twi-ny talks

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.

TWI-NY TALK: IGOR GOLYAK AND DARYA DENISOVA OF STATE vs. NATASHA BANINA

Darya Denisova gives a bold performance made for Zoom in State vs. Natasha Banina

STATE VS. NATASHA BANINA
Baryshnikov Arts Center online
Cherry Orchard Festival
Monday, October 12, and Wednesday, October 14, free with RSVP, 8:00
bacnyc.org
www.arlekinplayers.com

In my June 21 review of State vs. Natasha Banina, I wrote that “the future of online productions might be best represented so far by Arlekin Players Theatre’s State vs. Natasha Banina.” Part of the Cherry Orchard Festival, the forty-five-minute solo play is an online adaptation of the Boston troupe’s version of Yaroslava Pulinovich’s Natasha’s Dream, which deals with mental illness and, perhaps, murder. The extraordinary interactive work — the audience serves as a jury — is directed by company founding artistic director Igor Golyak and stars his partner, Darya Denisova, who is brave and mesmerizing as Natasha. What began as a handful of live performances has blossomed into a virtual national tour, with Arlekin teaming with arts organizations around the country to put on the play, complete with an integral talk afterward in which Golyak and Denisova are likely to reveal some of their theatrical secrets.

Among the play’s countless fans is Mikhail Baryshnikov, who is bringing the production to the Baryshnikov Arts Center (online, not in person) on October 12 and 14 at 8:00; tickets are free with advance RSVP. The October 12 show will be followed by a talkback with music critic and Beginner’s Ear founder Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, while the October 14 postshow discussion will feature actress Jessica Hecht, who is planning on working with the troupe soon. As they prepare for the BAC shows, Golyak, who runs the Igor Golyak Acting Studio, and Denisova, who teaches there, answered some questions about their sudden success and the future of theater.

twi-ny: For those previously unfamiliar with your company, you have staged innovative adaptations of The Seagull, Dead Man’s Diary, and The Stone, among others, that create unique relationships between audience and performer. When you were looking for a play to take online, what was it about Natasha that made you think it was ripe for virtual reimagining?

igor golyak: First of all, the subject matter of systems failing young people felt really relevant today, so the theme was definitely an inspiration. This is generally how we approach text at Arlekin; I want to have a discussion with the audience about subject matter, not a lesson plan, but pose a question around a point of pain in me and the collaborators.

twi-ny: Natasha has become a viral sensation, one of the most-talked-about and widely praised online productions during the pandemic. What has that experience been like?

ig: The experience has been overwhelming. Being an immigrant theater with our accent not just in language but in the approach to the theater, we feel understood.

twi-ny: Darya, during the show, you call out some of the names of the people watching, but you can’t see them over Zoom. What’s it like giving such an intimate, courageous performance without a visible audience?

darya denisova: Actually, there is a seventy-inch monitor right in front of me, so I do see the audience at certain points. It is very inspiring when audience members choose to keep their videos on; I get to see their facial expressions, their emotions, and how people change during the course of the performance. This makes the connection between me and the audience very real.

twi-ny: One of your fans is Mikhail Baryshnikov, and on October 12 and 14, you will be performing the show for the Baryshnikov Arts Center. You have been able to essentially tour the show online, creating a new model, collaborating with organizations across the world. How did that come about?

ig: We work with two amazing touring producers, Sara Stackhouse of BroadBand and Maria Shclover and Irina Shabshis of the Cherry Orchard Festival Foundation, who have strategized around how the show lives and where it is presented next. It is an incredible feeling being able to present the show in different languages with subtitles live to an audience across the globe. We are not only touring with theaters but also with film festivals, which opened a new door to virtual theater. We don’t know where this is going and what’s next, as this has not really existed before, but we are eager to find out.

twi-ny: Do you find audience reaction different depending on which organization you are partnering with? Do the reactions change with the geographic location of the organization?

ig: Great question; yes it does! We have had only one not guilty verdict with an all-immigrant audience. However, I will say that all our audience members are sophisticated theatergoers, and the discussions that take place postshow are extremely thoughtful and lively.

