#michelecomite

Mirko, social worker, though, in a post rehearsals meeting asked the organizers' group if this last prompting method was appropriate when working with fragile adults. We honestly do not know where the line between fiction and reality stands for them. When does an intellectually disabled person realize that what is happening on stage is all part of a performance? For example, I had to improvise with Gabriella, a performer with down syndrome: she already knew the since since she had performed it with another performer, although with me she found herself in an unknown zone, where she did not know what I would do and how I would react to her. The scene was a fight between her, the Queen, and myself, a performer that could not use her legs, begging the Queen for help. In the actual scene Gabriella does not give up, but with me she was convinced and helped me sit back on my wheelchair. The scene was powerful, intense and tear-jerking! She grabbed my non-working legs, carefully pulled me to my chair and helped me sit. I doubted that she was improvising, I saw real concern in her eyes. Michele, instead, believes she really performed, while before she was just repeating actions and text out of memory!

PIC general plan

WHAT I AM DOING: internship – theatre – a mixture between theatre with disability and disabled-theatre. That is to work with people with a disability giving them an experience of the arts, but at the same time drawing material from and with them with processes very similar to devising theatre.

WHO IS IT FOR: At first the work was for the participants of the social volunteer course, since all the created material formed a performance ‘L’Oltre Possibile’ that was shown during the first day of the social volunteer course. The work moved then to being for the performers and their growth as artists.

WHERE I STARTED FROM: I started with a distant point of view that was closer to my reality, than the one of the performers with disability. Some things that I had planned were not so accessible/possible: - to rehearse with director Viganò and his theatre group Theatraki as well as with Ikaro. I honestly do not have enough time during the week to follow two theatre group and to document professionally the work I do with them. I have to admit I am sad to not follow director Viganò’s work. Hopefully the future will give me another opportunity. - not every performer has a disability that requires a communication method different from words (therefore my search for different communication methods has to slightly change direction.) - When planning, I had not considered specifically those performers with a slight physical disability (limping…) - The questionnaire I was thinking of asking the performers to fill in is not an accessible form of feedback for everyone (all of Ikaro’s participants do not know how to read OR write!)

How does the project relate to your previous and future learning and practice

(indicate potential developments into dissertation and final project)

During summer 2011, I have worked with the theatre ‘Alla Ribalta’ (Alla Ribalta. 2011) on a performance entirely devised on physical theatre. I have also researched physicality and the body for Collaboration module,  THE221.

This project relates to my future learning practice as I will most likely deepen my knowledge in disabled theatre and theatre company DV8 (DV8. 2012), in particular the company’s video The cost of living (Newson. 2004) within my dissertation. In this specific piece DV8 work with a disabled performer, while the able performers ‘disable’ themselves to experience a new point of view. Another student in my course will work as an intern for disabled theatre company and will work with drama-therapy for her PIC. It would be useful if we could share our experiences, ideas and concerns.

CONTEXT -In Ikaro theatre group there are different abilities, bodies and possibilities of using them (‘Geographical’ frustrations for some performers, for example for Gino, who lives in the mountains and cannot go hiking because of his disability.) - Italy: devising theatre cannot be translated in to Italian yet. How do Italian practitioners work with theatre and disability? (I will answer to the this question shortly). - Economically ‘La Rete’ supports Ikaro theatre group. Props and material are created by social workers and with everyday material. - Socially ‘La Rete’ and ‘Ikaro’ are recognized and well known on the territory: activities are accepted and valued.

