Ms. Alison Carey: Playwright of A RESTING PLACE

Paths among the world’s small professional theater groups wind and intertwine with unpremeditated complicity. The reach is impressive. They watch each other when opportunities present through pilgrimage and conversation. Notes labeled: “later”  are jotted on small pieces of paper dropped in the desk drawer from which the hat tricks are pulled.

Bill George originally met Alison when her troop was performing in West Virginia. It was a journey, driving there with his son Sam simply to see the performance. Introductions, conversation and the general camaraderie of actors and carnies a long way from home built a beginning.

Perhaps the actors craft is a more precarious path than the road not taken.  As the road actually taken. John Wilkes Booth, P.T. Barnum, Josie Earp. Dan Rice. An adventure not for the timid.  But as I said: the demons and the angels fully noted, underlined, and folded. Carefully, labeled: “maybe some time” and everyone goes back to making what passes for a living in the world of brands, instant celebrities and “reality TV stars” exemplifying the old saw: “if you’re so dumb, why ain’t ya rich?”

Something happened years later. Pardon our French. Maestro Jacques Lecoq arrived – during the FESTIVAL OF CREATION, hosted by Touchstone and Lehigh University Theater– a massive celebration of his career and all the international movement theatre troops that it occasioned.

Lecoq regarded the detritus of the Bethlehem Steel works saying to Touchstone Ensemble members and former students at his Paris School, Mark McKenna & Jennie Gilrain (Mr. &Mrs.): “Something should be done there.”  Again noted to the Hat Trick drawer.

Bill remembered Alison and critical mass flirted from the ethers. Love bloomed into what would be Steelbound, the community based play about the end of the steel plant. Measuring community collaboration as success for community-based theater … Steelbound rang true.

So when the Civil War/Cemetery Project pecked its way out of its egg, old relationships beckoned. Old allegiances and alliances.

Its feet solidly beside the old, moving like dancers celebrating a solid performance by dancing at the cast party.

—-
H. Scott Heist
journalist in residence
Touchstone Theatre’s A RESTING PLACE

© h scott heist 12

Contributions are the work of H. Scott Heist, journalist in residence. Both photographs and copy are reserved. Use is by permission for the promotion and appreciation of the A RESTING PLACE project. All inquiries and comments are both invited and appreciated.

Cast Forward

A Taste of the Traffic

I wanted to take a moment and let you all know about the amazing turn out we had for our A Resting Place auditions.  I’m pleased to inform you all that we had over 100 people turn out over our two days of auditions.  It was great for all of us here at Touchstone to see such a large turn out. Touchstone has been dreaming of a cast of hundreds and now that vision is within our reach.  There will still be callback auditions for specialty acts and those who could not make it for the first round.  So it’s still not too late to join in on the fun!

What gets me charged is thinking about how many more people I will have connected to, played with, and created with during the course of the next several months.  I have been working on The Civil War/ Cemetery Project for over a year now, and up until now the majority of my work has been conducted alone in a room with lots of newspaper microfilm at my finger tips.  My favorite character from the research was a man named James Piefer.  He grew up on New Street and was one of the first men to sign up for the Civil War in Bethlehem, and on of the last to leave the war at its end.  There is an excellent collection of his letters and diary entries called Bethlehem Boy; it’s a must read for anyone looking for an insiders perspective of the Civil War.  He makes an appearance in A Resting Place, along with many more.  The time has come to share what I’ve learned so far and what I will learn as I get to know a hundred new people.    All this learning will be the basis for the blog posts yet to come.

As the cast begins to assemble, and the company moves into the big push, I can’t help thinking  about how exhilarating, educational and rewarding the upcoming months will be.  In addition to being a part of the cast, I will also be documenting our creative process from the inside.  This will be my first flirtation with film making, so I’m hoping to find others who have a love of documentary film to join my ranks.  The  forces are gathering and a great journey lies ahead.

If you would like to be a part of A Resting Place you should contact Emma Chong at emma@touchstone.org or 610-867-1689

From a Former Slave to a Former Master

A scan of the original letter, as posted in the New York Daily Tribune

It’s Black History Month and the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, and what better way to embrace both than by taking a look at Mister Jourdan Anderson, a former slave from Tennessee, and his rich, bone-dry, deadpan letter to his former master, Colonel P.H. Anderson?

