- OTHER MEDIA
|
- SF Bay Guardian November 9, 2005
- by Robert Avila
-
- CROWDED FIRE IS one of the big small companies helping to keep the
Bay Area an exceptional home for theater in general and new plays in particular.
Daring, idiosyncratic, and ambitious, the company steadily grew from a
tiny ad hoc Fringe Festival production in 1997 into today's 21-member ensemble,
a group capable of regularly presenting local and world premieres by an
international assortment of established and up-and-coming playwrights.
Success like this is always exceptional, but in the face of some treacherous
economic trends, it's downright conspicuous. One way Crowded Fire has gained
that success is by establishing a well-deserved reputation for challenging
modern work as aesthetically rich as it is politically and socially provocative.
- "My personal belief is that plays that have a political aim or
content and a poetic approach are more effective," says artistic director
Rebecca Novick, a Michigan native who relocated to San Francisco 10 years
ago with college friend and fellow company member Pegeen McGhan. "To
be really honest," she adds, "in the beginning, what we wanted
to do was put on some plays. We didn't begin with a focus on new work;
we didn't really begin with a particular aesthetic – except for sort
of picking plays that I wanted to direct." But a preference for radical
and non-naturalistic work is clear from a glance at the company's production
history, well stocked with names like Howard Barker, Edward Bond, Caryl
Churchill, Charles Mee, Naomi Wallace, and Mac Wellman – among modern
drama's most innovative, outraged (or, at least, outrageous) stage poets,
many of whom first came to Novick's attention during a stint at London's
Royal Court after she graduated with a degree in theater arts.
- Recently, Crowded Fire's developing style and expertise have led to
the production of more new works, including collaborations with emerging
playwrights like New York's Liz Duffy Adams, an artist whose playful and
highly literate imagination, radical instincts, and sardonic but generous
humor were given full rein in this year's world premiere of One Big Lie.
A time-tripping tale of decadent gods and their mortal playthings –
and a Crowded Fire-friendly wedding of the lyric and the lash if there
ever was one – Adams's first full-blown musical was developed in close
association with the company, including its composer David Rhodes.
- Crowded Fire brings several advantages to the production of new work,
including a truly integrated ensemble of actors and designers, a savvy
business plan, and (most important, of course) the talent to stage appealing
but relatively complex work. In 2003 the company produced an ingenious
world premiere staging of Erik Ehn's half-submerged fantasy 'Maid, while
2004 brought their second Naomi Wallace production, Slaughter City, as
well as a remounting and world premiere, respectively, of company member
Mollena Williams's solo plays 69 Stories and No Good Deed. Last season
closed with yet another world premiere, Slow Falling Bird, a magical-realist
take on the politics of unwanted immigrants by the Australian-born Christine
Evans.
- Such work has earned Crowded Fire a loyal following among many who
Novick claims don't necessarily regularly go to the theater but are intrigued
by a distinct approach and provocative material. ("We're always trying
to find that line between complexity and incomprehensibility," she
says with a laugh.) As its ninth season opens, with Chay Yew's Porcelain,
the company (whose name comes from Artaud's provocation: "Cry 'theater'
in a crowded fire") continues to prove that art should spell trouble.
"We're interested in work that is not easy, work that takes some chewing.
I feel we've succeeded if people go to the bar, and you can hear them arguing."
|
|