twi-ny talks

TWI-NY TALK: ANTHONY BARILE / 1-2-3 MANHUNT

Anthony Barile with Ilene Kristen in Tony DiMurro’s 1-2-3 Manhunt, opening October 10 at Theater for the New City

1-2-3 MANHUNT
Theater for the New City
155 First Ave. between Ninth & Tenth Sts.
Thursday – Sunday through October 24, $15-$18
theaterforthenewcity.net
www.123manhunt.com

“I really thought I had a place in telling stories in film or theater,” actor, restaurateur, Realtor, and kung fu instructor Anthony Barile says to me over Zoom. “People like me are needed. I feel I have a story to tell; I can portray a person like me who has a story to tell.”

I’ve known Barile since high school on Long Island, where he lettered in football and basketball; I never expected that all these years later, I’d be interviewing him about his performance in a play, Tony DiMurro’s 1-2-3 Manhunt, which opens October 10 at Theater for the New City. The show is set on a Lower East Side tenement roof and deals with Alex (Santo Fazio), an old school Italian American man returning to the neighborhood, and Alec (Chris Paul Morales), a Chinese American teenager dreaming of a career as a professional baseball player. Barile portrays Alex’s best friend, Frankie, which came relatively easy; in real life he’s best friends with Fazio, who he met in 1985. They last appeared onstage together in a 1994 revival of Michael Gazzo’s Hatful of Rain at the Actors Studio, helmed by original director Frank Corsaro, that attracted such luminaries as Norman Mailer and Shelley Winters.

Barile’s path to becoming an actor was a circuitous one.

“It was completely by accident,” the Brooklyn-born Barile explains. “I was going through a lot of changes at this particular point of my life. It was around 1990. I was in a long-term relationship that had ended, and, with that kind of life jolt, I decided to take the time for myself to explore things.”

He quit college the day Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died, drove a bread truck, then moved to Manhattan in the mid-’80s and started snapping a lot of pictures around the city. He took a photography class at SVA, a martial arts class — “I thought, I kinda like to fight, so this would be good” — and studied film production at NYU, a connection that led him to acting.

“A lot of friends I met, through my roommate at the time, were actors,” he remembers. “I was invited to a barbecue on the Fourth of July, and one of his friends was studying with Sandra Seacat. She was at this barbecue and got to speaking with me and invited me to her acting class. It was unrelated to acting — she wasn’t that kind of person. She’s a wonderful human being, a phenomenal acting coach; she was just interested by me. I don’t know, she embraced me. She was thinking, ‘This guy’s been through some stuff, he’s leaving his twenties — he should come to my class.’

“Because that’s what her classes were about, finding out who you are, in a healing way. I’m like, I don’t think so; it’s not really my thing. But then I’m thinking that if I want to work with actors in film, maybe it’s a good idea I understand how they think, how they operate, what the process is. So I go.

Former Three of Cups co-owners Anthony Barile and Santo Fazio reunite onstage for the first time in twenty-five years

“I still have my notes, my journal from that day — it was mandatory that you take notes. I read it every once in a while, and I was writing, ‘These people are nuts. They’re super self-indulgent and just out of their minds. This is an insane way to spend a day.’ But I continued in her class because I was fascinated. I’d go to her special workshops, where there would be people who would come from all over the country, some big names. I was never really starstruck; being a New Yorker and living in New York City, especially in the ’80s and then the ’90s, you see famous people all the time. But now I’m watching their process. It was amazing. And now she wants me involved, she wants me acting; she snuck it in on me.”

Barile, wearing a Mets hat and Pretenders T-shirt, shakes his head and laughs as he recalls what happened next.

“We’re doing all kinds of Chekhov pieces. Now, I’m going to be honest with you; I’d never read Chekhov. I don’t know who Chekhov is. This is not my world. Okay, I’ll read it. So I read it and I’m like, ‘Well, this is pretty crazy stuff. Do I understand this even? And then she gives me a scene partner, a name actor, and another friend of mine. We’re doing a scene from Kafka’s The Trial. Again, this is so foreign to me.

“The name actor is getting ready to audition for a major motion picture, so he’s there to get his chops together. So I go up to Sandra and I say, ‘Sandra, you think I should tell him that I’ve never acted before?’”

He laughs again. “And she’s like, ‘Oh, no. Oh, no no no no no. What’s acting? You’ll only make him nervous. There’s no reason for that. Just go, go live, go do the work I’m telling you to do, and go live this scene.’ So I did, and it was kind of phenomenal. So that was the beginning of the bug.”

Barile learned a lot more than acting from the workshops.

“As a human being, it was like an exorcism of my soul. We did dreamwork and numerology and method sensory work, we studied Indian philosophers and poets, Jungian psychology. It made me look at my life and go, ‘What has been going on?’”

Anthony Barile and Santo Fazio share a moment while appearing together in Hatful of Rain at the Actors Studio

His next teacher literally threw the book at him.

“I went on to study with Susan Batson — that was another insane experience where I wasn’t fully prepared for what I was walking into at all. The first time she saw me, she said to the other students, ‘Who’s the Anthony Quinn–looking motherfucker?’ It was an audition class; I didn’t know that. She would have us dance in a circle, speak our thoughts, and then she would write a monologue every day and have you perform it in front of a director and casting agent. Your job was to get the job.

“But she was so brutally tough. She threw things at me at times. She would sit in her apartment with her back against a bookcase. This one time, I remember, my character was supposed to cry in this emotional moment. And my crying was so phony that she just reached back, grabbed a book off the shelf, and flung it at me. I didn’t see it coming, so I got hit in the head by it. She’s like, ‘What the fuck is that? Don’t ever fucking do that in my fucking class again. Get the fuck out of here. If you really gotta cry, pull a hair out of your nose, but don’t do that shit.’

“I didn’t go back for weeks after that, but then I went back, and she tells me, ‘You’re either very brave or very stupid.” Barile also studied with such other prestigious teachers as Marcia Haufrecht and Sheila Gray.

In December 1992, Barile, Fazio, and a third partner had opened the Three of Cups, a Southern Italian restaurant on First Ave. Three of Cups cook Anthony Alessandro was an Actors Studio member, and when one of the supporting actors in Hatful of Rain wasn’t working out, Alessandro asked Barile to take over the role of Chuch, a junkie who was played by Harry Guardino in the 1956 original Broadway production.

“I was scared shitless. What an amazing experience. But I was terrified,” Barile readily admits. “I had gone knee deep into studying; I was entrenched. But all of that work went out the window because I was so fucking scared. Fortunately, the actors in this play were so good that all I really had to do was listen — listen backstage, listen onstage, and I was in it. I just opened my heart and listened, learning to just really be free.”

His next show changed his life. His friend Mark Nassar, a Three of Cups regular, had originated the role of Tony in the hit immersive play Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. Nassar suggested that Barile join the cast in 1995, portraying the groom’s best friend. At the end of his one-year run, Barile started dating Justine Rossi, who played Tina. The two later married; they now live in Bayside and have two kids in college.

“What a great gift it’s been,” Barile says of Tony n’ Tina. Before the pandemic, he was asked to come back as the priest, Father Mark, and has performed the role in New York as well as in Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Orleans. He’ll be playing Tony’s father in Chicago in November, and recently his daughter appeared in the show, which includes a heavy amount of improv.

