Outside the Box
FOFA & POP Host One-on-One Theatre
A four-by-eight foot box sat in the Sculpture Garden courtyard at FOFA this past week. The portable black theatre box drew quizzical looks from some Saturday night passers-by.
“People stop because they’re interested, but it’s fascinating how few actually cross over to see it,” said Javiera Ovalle, the hostess for Theater for One.
People had reason to be fascinated by it. This installation is unlike anything a standard theatre-goer would expect to see. The concept is simple—one actor, one audience member, one box. Yet this simple concept is a revolutionary piece of work.
Audience members are greeted as they enter by Ovalle, who takes down their names and gives them an approximate time for their performance.
“Part of the experience is the wait. You have to be ready and in the mood for the performance,” said Ovalle.
The spots went fast, however; by 7:00 p.m. most of the evening’s slots had already been filled.
The piece has had two previous runs in Times Square in New York, amid a bustling crowd of loud tourists and wandering hobos. “Our green room was completely exposed, with people always asking us where to find things,” said Ana Cappelluto, associate artistic director of Theater for One and Link alumna.
Artistic director of the project Christine Jones set-designed for the Broadway musical American Idiot, the musical based on the songs of Green Day. “Billie Joe Armstrong decided he wanted to play in there.
“You can’t do something like this if you want to be safe. You have to have confidence in your audience,” said Cappelluto.
“The first three people who went in left with a smile, but the fourth boy went in and the box started to shake. The boy left ecstatic—he couldn’t believe he’d just met Billie Joe Armstrong,” said Cappelluto.
“You can’t do something like this if you want to be safe. You have to have confidence in your audience,” said Cappelluto.
Implicitly a production like this takes a lot of confidence in your actors, too. “It’s incredibly intense because it’s so close, but it’s great,” said Harry Standjofski, an actor for the Montreal stay and Concordia professor.
“I’ve worked as an actor for 30 years, and this is a completely new experience,” said Standjofski. There were five alternating actors during the production, each presenting pieces of about ten minutes.
“I find it fascinating that what we see in theatre today is exactly the same as it was in 1895,” said Michel Lefebvre, artistic director of Youtheatre. “In 2011, we are struggling to find what theatre will look like and this is a completely original way to experience theatre.”
Youtheatre is an initiative that commissions entirely new pieces to speak to the young audiences of 2011. “Theatre kids should see this, not [Russian playwright ] Chekov, who spoke to his audience at the time—this connection no longer exists in contemporary theatre,” said Lefebvre.
Lefebvre summed the idea up—it’s “inside a box, but outside the box.”