The letter was dictated and published in the 1865 New York Daily Tribune. In recent years, it has become a quiet, sparkling internet gem, as engaging a read now as it was a hundred and fifty years ago.

In it, Anderson cordially greets his former master:

I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. [...] Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living.

He continues:

I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. [...] Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

The letter is well worth reading in its entirety as a triumph of civility and wit.

Audition for A RESTING PLACE!

TOUCHSTONE WANTS YOU!

…TO BE A PART OF OUR UPCOMING PLAY ABOUT BETHLEHEM AND THE CIVIL WAR

Seeking performers of any age, gender and  race for this large-­‐scale theatrical event premiering the weekend of April 12, 2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the war. We want as many people involved as possible! See more below, for what involvement will be best for you.

OPEN AUDITIONS

Sunday, January 29th 2-­‐4PM & Monday, January 30th 7-­‐9PM

for

A Resting Place

by

Alison Carey

at

Touchstone Theatre

321 E. 4th Street, Bethlehem

No experience necessary. Initial meetings in February; rehearsals begin in March. For more information or to reserve an audition time, contact Emma Chong at emma@touchstone.org or (610) 867-­‐1689.

NOTE: This is a community-­‐based project and all roles are unpaid; Reliable transportation required.

PRINCIPAL ROLES A range of speaking roles—largely Civil War era characters. Help bring Bethlehem’s history to life! These roles may require more rehearsal time, memorization and experience. CHORUS Both singers and non-­‐singers wanted. A great way to get involved! Speaking and non-­‐speaking roles available. Enjoy the thrill of live performance!

RE-­‐ENACTORS and EQUESTRIANS Soldiers and non-­‐soldiers! Have a horse? Drive a wagon? Get involved and strut your stuff!

SPECIALTY ACTS Are you a gymnast? Fire-­‐spinner? Magician? The play features a traveling circus from the 1860’s, and we are looking to fill it with carnival-­‐esque performers: Jugglers, clowns, stilt-­‐ walkers, fire throwers, exotic dancers, tattooed men and ladies. Show us your special talent!

MUSICIANS Did you play in your high school marching band? Dust off the old instrument! We are seeking brass, wind, percussion, accordion and more for the circus marching band!

Sunday, January 29th 2pm-­‐4pm & Monday, January 30th 7pm–9pm

 

Battlefield / Dateline: Gettysburg

Dateline: Gettysburg 10.12.11

Very little could be more different. No one was shooting at us.

The air: warm and clear. Bright Autumn sun. Pigments changing in leaves, and silence, enough to hear breeze through the trees. We could see for miles.

The battle of Gettysburg was different. Fought in early July. Almost touching Independence Day. Typical Pennsylvania heat. Typical unbearable humidity

Summer haze and summer sun blotted away by black powder smoke from cannons, rifles, muskets, explosions. Screams of the dying countered by screams of the attacking.

Surveying the Community

© H. Scott Heist

Starting today and over the next few weeks Touchstone will be reaching out to the community to answer some questions about the Civil War and Bethlehem.  Today was my first day out in the field, and while I had many people who walked right past or insisted they did not have the time, I found eleven people (in three hours) who took the time to chat with me.  Below you will find the questions being asked and few of the answers I have collected so far.

1.  What does it mean to be an American?

Answers: Freedom of speech, personal freedom, freedom of choice and expression, being blessed and lucky to have those freedoms, not worrying about basic necessities, the ability to steer clear of politics and take care of the people close to you the chance to set goals and work towards that goal but not preventing others from working towards their goals, a chance a person to be who they are, freedom to protest.

 2.  Are you aware that more Americans died in the Civil War than any other American War? What do you think the conflict was about and why would a nation set upon itself with such deadly ferocity?

Answers: The war was about agrarian vs manufacturing cultures, innovation vs. tradition, slavery, North vs. South, states rights, people being able to believe what they want to believe, economics, religion, security, the government trying to control the population.

 3.  What are some issues worth fighting a war for?

Answers: Preservation of our way of life, safety, health care, opportunity, freedom, justice, self defense, equality, freedom of expression, to maintain our rights, if a group of individuals are being systematically wiped out, nothing the older I get, the more stupid war seems.