“Owning Three of Cups was very helpful in that. What they call it in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding is table work, because it’s a wedding, you’re dealing with dinner guests. So my interaction with my customer base at Three of Cups got me ready for that. By nature, I’m a ballbreaker. I like comedy; I’m not afraid to break horns or just tell you what I think. So all of those things helped each other. And that training makes me a stronger actor for sure.” He would later appear in plays by David Mamet and John Patrick Shanley in black box theaters, including inhabiting a half dozen characters in Mamet’s Edmond. Three of Cups, where Justine had also worked before they were married and which hosted live music and comedy in its downstairs space, closed in April 2018.

Anthony Barile stands outside his beloved Lower East Side restaurant, Three of Cups

In 1998, Barile played the brutally violent Sally Hipps in DiMurro’s fabulously titled Moe Green Gets It in the Eye at La Tea Theater at the Clemente Soto Velez Arts Center on the Lower East Side.

“I connect to Tony’s writing,” Barile says. “He’s very New York, writing about the Italian American experience. I’m very familiar with that because a lot of the characters he writes about I know very well, whether they be family members, acquaintances, friends, people I’ve worked with. I like his language, and he’s a super guy as well.”

In 1-2-3 Manhunt, which is directed by William Roudebush with set design by Julie DiMurro, Tony’s wife, Barile plays another tough guy, Frankie. They were supposed to begin rehearsals in March 2020, but the pandemic canceled that. Since then, DiMurro has made small changes to incorporate the coronavirus crisis and other current events. They chose not to rehearse or do any readings over Zoom, getting together instead for the first time about a month ago.

“My favorite thing about my character is his enjoyment of a good laugh,” Barile explains. “He loves a good laugh, and he’s a ballbreaker. Listen, the writer knows me. Tony put things in the piece that are straight references right out of Three of Cups, because he used to visit me there all the time.”

Barile is also thrilled to be working with Fazio again.

“It’s like, wow. He’s my best friend in the show,” he tells me. “I’ve known Santo since 1985. It’s fun telling him stories onstage in character, because he’s my best audience. He can recognize when I’m in truth.”

A huge Mets fan — he was at Shea Stadium and Citi Field for the deciding World Series games in 1986, 2000, and 2015 — he is not thrilled with where the club is after a disastrous year.

“It will be a blow-up off-season, from top to bottom, starting with the front office,” he says. “They suck. It’s a curse. I was miserable. I can’t even believe my investment emotionally.”

I ask him what it’s like wearing a Yankees hat in the show.

“Frankie is definitely a baseball fan, and I figured that him being from Staten Island, he’s a Yankees fan. It also was a way for me to know I was playing someone else, not myself, because I’m most comfortable and successful in characters that aren’t too far removed from who I am.
In my approach to a character I like to have at least one part of my costume/wardrobe anchor me to him. In this case it’s the Yankees hat, for sure. As the great Lee Marvin once said, ‘Show up on time, know your lines, and let the clothes do the acting.’”

Barile and his wife also starred together as a couple preparing to go out for the first time since the pandemic took hold in Kevin Alexander Leonidas’s short film You Can’t Fix Stupid, and Barile, aka Mummy, appeared in David Shapiro’s seven-part documentary series Untitled Pizza Movie, about famed pie man Andrew Bellucci.

“I enjoy a good story,” Barile says. “You just want to be natural about it. Just tell the story.”

TWI-NY TALK: AYA OGAWA AND THE NOSEBLEED

Aya Ogawa portrays their son and father in new play at Japan Society (photo by Maria Baranova)

THE NOSEBLEED
Japan Society
333 East 47th St. at First Ave.
October 1-3 & 7-10, $30
212-715-1258
www.japansociety.org
ayaogawa.com

The Nosebleed chronicles my journey of confronting what I think is one of the biggest failures of my life, which is that when my father died almost fifteen years ago, I failed to do anything to honor him or his life because of the nature of our relationship,” Japanese American playwright-director Aya Ogawa says in a promotional video for their latest work, the final version of The Nosebleed, running October 1-3 and 7-10 at Japan Society. The absurdist, comic show, previously known as Failure Sandwich and in which four actors play Ogawa while Ogawa portrays their own son and father, serves as a healing ritual for Ogawa and the audience, especially as the coronavirus crisis continues and nearly everyone has experienced some kind of loss.

Over the summer, the Tokyo-born, Brooklyn-based Ogawa, a 2021 Barbara Whitman Award finalist, mounted an online version of Ludic Proxy, an interactive virtual play that takes place in the past (Pripyat, post-Chernobyl), the present (Fukushima, post-disaster), and the future (New York, underground), inspired by the death of their mother. Ogawa previously adapted the text for Alec Duffy’s Our Planet, an immersive production that led a small audience through the historic Japan Society building; they have also directed Haruna Lee’s Obie-winning Suicide Forest at the Bushwick Starr and A.R.T./New York Theatres (where its run was cut short by the March 2020 lockdown) and have written and directed Oph3lia at HERE, Journey to the Ocean at the Rubin Museum, Artifact at the Performance MIX Festival, and A Girl of 16 at Clemente Soto Velez’s Latea Theater.

Copresented with the Chocolate Factory, The Nosebleed is performed by Ogawa, Lee, Drae Campbell, Peter Lettre, Aya Saori Tsukada, and Kaili Turner. I have seen Ogawa at numerous events at Japan Society, where they used to work in the Performing Arts department, but now they are returning as the center of attention. “To be able to come back there, as an artist, and to be so welcomed by former colleagues, is a huge blessing,” they explained. Opening night will be followed by a reception with the artists.

Taking a break from rehearsals, Ogawa discussed motherhood, family relationships, the immigrant experience, theater during the pandemic, and more with twi-ny.

twi-ny: The Nosebleed deals with your complex relationship with your father; Ludic Proxy was partly inspired by the loss of your mother. In researching and writing each work, did your thoughts about your parents, and your relationship with them, change?

aya ogawa: Ludic Proxy was an exploration of my own grieving process — an exercise in imagining how to find the strength to continue living after the death of my mother — had I not had children of my own. It was less about my actual relationship with her, so I would say in that case, my relationship with her did not change.

The Nosebleed, however, is explicitly about my father and my relationship with him — my perceptions and memories of him (which are subjective and flawed). The process of writing the play forced me to recall and examine a lot of things I had not thought of for many years, and this revisiting and especially the embodying of his character has definitely changed my feelings toward him.

twi-ny: How has The Nosebleed developed from earlier iterations at BAX and the Public?

ao: The script is not that different from when it was presented at the Public. (I wrote in a new character after my showing at BAX). However, the staging for each presentation has been unique and tailored to each space. I’ve been blessed to retain most of the original cast. I’ve had to replace one actor (who is now in grad school abroad), and I feel blessed again to have found someone who is not only a stellar performer but a collaborator who is able to bring her whole self and lived experience into the rehearsal room.

twi-ny: What was the rehearsal room like?

ao: We have very strict COVID safety protocols in place, which I discussed with the company before we began this process. I’d heard nightmares about other shows shutting down or having to replace actors, etc. I can’t afford to replace actors, or stop a rehearsal process and pick it up again at another time, so I had to plan for the most conservative measures to keep us all safe. Everyone on my team is fully vaccinated, rehearse masked, take PCR tests every week, and have rapid home tests available if anyone is feeling under the weather.