dd: The audience reactions are different at every show, and so is the connection. I don’t think geographic locations matter — Natasha’s story is universal; it could happen anywhere.

twi-ny: You mentioned different languages. The play is sometimes performed in Russian. Does it feel different compared to when you do it in English?

ig: Yes, the play in Russian feels a little more authentic; being artists from that part of the world, we really know the character. The character, not the language, is sometimes difficult to translate. I can’t generalize, but in Russia, people view for example drunks or alcoholics as having a difficult life and feel more pity for them maybe because they can relate. In America, I feel it is more black and white. So I guess what I am saying, Dostoyevsky couldn’t have written Crime and Punishment here in the US. I don’t know if it is good or bad, probably good, but these are just my subjective observations. By the way, these are the questions that an immigrant from Russia grapples with their whole life.

Director Igor Golyak, seen here at Arlekin’s tenth anniversary celebration last year, is reinventing online theater with State vs. Natasha Banina

twi-ny: What has the success of Natasha meant for Arlekin? At a talkback that I attended, you noted that on the other side of this, you were going to continue exploring technical innovation over the internet in addition to in-person productions. What do you see as the future of the company, especially now that you have a global fan base that goes far beyond your fifty-seat theater in Boston?

ig: Glad you asked. In addition to our in-person live theater, we will be announcing the creation of a virtual theater stage with its own season in the coming days. Stay tuned for a press release.

twi-ny: That’s exciting. When you’re not at home, what do you like to do? Have you gone out much during the pandemic?

dd: I teach acting privately, and I really love what I do. Having a toddler and a dog keeps me outdoors most of the time, which I love.

twi-ny: Igor, do you go out much?

ig: Not enough. It is getting to me. I just came from a meeting at a coffee house and realized that people are not two-dimensional. Revelatory!

TWI-NY TALK — JANET BIGGS: AUGMENTATION AND AMPLIFICATION

ary Esther Carter reunites with A.I. Anne, Richard Savery, and Janet Biggs for Fridman Gallery pandemic commission (photo courtesy Janet Biggs)

Mary Esther Carter reunites with A.I. Anne, Richard Savery, and Janet Biggs for site-specific Fridman Gallery commission (photo courtesy Janet Biggs)

Who: Mary Esther Carter, Richard Savery, A.I. Anne, Janet Biggs
What: Final presentation of “SO⅃OS: a space of limit as possibility”
Where: Fridman Gallery online
When: Thursday, July 30, $5 for access to all twelve performances, 8:00
Why: In July 2019, I experienced multimedia artist Janet Biggs’s workshop presentation of her work-in-progress performance of How the Light Gets In, an extraordinary collaboration at the New Museum exploring the ever-growing relationship between humans and technology, with singer and dancer Mary Esther Carter; machine learning program A.I. Anne; composer and music technologist Richard Savery; drummer Jason Barnes, who lost an arm in an accident so uses a robotic prosthesis; marathon runner Brian Reynolds, a double (below-knee) amputee who is fitted with carbon fiber running prostheses; and violinists Earl Maneein and Mylez Gittens.

The Pennsylvania-born, Brooklyn-based Biggs has traveled to unusual places all over the world for her video installations, including a sulfur mine in the Ijen volcano in East Java (A Step on the Sun), the Taklamakan desert in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China (Point of No Return), a coal mine in the Arctic (Brightness All Around), the crystal caverns below the German Merkers salt mine (Can’t Find My Way Home), and the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah (Vanishing Point). She’s also all set to go to Mars after several simulated adventures.

During the pandemic lockdown, Biggs has been hunkering down at home with her her husband and occasional cinematographer, Bob Cmar, and their cat, Hooper, but that hasn’t kept her from creating bold and inventive new work. On July 30, she will debut the site-specific multimedia performance piece Augmentation and Amplification, concluding the Fridman Gallery’s terrific “SO⅃OS” series, cutting-edge performances made during the coronavirus crisis that incorporate the empty gallery space on Bowery, delving into the feeling of isolation that hovers over us all. (The program also features Daniel Neumann’s Soundcheck, Luke Stewart’s Unity Elements, Abigail Levine’s Fat Chance, Hermes, and Diamanda Galás’s Broken Gargoyles, among others; a five-dollar fee gives you access to all the works.)