4.  Do you see connections between the Civil War and the Bethlehem you live in today?  If so, what are they?

© H. Scott Heist

Answers: The sense of entitlement, the division between the haves and the have nots, people here in Bethlehem stick to their own and don’t take kindly to outsiders, there are still class wars happening now, politics is still divisive, there is still economic oppression and there is a big difference between the laborers and the people they work for, everybody still wants what they want and think they are right.

5.  Are there any issues today that you think could rise to the level of another civil war in America?

Answers: The fact that we are in debt to the whole world, maybe gay marriage, religion and how it is used to manipulate, economic issue and the vanishing middle class, there’s always the chance that “the South will rise again,” political dissension between parties, and finally, there were many who did not belief there would ever be a reason for a new Civil War

6.  Do you have any personal connection to the Civil War (stories from family or friends, Civil War era family members buried in our local graveyards, etc.)?

Answers: NO across the board, save one man who said he has ancestors who fought on the confederate side

7.  What things do you like best and what things do you find most challenging about living in Bethlehem?

Answers: Things people like include the history here including the Bethlehem Steel, sense of community and connection to the past, good school district, cheap cost of living, it is my home and there’s no place like it, local culture including coffee shops, theatre, and architecture, less crime, near major cities, feels safe, it’s a good place to raise a family, it’s traditional, not over run by corporations like Starbucks, and you grow up with the same people.

Things people find challenging include Small businesses are closing, drug problems, everyone is in everyone else’s business, not a lot of job opportunities, no supermarkets in walking distance, it’s a take place – people take what they want without regards to others, no good public transportation, the road systems could use work.

Secondary Questions:

© H. Scott Heist

1.    Some people don’t like the name “Civil War.” What might a better name be?

Answers: so far no answers here

2.    Have you ever experienced something that felt like a civil war in your life?

Answers: September 11th and alcoholism were the only answers so far.

3.    Do you visit Bethlehem’s cemeteries? What do you think about when you are there?

Answers: For those who said yes, they think about the history of Bethlehem and the immigrants and diversity of people who have come to this place, the parties I used to have with friends, peace, the trees and rain.

So day one of surveying is complete.  Many of the answers I was given today all had a touch of commonality to them.  I think this is a good set of questions, but I want to continute to think of more questions, and learn how to dig deeper into the answers that the community gives me.

Please feel free to think about these questions yourself and respond to any or all of them in whatever way you see fit.  This is about getting to know the community we belong to, and what unites and divides us.  Come join the conversation and see where the answers take us.

An Interview with Bill George

Our journalist in residence, H. Scott Heist, and Touchstone’s co-founder Bill George have been good friends for several decades.  The following is an interview of Bill written by Scott about Touchstone’s history in creating community based works.

Well, it came out of a winter dinner with old friends. Then a lunch scheduled on one of those near winter days when the clouds caress the tops of the Bucks County corn shocks, each divided by spears of streaking yellow light. Bill George asked after my interest in a Touchstone project? The reply was:” yes but, I really should know what it was about.” And that’s how we got to the lunch in the little café. Like when we were kids.

Touchstone Theatre was 30 years old. Our kids now the age when we began to march.  Bill was back as director at Touchstone, the economy in a created crisis and well, myself just doing a long tour with the realities of an auto accident. So much for retiring to the Mediterranean sun to finish the unfinished Books.

After all the trekking all over the world, we were once again making plans in a small eatery on the Southside, of a former steel town. What remained the same was: the company was good. The change was we had learned a lot. Often the hard way. And it was time to put that together again.

Empirically, it is true to say our friendship was forged in Bethlehem. When the mills lit the sky. With one essential difference. Bill came to Bethlehem to be educated at Lehigh University. I saw those big mills gaining on me and ran as fast as a bus and an “A” train could carry me to NYU the New School.

Bill and Bridget George formed a street theatre company: Bethlehem People’s Theatre. I photographed the theater and streets of New York. Our friendship was began as professionals not students, and since the beginning knew our economic lives depended upon our talents. I was hired to document BPT.