Despite all of these measures, or perhaps because of the assurance and safety they provided, the process has been joyful and very productive. The piece was originally conceived as an immersive performance, but we have decided to prioritize safety and put the audience in the house.

twi-ny: In the show, you play your son and your father, linking three generations. What is that experience like every night onstage?

ao: This is the first time I have ever appeared in my own play. It was never something I craved doing; in fact, the thought is kind of embarrassing. I decided to appear in the play as my father because the piece demanded it. The crux of this piece, and for it to work as it was intended — as something transformative and healing — I had no choice but to take responsibility for it and play the part. The experience of playing my son and my father is cathartic and exhausting.

One thing that really came to the forefront when creating an autobiographical play was just how violent the act of embodying a character can be. It takes a great deal of responsibility and trust to hand over the portrayal of my life to other people, and trust is needed in both directions.

Aya Ogawa wrote, directed, and stars in The Nosebleed (known as Failure Sandwich in an earlier iteration above) (photo © Ryutaro Mishima)

twi-ny: For your work in progress Meat Suit, you describe motherhood as a “shit show.” You have two children; what was the pandemic lockdown like for you and your family?

ao: At first, it was kind of wonderful. Suddenly we had so much time together, so much unstructured time. There was no panic to make lunches or rush to get them to school on time, etc. We spent time gardening, cleaning the house, cooking. But then, of course, we figured out how to function in the lockdown. School happened on Zoom, as did a lot of my work. I was grateful to have work, and it was a fruitful time, in many ways, to be forced to develop work with great limitations, but it was also exhausting. Pandemic parenting continues right now — and remains pretty trying.

twi-ny: Do you still have family in Tokyo? If so, how often do you generally go back, and have you been able to do so recently?

ao: I am the only person in my immediate blood family living in the U.S. All of my relatives and family are in Japan. Since having kids, I have made it a point to visit every summer. We have not been able to visit since 2019 and it’s really painful.

twi-ny: This past March, you reimagined Ludic Proxy as an interactive online production. What are your thoughts about streaming theater? Do you see it as just a stopgap, or do you anticipate creating more online work in the future?

ao: The second act of Ludic Proxy was conceived with video game mechanics embedded into the script, so it was clear to me that it could very naturally translate to the screen as long as we could retain the audience interactivity. I actually don’t think the pandemic is going to ever “go away,” so it is important for theater-makers to think about how our medium is being transformed. As soon as The Nosebleed closes, I’m going into a video shoot for a puppet play that was originally conceived as a live, in-person puppet show but is now a performance film made for camera.

twi-ny: One of your themes throughout your career has been immigration and cultural identity. How has that changed for Japanese Americans since your first works, going back twenty years?

ao: The experience of the immigrant is not a static, monolithic story. It is varied and complex and ever-changing — so I can only speak for myself, not the larger Japanese-American population. I happen to be positioned in a particular place where I feel like I have access to multiple lenses — I am an immigrant myself but pass as a child of an immigrant. I have Japanese-Taiwanese-American children who I’ve made sure have access to their Japanese culture, but I’m also torn between wanting them to have their own experiences and interactions with the culture and sharing my experience of leaving Japan, a deeply sexist culture. Japan can be rich and beautiful. It can also be toxic and suffocating. So can America.

SMITHSONIAN LECTURE BY SETH DAVID RADWELL — AMERICAN SCHISM: HEALING A DIVIDED NATION

Seth David Radwell discusses American Schism with Tucker Carlson

AMERICAN SCHISM: HEALING A DIVIDED NATION
Smithsonian Associates lecture
Monday, September 13, $25, 6:45
www.si.edu
americanschismbook.com

During the pandemic, I had a regular Zoom happy hour with a group of longtime friends going back to nursery school and grade school. Our politics were all similar, so we avoided fights about Trump, Fauci, the Supreme Court et al. One of our regulars was Seth David Radwell, who, following a successful business career that has included being the head of e-Scholastic and Bookspan and president and CEO of direct-to-consumer company Guthy-Renker, was so disturbed by the state of political discourse across the nation that he wrote a book about it.

American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing Our Nation (Greenleaf, June 29, $25.95) examines our current partisan situation, and inability to talk to one another about virtually anything without it becoming political, through the lens of the two Enlightenments of the eighteenth century, the Radical and the Moderate. Radwell is on a furious book tour, making appearances on numerous podcasts and online interview shows. On September 13 at 6:45, he will deliver a lecture, “American Schism: Healing a Divided Nation,” as part of the Smithsonian Associates streaming series.

Radwell writes in the prologue of his book, “As I hunkered down at home to weather the global COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I struggled to overcome the sense of shock at how suddenly and utterly our world had been turned upside down. But as I contemplated my state of mind, oscillating rapidly between depression, anxiety, and frustration, I sensed that well before the onslaught of the pandemic I had already fallen into a profound state of disillusionment. As the world came to a halt, the health crisis simply gave me the time and space to realize it. The root cause of this disillusionment was related to the shattering of an ideal image that I had, perhaps, clung on to for far too long.”

He continues, “How had it come to be that over the last four years my entire conception of the American credo had crumbled? My vision of America was firmly rooted in the ethos of both freedom and equality; my America was a place where everyone had a fair shot at building a rewarding and fulfilling life, where each individual could define their own idiosyncratic version of success, and where we collectively formed a country of shared values with mutual respect for individual differences. That vision felt unambiguously inconsistent with the America of 2020. Just how and when did my America disappear? Did my vision of America ever exist at all, or was it but a myth? If it did exist, how did it disintegrate so quickly in just a few years? Or was its ruin a slow process of decay that began undetected (by me) much earlier? I was determined to explore these questions, to understand the origins of my disillusionment.”

Radwell not only searches out the causes but provides answers for how we can move forward together. One of his themes is getting the two Americas to talk to each other in a reasonable manner. He brought this plan into reality recently when he sat down for a long-form interview on Tucker Carlson Today, for which some of his readers chastised him. “I received an onslaught of feedback related to my appearance on Tucker Carlson Daily on Fox Nation and the clip shown on his evening cable show,” he wrote in an email blast to his subscribers. “Some chided me for appearing on Fox since the station has a ‘track record of misinformation and propaganda masquerading as news,’ as one person wrote me. Others congratulated me for having the ‘courage’ to appear on such a venue.” The divide is everywhere.

Amid a flurry of interviews and his preparation for the Smithsonian lecture, Radwell took the time to answer questions about the Counter-Enlightenment, reason and unreason, top-down populism, Tucker Carlson, fine wine, and more.

twi-ny: You’ve been working on the book for several years; what effect did the pandemic lockdown have on your research and writing?

seth david radwell: It’s been about three years, although I had developed some of the ideas before that. I have been reading and researching the thesis actively starting in late 2018. I had much material in the form of notes up through 2019. But it was March 2020 when COVID first hit that I sat down and began writing every day in intense twelve-hour sessions. Since that time I have been working on it full-time.

twi-ny: In addition to discussing the two Enlightenments, you also delve into the Counter-Enlightenment, tracing it to the Second Great Awakening, the religious fervor of the first decades of the nineteenth century, as well as anti-elite and anti-intellectual sentiments. Would you characterize the American right’s embrace of Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán, or Tucker Carlson’s recent encomium to the Taliban, as an expression of top-down populism (populist sentiments exploited by elite actors for their own ends), the Counter-Enlightenment, or something more ominous?

sdr: There is certainly a global trend toward autocracy characterized by “strongmen” who win some sort of election to gain legitimacy but then consolidate, usurp and abuse power, and begin curtailing the freedoms associated with an open liberal society. The American right has embraced this. One of the tools that most of these autocrats deploy, along with those associated with Trumpism, is the top-down populism described in the book.

