30,  Movie 8:30 on...
We are hoping to show other versions at Bedlam on Tuesday August 26th, and Sept 2.
Homework for this Wednesday August 20th .  Read the story of, " Jason and the Argonauts"  come with a story of one of the adventures you thought was particularly interesting.  Think about how to modernize, scale,  puppets, people (actors),  who are the audience in relationship to the your story?   

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