In her third conversation with twi-ny, Biggs takes us behind the scenes of her latest innovative, boundary-pushing project.

twi-ny: You’re so used to traveling. What’s it been like being stuck at home?

janet biggs: Working on the performance has been a saving grace for me — to have something to focus on that feels exciting. But it has also had its share of interesting challenges.

twi-ny: How did it come about?

jb: I was asked by experimental sound artist and audio engineer Daniel Neumann if I would be interested in doing a performance for the series he was organizing for Fridman Gallery. The premise was that he would set up the gallery space with audio mics, projectors, and cameras, clean the whole space, and leave. The performer would be given a code to the lock on the gallery so they could safely enter the space by themselves and perform within shelter-in-place guidelines. During the performance, Daniel mixes the sound remotely from his home and livestreams it.

I loved his premise, but I don’t perform. I direct. I said I was eager to figure out a way to direct from home and send both a live performer and an Artificial Intelligence entity into the space. Both Daniel and gallery owner and director Iliya Fridman were excited about my proposal and gave complete support to the idea.

twi-ny: And then you turned to Mary Esther Carter and Richard Savery.

jb: Yes, I reached out to Mary and Richard, both of whom I worked with on the performance you saw at the New Museum. Happily, they were up for the challenge.

Richard Savery, Janet Biggs, and Mary Esther Carter rehearse Augmentation and Amplification over Zoom (photo courtesy Janet Biggs)

twi-ny: Which led you back to A.I. Anne.

jb: Richard has been working on expanding A.I. Anne’s abilities and neural diversity. A.I. Anne was trained on Mary’s voice and named for my aunt, who was autistic and had apraxia. Since the performance last year, A.I. Anne has gained more agency through deep machine learning and semantic knowledge. The entity can now express and respond to emotion. We are also using phenotypic data and first-person accounts of people on the autism spectrum for vocal patterning.

We want to explore neural diversity and inclusion in creative collaborations between humans and machines. Our challenge was how to get A.I. Anne in the gallery so she could perform live. A.I. is a disembodied virtual entity. Richard lives in Atlanta. While A.I. Anne is autonomous, Richard needed to be able to receive a single audio channel of Mary’s voice from the gallery and then send back a single channel audio response from A.I. Anne. With strong wifi and the right software, our tests from Atlanta to the gallery have been successful, so keep your fingers crossed for Thursday.

twi-ny: What was it like collaborating long distance?

jb: I’ve been having rehearsals with Mary and Richard for the last couple weeks via Zoom. We have been able to work out the choreography remotely and even developed some new camera angles due to the constraints of cellphone cameras and apartment sizes. The percussive soundtrack that Mary will dance to was generated by EEG sonification, the process of turning data into sound. Richard developed a process where he could use his brainwaves to control a drumset, creating a kind of brain-beat.

And lastly, I’ve been editing video images. Some will be projected on walls in the gallery and some will be a video overlay, run by the streaming software so that we essentially will have multiple layers of images and live action. If all goes well, I think this will be a pretty exciting performance.

twi-ny: Is that all? You don’t exactly make things easy for yourself.

jb: I’ve been to the gallery myself to see the layout and make some staging/lighting decisions. I will send Daniel a floor plan marked with my staging decisions and a tech-script. Daniel will set up the space (projector angles, lighting, camera and microphone placements) during the day on Thursday and then completely clean the space. Thursday evening, Mary will enter the space alone. Richard will run A.I. Anne from his computer in Atlanta. Daniel will mix the sound and images remotely into a livestream Vimeo channel that the audience can access from their homes. And I’ll be watching from home, holding my breath that everything works!