At the same time, as I discuss in the book, populism is complex — there are many strains of it, often with both positive and negative characteristics. The top-down populism we are talking about here is an emotional appeal that plays on people’s fears of both the “other” (immigrants, African Americans, Latinos, etc.) as well as the elite establishment (who they perceive has ignored their concerns for too long). Autocratic politicians are hostile to elite institutions, and to expertise in general, and pronounce these feelings regularly to gain support and relate to their base. Because this later trend rejects expertise overall, it is also hostile to truth and data. That is the Counter-Enlightenment.

twi-ny: In the current political climate, do you have a recommendation for accommodating both Counter-Enlightenment forces as well as the Radical and Moderate Enlightenment thinkers, or must one be decisively excluded from power?

sdr: “Counter-Enlightenment forces” can be a confusing phrase. For example, most religious movements are based in faith and rely less on reason. So these are Counter-Enlightenment forces that are very much involved in the lives of most Americans. But our republic was founded on the premise that these domains should be kept outside the civic arena — with a firm separation of church from state. This has been frequently violated in our history — as one example, Billy Graham was quite close and influential to many presidents.

twi-ny: In researching and writing the book, did you reconsider a specific political belief you have held?

sdr: Yes, I had always considered myself fairly left leaning, but I began to appreciate aspects of conservative/libertarian philosophy more thoroughly.

twi-ny: How did your business experience help you when marketing the book?

sdr: Well, there is no question that my marketing expertise has played a role. But most ventures I led professionally (i.e., Proactiv) were multimillion-dollar brands with huge advertising budgets. My marketing of the book has been mostly guerrilla tactics and “hand selling” that I am doing personally as a labor of love.

twi-ny: As part of that hand selling, you’ve been interviewed on many podcasts, in lieu of in-person readings and signings. Were you a podcast listener prior to the pandemic? If so, what are some of your favorites?

sdr: Yes, I love podcasts, mostly of the NPR variety — I was a religious listener to Ezra Klein on VOX Media.

twi-ny: You recently appeared on Tucker Carlson Today and managed to have a productive and engaging discussion. What was that experience like?

sdr: He was extremely generous, thoughtful, and open to the ideas in the book. Quite a different persona than his cable “news” show at night.

twi-ny: Did meeting him in that way change any feelings you previously might have had about him?

sdr: He is very intelligent and deeply appreciative of the ideas in American Schism. His on-air celebrity status is an entirely different matter.

twi-ny: On September 13 at 6:45, you will be delivering the Smithsonian lecture “American Schism: Healing a Divided Nation.” What will you be concentrating on?

sdr: The session will summarize certain aspects of the book but will focus on the path forward out of this mess, delineating both structural changes and mindset changes that can begin the healing process.

twi-ny: Is America in as much trouble as it seems?

sdr: The fundamental change begins with taking back control of the debate from the extremes to the frustrated majority.

twi-ny: American Schism has been a great success, reaching #1 on Amazon. What were your initial goals in writing the book?

sdr: It has been doing well, but remember it has gone to #1 on Amazon in very niche categories, like rational philosophy and civics. In the broader areas such as comparative politics and political parties, it has often been a top-ten bestseller.

twi-ny: What’s your next step?

sdr: I would like to build a ground-up movement, which I call Fight Unreason with Reason, by sharing the ideas in the book with a larger audience. So I am hopeful the book will gain more momentum in the months forward. But we are off to a good start. My biggest hope is the viral marketing element — that readers who appreciate the ideas share them. For example, of the seventy-five reviews on Amazon, sixty-nine are five-star, so most readers like the book so far.

twi-ny: You’re a gourmand and wine connoisseur with a partner who knows his way around the kitchen. What is the latest amazing meal the two of you have had at home, and what wine did you have to go with it?

sdr: I am very lucky to have such an excellent cook as a partner. Tonight he is preparing roasted Cornish hens with braised vegetables. I will open a Grand Cru burgundy to pair, but I haven’t picked it yet.

twi-ny: You are also a big-time theater and opera fan. Have you been to any live indoor performances yet?

sdr: I have not yet been back to performances, with the exception of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at Radio City. I love opera and theater and I miss both terribly. But the positive is that without them, I have had more time to focus on the book.

TWI-NY TALK: MIA WRIGHT-ROSS — A MOMENT TO BREATHE

Mia Wright-Ross’s “A Moment to Breathe” exhibition at the Museum of Arts & Design explores sewing as communal healing (photo courtesy MWR Collection, LLC)

Museum of Arts & Design
The Theater at MAD
2 Columbus Circle at 58th St. & Eighth Ave.
Friday – Sunday, March 26 – April 11, $12-$18, eighteen and under free
Activations April 2 & 9, 6:00
212-299-7777
madmuseum.org

Crafting has seen a huge resurgence during the pandemic lockdown. Since March 2020, people around the world have been passing the time by sewing, knitting, crocheting, and taking on other crafting projects (when they’re not baking sourdough bread). So the time is right for Mia Wright-Ross’s new exhibition at the Museum of Arts & Design, “A Moment to Breathe.” Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Wright-Ross is the founder and creative director of the Washington Heights–based MWR Collection, a “full-service luxury crafting atelier” that makes handbags, home decor, furniture, and other high-end accessories. The exhibit, which runs Fridays through Sundays through April 11, is the culmination of Wright-Ross’s MAD residency, which included informal Zoom studio visits and online workshops. MAD’s ninth Artist Fellow, Wright-Ross learned her trade at Parsons/the New School of Design, where she is an adjunct professor, at internships and early jobs at such companies as Jimlar, Converse, Talbots, and Calvin Klein, and from such mentors as shoe designer Howard Davis and photographer and professor Bill Gaskins.

The exhibition deals with grief and collective healing in several ways. It is being held in the Theater at MAD and features two monumental leather tapestries, a large sewing machine that Wright-Ross will activate on April 2 and 9 at 6:00 for a limited in-person audience, and a short film made with multidisciplinary artist Akeema-Zane (Sonic Escape Routes: Shall We Fly? or Shall We Resist?) and SCOGÉ builder and designer and media specialist Starnilas Oge. In addition, on April 1 at 7:00, Wright-Ross and Gaskins will participate in the live Online Learning Lab “Artists in Dialogue.” After the opening weekend of the show, Wright-Ross discussed her fascination with leather, sewing, her hometown, the power of artisanship, and more.

twi-ny: You are most well known for your leather creations. What got you into that material?

mia wright-ross: I have always had a love of leather, even as a young child. My mom would collect Coach bags and I remember going to the store to get them repaired and cleaned. I loved the smell of the leather that engulfed me when we walked into the store. That is my first sensory memory with leather. Later in my creative career, I was able to work with leather more intimately when I was introduced to it as a designer by my mentor, Howard Davis. He was my first and only footwear instructor. In his class, I was able to examine the qualities and utility of leather as a material. Since then I have been in love with the dynamic nature of leather as an unforgiving material. Once it is scratched or stitched, you must live with the mark — make it beautiful at all costs.

