A place, an event

Today is Monday, rainy and grey in Blue Lake. My roommate and I both woke up in grumpy moods and walked to morning practice in silence. This is also the day we get our outline for a performance done in a laboratory setting this coming Friday. Always a bit exciting to learn what we're going to be working late into the night on over the course of the week. 

The outline was simply to create a place and an event. A place could be a church and there are a great deal of qualities that a church embody. And that depends on the church as well. Different churches walls are covered differently. Some churches walls are bare, others covered with images of saints, Jesus, the Virgin Mary. But beside the images, there is the way the space is set up. Are there pews or chairs? Is the pulpit raised above the audience or is the presenter positioned at ground level with the congregation? Is there a baptismal? Where is it? Are the ceilings vaulted? Or low with wooden beams?  Stain glass windows? How are the lights set up? Is the place covered in gold? Orthodox style? I can remember the distinct smell of the Georgian churches and the many candles lit before all of the icons. Women with heads covered in scarves. Priests with long beards, dark brown eyes that are lowered in contemplation or maybe boredom. A church is a place. And then there is an event. Events that take place within a church can be many. A wedding, a Sunday gathering, a funeral, a baptism, a Christmas celebration. The events often transform the energy within the space while at the same time they are informed by the space. The idea of having a high school prom at a church seems comical because the place and the event are in opposition. A high school prom requires loud music and dancing and laughter and romance. Drama. A church is not the appropriate place for this event. What happens however when a performance is set in such a manner where the place and the event are in conflict? Is there potential there or is this going against the grain of what is natural?

Lots to think about and discover this week here.