TWI-NY TALK: STEPHEN BURDMAN OF NY CLASSICAL — KING LEAR

NY Classical moves from the parks to Zoom for live, rehearsed benefit reading of King Lear on June 25

KING LEAR
NY Classical
Thursday, June 25, free with advance RSVP (suggested donation $30 per person), 8:00
nyclassical.org/king-lear

One of the hallmarks of summer in New York City is the plethora of free outdoor theater, from the Public’s star-studded Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte to such troupes as Smith Street Stage, Hudson Warehouse, Moose Hall Theatre Company, Hip to Hip, the Classical Theatre of Harlem, Manhattan Shakespeare Project, Seven Stages Shakespeare Company, Gorilla Rep, the Boomerang Theatre Company, Molière in the Park, Piper Theatre Productions, the Drilling Company, and more putting on shows in such locales as Morningside Park, Carroll Park, Riverside Park, Inwood Hill Park, Gantry State Plaza Park, Marcus Garvey Park, Bryant Park, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Old Stone House, and even in a Lower East Side parking lot. Since 2000, NY Classical, under the leadership of founding artistic director Stephen Burdman, has presented more than seven hundred site-specific immersive performances of works by the Bard as well as Chekhov’s The Seagull, Molière’s The School for Husbands, Schiller’s Mary Stuart, and Shaw’s Misalliance, among others, in Central Park, Prospect Park, Rockefeller Park, Battery Park, Carl Schurz Park, Teardrop Park, and at the World Financial Center.

All productions have been shut down this summer because of the coronavirus crisis; parks are open, but crowds are limited to just ten in phase two and only twenty-five when we reach phase three. A California native who lives in New York City with his wife and son, Burdman had been preparing a dual look at King Lear this season, staging on alternate nights Shakespeare’s original, familiar version, which he might have written while in lockdown during a plague, and Nahum Tate’s 1681 “happy ending” adaptation, which was popular for about 150 years and is now seldom performed. On June 25 at 8:00, NY Classical will go virtual with a live, rehearsed Zoom reading incorporating both iterations, a streamlined two-hour show featuring Connie Castanzo, Vivia Font, Josh Jeffers, John Michalski, Jamila Sabares-Klemm, Nick Salamone, and Luke Zimmerman from wherever they are sheltering in place. Directed and adapted by Burdman, the reading is a benefit fundraiser for the company; admission is free, but if you can, you’re asked to make a suggested donation of thirty dollars per person. The money will help fund the full, alternating productions of King Lear planned for the fall. Burdman took a break from online rehearsals to discuss King Lear, Panoramic Theatre, and being a husband and father during a pandemic.

twi-ny: You’ve been sheltering in place with your wife and son. How has that been?

stephen burdman: It’s actually been easier than I expected. The three of us make a pretty good team — and we really travel well together. Fortunately, my wife’s work (which is mostly on conference calls around the world) didn’t change that much and our son adapted to Zoom learning really quickly. His school, the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, did an outstanding job of adapting to this extremely challenging environment while providing great support to the students.

One thing to note is that our managing director, Hillary Cohen, lost both of her parents to Covid-19 in early April. This has been extremely difficult and as a company we have been in mourning. We have decided to close our administrative office on August 10, which would have been her parents’ fifty-first wedding anniversary, as a day of mourning for them and the thousands of other lives lost to Covid-19.

Stephen Burdman founded NY Classical in 2000, directing many of its productions in parks all around the city

twi-ny: That’s both sad and deeply affecting. When did you decide to do a Zoom benefit reading, and why did you choose King Lear?

sb: King Lear, with alternating endings (both Shakespeare’s and Tate’s), was always our plan for our 2020 summer season. This is the culmination of a three-year project of investigating how Shakespeare’s company toured their shows outside London. In the time of plague, theaters were closed in Elizabethan London, and while we never expected to have a pandemic of our own. . . . We also had great success with both our six-actor Romeo and Juliet as well as the alternating versions of The Importance of Being Earnest, so this project was a combination of these recent experiments.