Mia Wright-Ross will be performing live at MAD on April 2 and 9 (photo by Tyler-Andrew Nelson)

twi-ny: Your new MAD exhibit comes at the end of your yearlong residency. What was that experience like? How did the pandemic lockdown affect it?

mwr: Working with MAD has been a delightful experience, especially with all that we have all endured over the past year. The truth is that the residency was initially only six months. I arrived to move into my artist studio within the museum in February 2020, but by mid-March we were told the museum would be closing due to the pandemic. I took a few of my materials and tools and began working in quarantine from my home studio. The MAD Artist Studios department worked with me and extended my fellowship for an additional six months. This allowed me to extend the research and development of my new body of work and also find new ways to connect with the museum’s audience through educational workshops and virtual artist studio visits.

In September 2020, I came back to my studio in the museum with new work in tow. I then realized the amount of work I had created while in quarantine, from the leather sculptures, to the tapestries, and some new works in 2D sketch format. I saw that the incubation of the lockdown was something my creative process was missing. It was the reason I applied for the fellowship in the first place — space to evaluate my reason for being an artisan. I wanted to go inward and find the source of my connection with my work. Amidst all things the pandemic brought — the fear, the grief, and the uprising — personal and collective, I was able to take the time to communicate my feelings and heal through my connection with leather, and I am happy to be able to share that with other artisans.

twi-ny: The show involves sewing, an activity that has flourished during the pandemic, as many people made masks as well as their own clothing. How did the act of sewing come into your life?

mwr: I have been sewing since high school. I was initially taught by a dear family friend, Ms. Gracie. But in 2003, I was accepted to a specialty art program, the Center for the Arts, at my local high school in Richmond. As a little girl, I always wanted to be a fashion designer, so during the summer of my junior–senior high school year, I asked my mother to buy a sewing machine. She purchased a small machine from Walmart and bought me a few Vogue patterns to explore the skill. I instantly fell in love with the process. From there, I took sheets from my great-grandmother’s linen closet, painted textures on them, and began using them to create draped dresses. I had no idea what I was doing but the skill called for me.

twi-ny: On April 2 and 9, you will be onstage, sewing, in front of a limited audience. What do you anticipate for that?

mwr: I want people to engage with the truest parts of themselves when they experience the live performance. The performance adds an additional layer of sensory to the exhibition in that you are able to witness in its most honest and intimate setting, as a space of reverence. I am bringing you into my studio — my worship space. My sewing machine is the altar and I am using my practice to process through my healing as a craftsperson and as a human being.

The film creates an additional layer to the experience as an amalgamation of emotion, visual documentation, making in process, meditation, and memory in sound and visual representation. I hope that the vulnerability of my process allows individuals to assess the areas of themselves that haven’t been allowed to breathe — be it sorrow, love, anger, and anything in between.

twi-ny: How did the film collaboration with Starnilas Oge and Akeema-Zane come about? [ed. note: below film clip courtesy Mia Wright-Ross (@mwrcollection) and her collaborators: Film Design by Starnilas Oge (@scoge2222) and Sound Design by Akeema-Zane (@kissingtherain)]

mwr: They are both dear friends of mine and I knew I wanted to involve my community of artist friends in this work in every way possible. It happened quite naturally. Starnilas has been a close friend in design, and I have always admired his perspective in video/film work. I felt he would bring a level of raw intimacy to the editing process that I couldn’t make possible alone. And Akeema-Zane is truly a sound craftsperson. I’ve known Akeema for a very long time, and we became neighbors over the past few years. I have always admired the ways in which she researches and dissects consciousness through whichever media she is working in. With her exploration in audio design, having her perspective truly enhances the multisensory experience of the exhibition.

twi-ny: On April 1, you will take part in a live conversation with Bill Gaskins. What are some of the things you are looking forward to talking about with him?

mwr: First let me say, Bill Gaskins is my guiding light. He is not only an amazingly talented artist but also my mentor. So, it’s safe to say we will be examining the work in a way that is intimate, philosophical, and examines historical and contemporary context. With Bill, I never know what to expect, which is why he is such a great teacher and artist.

twi-ny: Earlier this month, you were awarded the inaugural Female Design Council grant, which focuses on women of color. What does that mean to you?

mwr: Community is the reason I am able to do the work I do. Without the support of my familial and artist communities, I would not be where I am today. So the award from the Female Design Council means that I am able to continue to do this work and push the bounds of what the design community identifies as an artisan. Design and the luxury industry is a heavily white male–dominated field but women, especially women of color, have consistently contributed to the successes of the design industry from a space of the unseen. From [former slave, seamstress, activist, and author] Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley to [fashion designer] Ann Lowe, Black designers and artisans have always been here and will continue to evolve through our work. I am grateful that the FDC sees this as a vision they want to be a part in supporting designers of color through the support of my studio work.

twi-ny: The health crisis has also led to a severe economic downturn. How has that affected MWR Collection, which specializes in the luxury market?

mwr: Well, the easiest way to respond to this question is that MWR Collection is still here. It has definitely been a learning experience to sustain a small business in a time of economic downturn. But I’ve always sought to maintain MWR Collection as a small, steady, growing business. So when the pandemic began, it meant that I had to reassess my definition of growth — “slow and steady wins the race” was my assessment. Which meant that I could take the time to evaluate our strong suits and ways the brand could be more secure in what we stand for in luxury even during a time of economic instability. I began working with a branding team to strategize on the future of MWR Collection, which is something I didn’t have the time or knowledge to do in the past. Now with the new strategy, I am crowdfunding to support the launch of our new products and maintaining our consistent audience throughout the global luxury market.

twi-ny: Richmond has seen its fair share of controversy recently, primarily involving Monument Ave., and it was also home to BLM protests. Do you still have family there? If so, have you been able to see any of them over the course of the last year?

mwr: Yes, all of my family is still in Richmond. I actually traveled back to VA during the BLM protests last summer. Richmond has always been controversial and will remain this way because of the powerful Black people that push our communities. It was a bit of a shock to see the burned buildings and tags on the statues of Monument Avenue. But this is not a Richmond that is new to me. The ancestral spirit of Richmond has always been rooted in revolutionary Black people. I was happy to see my ancestors’ spirits still thriving in our communities of color and making their presence known as we continue to fight for freedom.

twi-ny: When we come out on the other side of this, what is the first thing you want to do that you’ve been unable to because of Covid-19?

mwr: I don’t like to identify with “the other side of this” when it pertains to the pandemic. This is the world we are living in now, all of it — the protests, the pandemic, the memories, and the grief. We can’t avoid it or history will continue to repeat itself. I hope this exhibition can show people what can be done when we are honest with ourselves, with our experiences, and with each other. Breathe through it all.