Bare with me, don’t close the curtains. Don’t turn off the lights. We are rolling through an explanation of community based theater. And that is central to all the rest to come. Based means it comes from the community, and it’s stories, life blood, myths, truths, lies and culture. Its weather, dreams. and nightmares, its soot and then lack of soot.

The first commission for Bethlehem People’s Theatre (soon we will simply call it Touchstone)was something called “WORKING”. Commissioned by AFL/CIO and presented at the Steelworker’s hall, if memory serves. Production and development cost pegged at 75 bucks.

In the next 30 years, Touchstone would draw from the well of its community: play after play, becoming in the course of which a community institution itself. In the old southside firehouse.  A connoisseur and repository of historical fictions complete with comedic crisis, often no larfing matters.

From the theft of Bill’s Bicycle to the normal ebb & flow of ensemble existence. All of which is the nature of community, of which is the source material and the basis of what Touchstone Theatre is. And the spool upon which we wrap yet another story.

While back … this stuff percolates, often endlessly … the late writer Joan Campion, South Side Bethlehem’s champion, came to Bill with the concept of cemetaries & the histories and stories that rest within them. Now Bill’s a good guy (and fun to tease) so he took this back to the Touchstone grist mill. (a fair explanation of “ensemble”).

Bill: “The graveyard idea had been around a while & we flirted with it on different projects.”  It never took hold in its entirety. Often these concepts are vector based, waiting for the laws of un-intention to begin occupying space.”

‘Bout the same time, Dave Rabaut, Touchstone Board President, became involved in the sesquicentennial recognition of the Civil War and hoped the theater company would find a vehicle. A lot was mentioned including Uncle Tom’s Cabin. As professionals the ensemble knew there would be “ a bit of a tidal wave, economically and aesthetically, with the 150^th anniversary.”

“We’ve always liked doing an original community based piece every couple of years that taps into collective memory. This became the growth of an idea rather than a piece of one. I had been working with THE WHITMAN PIECE for 6 or 8 years which had similar American History, which fit nicely”

Bill just returned to Touchstone after touring lots of Sacred work realizing that to continue it, he would need to be on the road 30-40 weeks a year. At the same time Touchstone was going through its own changes. “So, this was a good time to return to my tribe”

As the vectors crossed books surfaced concerning the cemeteries, the civil war & remembrances surfaced, the ensemble took on numerous shape shifts until a concept of the community history took shape, grants were written, the tribe called together … sort of fitting for a 30^th year at Touchstone Theatre.

After our first meeting … I began to frequent the three main cemeteries: God’s Acre the early Moravian resting place, Nisky Hill (also Union Cemetery on the northside and St. Mark’s on the Southside with the professional reality that if all this went through we would need more than the same tired stuff to create new visual mental space. More of that work later.

So, a year later, after the grants arrived,  we sat in the same café, dividing the check. Just like we used to when Bill and Bridget were starting Touchstone and I designed the Touchstone Logos. Words became reality.

Something else was was buzzing in Bill:

“I’d like to keep the institutional memory of Community Based Theatre alive at Touchstone. The Steel Piece, the street theatre, Jacques  Lecoq. All the original work and all the influences we presented.”

As J.P. Jordan takes over as Artistic Director and many new and talented people arrive, those of us who have passed through Touchstone want the Institutional memories to remain, of artists interested in the life and community in which we live. To appreciate the language of its stories and rites which occur in Community Based Theatre.

“An ability to move theatre from a piece of fragile art to a living and life giving ceremony.” A Resting Place takes us back to our roots. 

Walking back to Touchstone, the sound of all that water passing under all those bridges, mingles with the sound of our footsteps.

Gettysburg

© H. Scott Heist

Since last I posted there have been several interesting moments in our journey toward A Resting Place.  The most significant moment happened this past Monday in Gettysburg.

In my last post I mentioned connecting with a recent Lehigh grad named Zack.  He did his thesis on the 153rd regiment, all out of Northampton county, and on Monday proved just how much he learned in college. Zack guided myself, our director, our project manager/ artistic director and our journalist in residency on a private tour through the battlefields of Gettysburg, paying specially close attention to where the Bethlehem Boys did the bulk of their fighting.