We auditioned and hired the actors and staff prior to New York State on Pause, and we wanted to make sure to keep our commitments to these wonderful people. In addition to a union salary, they are receiving pension and healthcare. This is an opportunity for us to develop the production with these artists and serve our audience community in the safest way possible.

twi-ny: How have you been able to maintain that?

sb: The core of our mission is that all our programs are free and open to the public. We never want ticket price to be a barrier to accessing our performances, so we have always depended on financially secure audience members paying for their experience and their less fortunate neighbors’ families. In that sense, we are able to maintain because we have a community-oriented “business model.” We play for everybody across the city’s economic spectrum, and those who can support us do.

twi-ny: I’m used to walking through Central Park and suddenly coming upon NY Classical rehearsing out in the open. What was the rehearsal process like for this reading? Have you been watching other livestreamed shows during the pandemic lockdown, either for pure entertainment or research?

sb: Zoom rehearsal has been really interesting. The Zoom format has its strengths and challenges. While I did watch a few other readings and did some best-practice research, I wanted to make sure that we approach this work in line with our signature technique — which is called Panoramic Theatre. We feel it is important that when our audience sees a Zoom reading and then a full production of the same script, there is no disconnect between the two. One should be a natural extension of the other.

Some elements of Panoramic Theatre staging immediately transfer. Our blocking style ensures that, when a character is speaking, they are facing toward the audience. In the parks, this helps the actors’ voices comfortably and sustainably reach as large an area as possible. On Zoom, they are also facing toward the audience, in order to better connect on an emotional level.

twi-ny: What are your thoughts about what theater will be like in New York City on the other side of this? Has the pandemic changed any of your views about how theater is made and/or performed for audiences?

sb: Honestly, I don’t think professional theater will be able to return to prepandemic levels for two to three years. I have many family and friends who live outside New York and they are feeling very wary of visiting the city right now. As I recently said to a major supporter of the company, “When are you going to feel comfortable sitting in a small, dark space with lots of people again?” Theaters that work outdoors, like NY Classical, will most likely produce sooner than most and we are still hoping to produce King Lear as a full production later this year. However, outdoor theaters that rely on bleacher-style seating will have to substantially reduce their attendance expectations.

twi-ny: You’ve been vocal on social media about the Black Lives Matter movement. What are some of the things that NY Classical is doing to address systemic racism?

sb: One of the founding artists and board members of NY Classical — and my best friend — was Black. Don Mayo was a consummate and extremely versatile actor who appeared in everything from August Wilson to Shakespeare, Broadway to regional theater, and was very committed to NY Classical. When he died nearly twelve years ago, we created the Don Mayo Fund for Classical Actors of Color. Since NY Classical started, we have employed many BIPOC artists as significant collaborators on our productions, but we recognize we need to do more.

NY Classical’s staff completed an intensive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training program. It really helped us more deeply understand how our non-Black company members have benefited from systemic racism. Now we are actively implementing changes and reimagining our company culture to fully reflect our anti-racist values. It means considering our unconscious biases, checking our areas of privilege, and consistently partnering as equals with more historically underrepresented teammates — casts, directors, designers and technicians, administrators, and board leadership — in producing classical theater.

twi-ny: When you’re not creating or watching theater, what are you doing with your time during these crises? What are some of your other obsessions?

sb: So, in addition to a deep reworking of King Lear, I have spent lots of time with my wife and son, doing projects around the house, reading (I am an avid reader and just finished War and Peace — my final book in a years-long project to read every major Russian classic), and watching a few television series. Right now, my son and I are (re)watching the entire Star Trek (TNG) series.

twi-ny: We recently finished the new Star Trek shows, Discovery and Picard. It looks like your family had a fun virtual Seder. It now seems like Jews will not be able to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in schul. Hopefully we’ll be back in temple by the time of your son’s Bar Mitzvah next spring. How has your family been dealing with that?

sb: Thanks! We had a blast! It was super nice to have family and friends from Los Angeles (my hometown) join us for Seder. As for the High Holidays, I’ve honestly been in a bit of denial. After this reading of King Lear is over, we will begin to consider some options. As for my son, who recently turned twelve and attends a Jewish school, a number of his classmates have postponed their b’nei mitzvahs into 2021. Right now, my wife is teaching him to chant his Torah portion and Haftorah. His grandmother (Bubbie, my wife’s mother) is a Jewish educator and spends time with him every week to study his portion and, ultimately, help craft his Bar Mitzvah speech. We’re very lucky this way, as his uncle (who co-officiated with my late father-in-law at our wedding) will also officiate at his service next spring.