TWI-NY TALK: JESSE BERGER OF RED BULL THEATER

Founding artistic director Jesse Berger introduces one of Red Bull’s livestreamed readings during the pandemic (screenshot by twi-ny/mdr)

Red Bull Theater
Galathea: Monday, March 15, free (suggested donation $25), 7:30 (available on demand through March 19)
Galatea: Monday, March 22, free (suggested donation $25), 7:30 (available on demand through March 26)
Paradise Lost: Monday, April 12 & 26, free (suggested donation $25), 7:30
www.redbulltheater.com

A year ago yesterday, New York City closed all entertainment venues, leading to endlessly sad postponements and cancellations that no one thought would last as long as it has. Theater companies were forced to examine their immediate and long-term futures: Some went into hiatus, others came up with intermittent virtual offerings, and a handful went all in, quickly developing an online streaming presence through readings, conversations, and innovative interactive live programming. One of the busiest, and most successful, has been Red Bull Theater. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Jesse Berger, Red Bull specializes in splendidly designed and costumed Jacobean works (Ben Jonson’s Volpone, John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The School for Scandal) in addition to inventive contemporary adaptations (Erica Schmidt’s Mac Beth set in a girls school, Berger’s take on Gogol’s The Government Inspector, starring Michael Urie). Over its history, the troupe has also hosted more than two hundred Revelation Readings with all-star casts in various theaters, and it sponsors the Shakespeare in Schools initiative to bring the Bard to young students.

Red Bull’s virtual season kicked off in April with the first-ever “RemarkaBULL Podversation,” with Urie delivering Mercutio’s “Queen Mab” speech from Romeo and Juliet, followed by a discussion with Red Bull associate artistic director Nathan Winkelstein; subsequent Podversations have featured Chukwudi Iwuji performing “A Homely Swain” from Henry VI,
Elizabeth Marvel doing “Cry Havoc” from Julius Caesar, and the phenomenal Patrick Page delving deep into Othello in “Exploring Iago.” All Podversations are available for free on YouTube, but the dozen live Zoom readings the company has streamed, from Berger’s new version of Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy to Anchuli Felicia King’s modern-day Keene and Frances Burney’s The Woman Hater directed by Everett Quinton, remain online for only four days after the initial livestream. Each reading is accompanied by still-available Bull Session panels with Winkelstein and members of the cast and crew. Up next is a two-parter, John Lyly’s 1588 queer love story, Gallathea, on March 15, in collaboration with the Drama League, and MJ Kaufman’s new Galatea, on March 22, a trans love story in collaboration with WP Theater. Red Bull held its tenth annual Short New Play Festival in July, a fun virtual evening with works by Jeremy O. Harris, Theresa Rebeck, and others, with casts that included Kathleen Chalfant, Lilli Cooper, Edmund Donovan, William Jackson Harper, and Charlayne Woodard; the eleventh annual event, the theme of which is restoration, is scheduled for July 12.

A native Oregonian who was previously the assistant director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, Berger took time out of his ridiculously busy schedule to talk about Red Bull, the pandemic, and the future of theater.

Jesse Berger is front and center at a Red Bull Zoom reading (photo courtesy Red Bull Theater)

twi-ny: Red Bull has been one of the most active theaters in the country during the pandemic, going back to April. How and when was it decided to proceed full steam ahead with reunion readings and conversations?

jesse berger: It’s been almost exactly a year since the shutdown, and I think all of us went through the stages of grief at different paces — shock, denial, etc. — and out of that confoundingly confusing time and in consultation and through conversations with our wonderful team — led by our great managing director Jim Bredeson, wonderful board, terrific staff, extraordinary artistic associates, and other supporters — came the hunger for us to do something, anything, to connect our community. So . . . the original impetus was really just — get something out there that is our work that gets artists and audiences together, even if only virtually.

Just two weeks after lockdown began, on March 26, we announced the first of what has become a robust series of online activities. Since then it has simply been a learning experience that has led us to do more. For the first six months, we really just tried different ways to improve and experiment with the online experiences we were concocting. As it began to sink in over the summer that this shutdown was likely going to take a year or more, we made the decision to proceed with planning a fully virtual season for 2020–21. We probably hit our stride on these activities around October and have of course kept looking for ways to improve and innovate throughout.

twi-ny: The economic toll on theater companies has been devastating. Have these programs been financially viable for you?

jb: It has been devastating, indeed, and we count ourselves among the lucky ones because we were relatively financially healthy and relatively unencumbered when the shutdown hit. We made the decision to offer all our activities for free or pay what you can, and of course to compensate participating artists as much as we possibly can. We have found that audiences have by and large been generous in responding to this work and this method, so the programs are at minimum paying for themselves / breaking even through many small donations of $25, $10, $50. . . . Then we have hugely relied upon the larger generosity of larger donors, major institutional supporters, government support like PPP, and other foundation grants to keep the lights on and the staff fully employed. We’re grateful for the fact that we have not had to lay anyone off or furlough.

twi-ny: Red Bull has been streaming presentations several Monday nights every month going back to nearly the beginning of the lockdown, while other theaters have either been silent or put on occasional readings or talks, but not necessarily both. What’s the process like, especially gathering everyone together for the reunions, rehearsing over Zoom, and working at such a furious pace?

jb: We have a wonderful staff of four, and I appreciate you recognizing the quantity as well as the quality of the overall work output from Red Bull in this time! All I can say is that everyone is working hard, but I think it’s fair to say that no one feels particularly overwhelmed or overtaxed. We’ve simply done our best to be efficient and strategic with our efforts and our plans. As far as gathering the artists and that process, it’s not that different from the before-times — we reach out with offers to agents and/or directly to the participating artists, we make a schedule, we stick to it. The new stuff is the preplanning around what if anything needs to be sent to the actors for them to do their best work — greenscreens, microphones, internet help, lighting, etc. Nathan also schedules one-on-one tech sessions to check in with every participant so they have what they need before rehearsals start.

twi-ny: Red Bull’s bread and butter is Jacobean theater, which seems to be very relevant to what is happening today. Why do you think that is?

jb: Well, while I believe in social progress and that many things are probably better for humanity now than they were four hundred years ago, I’m also totally convinced that human beings and human relationships weren’t that different four hundred years ago. If anything, this most recent plague has brought home how similar our times are, even if the circumstances in which we live are more civilized — and thankfully we have amazing scientists making vaccines in record time. Also, I think that the Jacobeans in particular feel pretty contemporary in their outlook. These plays can be powerfully used to reflect our current society’s hypocrisies and inequities as well as its greatest hopes and aspirations.

twi-ny: In October, the amazing Patrick Page gave a master class on Iago as part of the company’s “Othello 2020” project. Have you seen his one-man show for Shakespeare Theatre Company, All the Devils Are Here? Have you watched much theater during the pandemic, and if so, has anything stuck out for you?

jb: Patrick Page is amazing, isn’t he? He’s one of the best Shakespearean actors in America, and beyond. We actually were privileged to share the New York premiere of All the Devils Are Here as a one-night benefit performance last February to a packed house at the Cherry Lane, so I know it well.

Patrick and I go way back — we both hail from an Oregon background, and we actually met when we were both working at the Utah Shakespeare Festival a number of years ago. It’s been a great experience to reconnect with him at Red Bull in NYC over the past years — he starred in our productions of The Duchess of Malfi and Coriolanus and has taught a number of acting intensives for us. He was also our 2010 Matador Award for Excellence in Classical Theater recipient. He’s great. I can’t wait to work with him again. And All the Devils Are Here on film is well worth your time, as well as Patrick’s excellent PODversation with Nathan on Iago.