It was an excellent trip on a beautiful day.  It was a chance to take photos and video of this most famous of battlefields and get first hand insight into what it was like on the front lines.  It was hard to believe that nearly 150 years ago the beautiful and serene rolling hills of this fine city were packed with charging foes and bloody bodies.  At the same time, seeing the place first hand helped me to understand why the Union chose the location to fight.

© H. Scott Heist

The more I learn about the Civil War, the deeper in the rabbit hole I fall.  While the war only raged from 1861-1865, those years were so rich with stories of triumph, failure, and the complexity of human nature.  I have been spending a great deal of time combing through The Moravain newspaper archives and would like to close this entry with an excerpt of a letter written by Alexander Selfridge about the battle of Gettysburg:

“One fellow rushed from the rebel line, risked both his own and our fire, scaled breastworks and jumped in among our boys.  The first thing he did was distribute his cartridge among the boys urging them to give it to ‘em.  This happened only a few feet from where my company lay….When fighting was over we went into the woods and there beheld the horrid ghastly sight of men laying dead, mangled and cut every conceivable way.  It is only at such times when one can fully realize what a terrible war this is.”

© H. Scott Heist

Good Meeting

One of the most exciting parts of The Civil War Project is the opportunity to engage with the community.  Today, Mariel (my partner in crime) and I had a chance to meet Zack, a recent Lehigh graduate who wrote his thesis on the 153rd regiment.

For everyone who is not a Civil War nerd yet, the 153rd regiment was a group of soldiers that were almost all from Northampton County and fought in two of the biggest battles of the Civil War – Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.  Zack is a super bright and enthusiastic person, who volunteers for Historic Bethlehem on Sundays and even provided the Moravian Museum with research that is now part of their Civil War exhibit that is currently on display.  I’ve never been to the museum, but am planning a trip for this Thursday.

© H. Scott Heist

Today was a chance for the three of us to share our favorite stories that we’ve discovered through research and also discuss how we can collaborate in the months ahead.  One of my biggest projects to tackle will be manipulating google maps in order to create geolocation for all of our juiciest bits of research.  I’ve been playing around with it, and it’s not as easy as it seems, but all three of us have agreed to spend this week playing around with it so we can come together next week to share what we have learned.  The idea is that we want ways to visualize this incredibly dense historical time, in a way that will allow anyone to understand how Bethlehem played a role throughout the Civil War.  It’s an ambitious and time consuming project, but we’ve got the makings of a great team, and I feel confident we’ll figure it out.

It is so encouraging to welcome new people on board for a project I’m so deeply invested in.  It is my goal to use this blog to create weekly updates on our progress and also let it be a sounding board for anyone who has thoughts or questions pertaining to the Civil War, Touchstone and collaboration.  I’ll do my best to keep these posts short and to the point; it’s a learn as you go process for everyone involved, it is my hope it will be just as much about teaching as we go as well.

The Reading

Thursday night was a success for Touchstone.  The reading ran for a little over an hour and was followed by a talk back with the audience.  It was so nice to see the work up on its feet and to hear all of the feedback that was given to the playwright.  The main thing I came home thinking about was what this piece will look like when it is produced, and how the text will change after a productive evening of critique.

As a contributor to The Civil War Project, who spent many a long night finding juicy bits of research, it was so satisfying to see that research weaved in to the greater arc of the story.  The downfall of having spent so much time on the piece is that in some ways I feel too close it.  Because I already know all the research, it’s difficult to know how much I understand that the general audience might not.  That is what made the talkback so valuable.  It was a chance to see the work with new eyes and ears.

© H. Scott Heist

The comments that stayed with me mainly have to do with dramatic tension.  This play is about the greatest conflict on American soil, and while there was some very interesting stuff happening on stage, the crisis between characters still has yet to be fully realized.  But more than that, there is a question of how to more fully represent the complexity on both sides of the war.  There was a man in the audience from Mississippi, and he pointed out that the the play was obviously written from a Northern perspective, and that he would like to see the issue of states rights be weaved into the discussion.  It was nice to hear from him.

There is a great deal of work ahead, and the reading was a crucial step in the process.  What is most encouraging moving forward is the generally positive response from the audience and the agreement that the story is both engaging and needs to be told.  We will keep thinking about what the Civil War has to do with our lives now, and how we can best memorialize it in order to build towards a common future.