I was voraciously consuming online theater in the earlier days of the pandemic, but I will admit to watching a bit less over time. Part of the reason is personal and part professional. I have two young kids at home, so finding additional time to watch things on the screen beyond keeping up with everything we are doing at Red Bull is hard. However, I loved Richard Nelson’s What Do We Need to Talk About?, Michael Urie’s Buyer & Cellar, TFANA’s Mad Forest, Jefferson Mays’s Scrooge, and Bill Irwin and Christopher Fitzgerald’s Old Globe comedy routine.

twi-ny: Do you and Nathan ever sleep?

jb: I can’t speak for Nathan, but thanks to the aforementioned wonderful two young kids at home, no — I never sleep. And yes, Red Bull’s online activity has certainly kept us a bit sleep deprived.

twi-ny: Do you have a wish list of plays you’d like to do as readings or of actors you’d like to work with online?

jb: Yes, but it’s top secret!

Jesse Berger has been a busy man during the coronavirus lockdown (photo courtesy Red Bull Theater)

twi-ny: Companies are now starting to film plays on their stage, selecting works that feature very small casts, often only one or two actors. Red Bull specializes in plays with many characters. Are there any plans to film anything onstage? How will cast size affect what plays you do once we come out of this?

jb: With the work we do, large cast sizes are often de rigueur and can make for difficult decisions when it comes to our budget. However, we have also produced plays such as Erica Schmidt’s seven-actor Mac Beth, Keith Hamilton Cobb’s two-actor American Moor, as well as Jean Genet’s The Maids, plus a ten-actor (is that small?) Coriolanus directed by Michael Sexton. As we begin to get clear guidance from the authorities and the unions that represent the artists with whom we work, we will be better situated to make decisions about if we might have to do some smaller cast plays simply as a safety necessity. And we are certainly keeping our eye on and out for some great material that will suit that bill.

twi-ny: Once theaters are back open and audiences are allowed inside, what do you think is the future of virtual productions? Do you see hybrid works continuing, or do you think online shows and readings will phase out?

jb: At the moment, I think the genie is out of the bottle, and online readings will likely continue. I suspect they will continue to be part of many theaters’ ancillary programming. I know they will be part of our future as they enable us to reach audiences worldwide with the work that is central to our mission. Of course our heart and soul will still be in the live theater experience.

twi-ny: What has sheltering in place been like for you on a personal level? Have you remained in New York City the whole time or been able to travel to see family?

jb: We were relatively lucky to be out of NYC for the first six months of the shutdown and have also been grateful to be able to be back in NYC since September. Sadly we have not yet been able to see our extended family who live all over the country, although we are Zooming with them a lot. Now that vaccines are rolling out, we are looking forward to making some plans to see everyone again in person.

twi-ny: Once you’re fully vaccinated, what’s the first thing you’re going to do that you have not been able to do since last March?

jb: So many things to do! But . . . it’s still a bit complicated, isn’t it?

TWI-NY TALK: KIMBERLY BROWN — MEDITATION WITH HEART

Meditation teacher and author Kimberly Brown and Carmen prepare for a more ordinary 2021

MEDITATION WITH HEART
Thursday, January 7, Intention Setting Ceremony at Shantideva Meditation Center, 7:00 pm
Saturday, January 9, Steady, Calm, and Brave workshop, $30-$50, 10:00 am
Sunday, January 10, “How to Work with Difficult Thoughts and Emotions,” All Souls Church Online, 9:45 am
www.meditationwithheart.com

Back in September, Kimberly Brown held a virtual launch party for her new book, Steady, Calm, and Brave: 25 Practices of Resilience and Wisdom in a Crisis (Publishing with Heart, July 2020, $12.95). It’s now four months later, and despite the approval of several vaccines, the United States is in the midst of yet another horrific surge of coronavirus infections and our electoral system is still in upheaval. The New York City–based Brown, who teaches guided meditation and mind-body therapy at the Rubin Museum, the Shantideva Center, and other institutions as well as privately, is ready for the new year, facing it with a steady, calm, optimistic bravery.

“January 2 has always been my favorite day of the year,” she posted on Instagram on the second day of 2021. “After the hectic holidays and anticipatory celebrations, it’s a relief to return to my normal routine. 😐😀 Today I wish you an ordinary day too. May you find joy in quiet moments and freedom from stress and struggle. May it be so!”

Brown is going to help make it so with several special events this week. On January 7, she’ll lead an Intention Setting Ceremony at Shantideva Meditation Center, followed on Saturday by a Steady, Calm, and Brave workshop and on Sunday by the guided meditation and Q&A “How to Work with Difficult Thoughts and Emotions” at All Souls Church Online in addition to her weekly Thursday “Discovering Self-Compassion” classes. She recently discussed her book and the benefits of mindfulness and meditation in our first twi-ny talk of the new year.

twi-ny: Your book Steady, Calm, and Brave came out this past summer. It deals with such topics as grief and loss, fear and separation, and kindness and support. It also deals very specifically with Covid-19. Were you working on the book before the pandemic, or was the health crisis the driving force behind it from the start?

kimberly brown: In March, I was writing a book proposal for a different meditation book, one that I’ve been working on for the past couple years. When the pandemic began, I put it aside temporarily because I really could only think about the crisis. My editor, Alice Peck, suggested I write a shorter book to help everyone through this terrible time, which is how it came about. I wrote it in April and May and it was published in July. It was strangely easy to write as I was simply sharing what I was experiencing in real time and hoping it would benefit others who were struggling like me.

twi-ny: In the book, you write, “Our delusions about being independent from other people, or separate from those we don’t like or don’t know, are revealed as dangerous and demonstrably false in any time of crisis.” Meanwhile, our country is being torn apart over police brutality, health care, systemic racism, and wealth inequality, to name four key issues. What can we do as individuals to rectify that, especially while so many of us are still stuck at home?

kb: We can each do our best to ensure our actions — including our communications — are beneficial and not harmful to ourselves or anyone else, and that they’re not fueling the problems we already have. In order to do this, to act skillfully and with wisdom, we need to be sure we’re not caught up in hatred or ignorance or greed. Buddhists call these mind states “poisons” because they cause us to make bad decisions and act in ways that harm ourselves and others.

With meditation and mindfulness we can keep a steady mind and an open heart and choose to do our best to make changes in our country, in whatever way we can — outreach, voting, volunteerism, being a good neighbor, giving your resources and time to those who need it. The problems we’re facing have many causes, and it will take many different remedies to create all the conditions necessary for an equitable and compassionate world. It’s important to remind yourself of your resources — the support you have from friends and family, your material comfort, health, your good qualities — so you don’t get discouraged and overwhelmed. The truth is that we have many difficulties and we also have many blessings.

twi-ny: Speaking of being stuck at home, you’ve been holding classes online; how has that been going? How have you adapted your methods to make personal connections over Zoom?

kb: I was very resistant to teaching meditation classes online, believing that we would feel less connected each other and more distracted. I’ve found that it’s true that there are more distractions, but videoconferencing brings us closer than I imagined it would. We’re looking directly in each other’s face and it can be surprisingly intimate. I also noticed early on that it feels more awkward to sit in silence together online than it does in person. I’ve had to make a conscious effort to resist the impulse to speak and just allow the quiet to unfold.

As a Buddhist student, I’ve been grateful to sit retreats from my apartment here in NYC with Insight Meditation Society. It’s not the same as being away from home, but it’s beautiful to connect with the community and to remember that our life is our practice, and we don’t need to go anywhere to develop our mind.

twi-ny: What would you tell a person who is interested in meditation but doesn’t know how to get started or is hesitant to try it online?

kb: So many people tell me they’ve been “thinking about doing” meditation and I say, “Stop thinking and just do it!” There are so many audio and video resources out there, like the free recordings on dharmaseed.org or the Insight Timer app, and many useful books like Sharon Salzberg’s Real Happiness, which is a twenty-eight-day step-by-step guide to learning mindfulness meditation, or Thich Nhat Hanh’s book How to Meditate. And my book, Steady, Calm, and Brave, has short and easy meditations that are helpful for this difficult time. But the most important thing is to simply sit yourself down and get still without your cellphone or TV or computer for ten minutes a day. Just pay attention to your breath, the air on your skin, the sounds entering your ears. Being quiet with yourself is surprisingly healing and restful.

twi-ny: Do you have any special classes or events coming up?

kb: This week, I have two New Year events. On Thursday, January 7, at 7:00, I’ll be leading our annual Intention Setting Ceremony at Shantideva Meditation Center, and on Saturday at 10:00, I’ll lead a Steady, Calm, and Brave workshop. Both are on Zoom and you can learn more at my website.

twi-ny: Have you been getting out at all during the pandemic, and if so, what are some of your favorite things to do when you and your husband are away from your apartment?

kb: In the spring, the city restricted car traffic on one of the widest and loveliest boulevards in our neighborhood. Now, for over two miles, it’s a pedestrian-only walkway as part of the Open Streets initiative. It’s been a delight to see our neighbors and go for a nice long walks together. And, my husband is a history buff, so we’ve been upstate and out in Connecticut at forts and battlefields from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Most are located in state and federal parks, which are wonderful resources during this pandemic.

TWI-NY TALK: BILL SHANNON / CRUTCH / DOC NYC

Bill Shannon moves and grooves through the 2012 New York City Dance Parade in Crutch (photo by Thos Robinson)

DOC NYC: CRUTCH (Sachi Cunningham & Vayabobo, 2020)
November 11-19, $12
www.docnyc.net
www.crutchdoc.com

“Everybody has crutches,” multidisciplinary artist and performer Bill Shannon says in Crutch, making its world premiere November 11-19 at the virtual DOC NYC festival. “Some of them you can see; some of them are invisible.”

The title is both literal and metaphorical. The Nashville-born, Pittsburgh-based Shannon has been called “Crutch” since he was a kid; he has required the use of crutches most of his life because of the degenerative bilateral hip deformity Legg-Calvé Perthes disease. A skate punk, Shannon designed a unique set of crutches with rounded bottoms and developed a career as a dancer, choreographer, and visual artist that combined the crutches with skateboards, public intervention, and neuroscience.

The film follows Shannon, who recently turned fifty, for twenty years; it is directed by Frontline veteran Sachi Cunningham (the two have known each other since grade school, and she once dated his brother) and capoeira documenter Vayabobo, aka Chandler Evans. Crutch incorporates footage from throughout Shannon’s life with new interviews with friends, colleagues, family, dance critics, and Shannon himself, who speaks his mind onstage and off as he travels from Pittsburgh to New York City, California, and Florida as well as England, Australia, Canada, Finland, Russia, and Spain. The film is structured around Shannon’s visit to Camp Perthes USA, where children with the disease can participate in sports and other activities while learning to embrace their disability.

In such exhibitions and live shows as “The Evolution of William Foster Shannon,” Touch Update, and Traffic: A Transient Specific Performance, the onetime Easter Seals poster child has developed not only a unique choreographic language but also his own terminology to describe what he does, including such phrases as “gestures of help,” “the weight of empathy,” “reflections of enquiry,” and “the ambiguity of disability” that drive his practice, which is anchored by interaction with the public. The film is available online through November 19 and is accompanied by a Q&A with Cunningham, Vayabobo, and Shannon. Shannon, who is sheltering in place with his family in Pittsburgh, took some time away from the opening of the film and a conference to discuss Camp Perthes, the art of provocation, the pandemic lockdown, and more.

twi-ny: There’s a lot of old footage of you in the film, including your childhood and teen years. What was it like going through your archives to find the material? Is it difficult to watch footage of yourself of the years when you did not need the crutches? As a viewer, those transitions are deeply affecting.

bill shannon: I have had the privilege and joy of a father who studied film photography in the ’70s and was very technical in his approach. Then my brother was a very talented artist all around and he took great photos in the mid-to-late ’80s, and also my good friend Brian’s photos and videos from the mid-’80s into the ’90s had a big presence as well. Digging it all out, scanning it all was a long, drawn-out process because I never throw anything away.

twi-ny: At one point in the film you talk about how your work involves looking at people looking at you. Have you seen the final cut of the film? What do you think of it in that context, now that another level has been added to that relationship?

bs: I have seen it. It’s very meta, yet also there are not enough details within the doc to really sink into the meat of the public street work in terms of language and phenomenology. The doc does get the message out in a clear way, though.

twi-ny: The scenes of you at the camp are very emotional, both to you and the audience; the look on the kids’ faces as you talk to them and dance are just beautiful. What was that experience like for you, especially since there was nothing like it when you were their age and dealing with the disease?

bs: The experience was very moving. My kids got to meet other kids with Perthes and have more info on what I went through. This was also a case of the film documenting its own impact on my life. The camp for kids with Perthes was through connections that Sachi and Chandler made in the process of looking for others with Perthes to interview. They then organized the visit and flew me out there with my kids. I wish I had had something like the camp at the time I was a kid; I think it would have shifted my worldview and sense of belonging.

twi-ny: You’ve performed all over the globe. Are people’s reactions, particularly when you descend stairs or fall to the ground in a public place, the same everywhere when it comes to their opting whether to become good Samaritans? Have their reactions changed over time, regardless of where they are? I remember that in a promo piece for “Touch Update,” you specifically ask the question “Can people change?”

bs: There are regional variables. There are variables in what “falling to the ground” actually looks and feels like. Reactions are very diverse and also context dependent. I do believe that people change. The international diversity, say, between Mexico City and Novgorod, Russia, or Cairo, Egypt, are vast and fascinating.

twi-ny: How has Pittsburgh been dealing with the pandemic?

bs: Pittsburgh, like most places, has its share of individuals who are pretending it’s not real. Pittsburgh allowed for kids to go back to school, which in my opinion is a very stupid move. It sucks for the kids during a time in their lives when social interaction and bonding with friends is everything. Youth are further pushed into the screens, and it’s really sad.

Bill Shannon’s life and art evolve in Crutch documentary

twi-ny: If you’re not going out much, do you miss the interaction you usually have with the public? The film focuses on how much you crave making those connections.

bs: I am feeling extremely out of sorts lately for a variety of reasons. Having some contact with the streets, with the world would mean so much to me. Working this week as part of a conference, I am reminded how much I rely on my physical presence and in-person communication to build trust and understanding with others. When it’s Zoom and text, I lose a lot of my tools.

twi-ny: One of the people in the film calls you an “agent provocateur.” Would you agree with that assessment?

bs: My mom called me a provocateur. It is true but not the “agent” part. That’s what cops do when they join BLM demonstrations; they become agent provocateurs and burn shit down and vandalize to give protesters and the cause a bad name. I wouldn’t want to be associated with the agent part, but being a provocateur, someone who provokes, is accurate.

twi-ny: Your art has progressed from skateboards and crutches to multimedia, multidisciplinary shows involving cutting-edge technology and neuroscience. What’s next for you?

bs: I really don’t think so much about what is next. Next will happen to me. I am here today in the moment and trying to solve problems that I have identified out of solutions I came across yesterday.