LOCATE WORK I have posted a translated (into English) Curriculum vitae of the director, Michele Comite. The group works with a balance between theatre with disability and disabled theatre. Most of the rehearsal process is devised and most of the material drawn from the performers. Although, the final rehearsing section is more director lead (due to time, stress, anxiety…)

BUDGET €20 worth of gas per week €2 for parking per week

Here is my SWOT, done on the 15th November 2012:

Strengths

-          Previous work with disabled people

-          Previous devised work on physical theatre

-          Time to get to know participants during the preparation of the previous show ‘L’Oltre Possibile’

-          Performers with non-profoundly disabilities

-          My previous workshop was supported by background research on the theme

-          Help during my first workshop by social worker, Andrea

-          Performers trusted me immediately

Weaknesses

-          Not thinking that disability would prevent continuous working

-          My own insecurity: the first time I lead a workshop I was afraid of pushing the performers boundaries too much

-          Other social workers and the director were not there to help me during my first workshop, therefore I was afraid of trying too much

-          Unfortunately I had planned a workshop that required more than one ‘helper’: I should have prepared my workshop so the performers could have created material always on their own

-          Not being assertive enough

-          Perhaps I should have been more encouraging during my first workshop

-          More than one director leading ‘L’Oltre Possibile’

Opportunities

-          To lead my own workshop

-          To have the performers trust me so quickly

-          To be in an internship doing what I love the most

-          To have found a musical attitude in one of the performers during my workshop

-          To work with very receptive performers, like the two Olga and Alessandra, for example

Threats

-          I need to plan better otherwise I won’t give security to the performers

-          Not being continuous during my three workshops

-          The fear of not being on the right path: not following all of my PIC aims and goals

SKILLS LEARNED

-          To take care of people and their needs and be professional at the same time

-          To work with a right balance between emotions/sensitivity and planning

-          Learned when to say NO and when to encourage

-          Learned to be slightly ironic about events and problems

-          Learned to whisper

-          To get to know disabled people slowly

-          To be able to ignore someone for educational purposes

-          To find my own space

-          To allow and help find their own space to people with disabilities

-          To keep a fresh mind

ETHICS

-          To watch, to understand

-          To ask when I am really unsure

-          To document myself on disability

-          To understand people with disabilities’ learning process and support it with my actions/words

PROJECT START

At first, I was one person, working with a group. Now I feel partially part of the group, accepted and trusted (by most). The significance of my PIC project is a whole new level of maturity in my personal/cultural/intellectual and artistic growing that I have achieved. My social and artistic help, together with my friendship benefits a bit the group.

OTHER DIBATES (that my PIC project and researches arose)

-          Difference between disability and handicap

-          When a difficult behavior is not related to one’s disability (both when it is a need to test a social worker, just being spoilt, or using disability as an excuse, mean to achieve other things…)

-          As a volunteer I have asked myself: ‘How do we want to present performers on stage?’ ‘How much do the disabled performers trust us?’ ‘Where is their physical and moral limit?’

Effect of context on practice

Context has a big effect on practice when working with performers with a disability: it forces to have a whole new approach to theatre, to find new strategies, new starting points. I have asked myself how much do the performers trust the director, when and how do they impose their own point of view? For example, one performer, Gabriella does not want to move with the rest of the group most of the times, therefore a character of a Queen, who rules all other performers was naturally chosen for her. Alessandra in other scenes, simply cannot say what she does not feel truly, so the lines have to be modified according to her own wishes.

Effect of practice on context

Michele has worked for years with Ikaro theatre group and can now use old material to stimulate them, or to prompt the performers. This is certainly an effect of the previous practice on the performers. Also, slowly Michele is teaching the group how to run a show by themselves, by working on memory and improvisation skills. It is a slow process that the performers will eventually understand and put into practice. Furthermore, working on the performers limits, helping them push them and try out new possibilities, opens new prospects and potential movements in the performers' everyday life.

Collaboration

I have collaborated with the director, Michele Comite during most of the rehearsals, when appropriate. I try suggesting new ideas/proposals when suitable. Sometimes he has worked with some of the material I have devised with the group (eg. From my workshop he used my idea to work with rhythm; he also decided to experiment with a performer's voice as I had suggested and used some of the tasks I had proposed to link scenes for a final performance.)

Director, Michele Comite, had prepared an initial warming up exercise that consisted in moving in a pair: one at the time, a performer had to mirror the partner's movements. We had to play with speed and objects in the room, while at the same time integrate space within our movements. This exercise helped people be more receptive, due to the fact that one could not just copy partners, but had to 'feel' the other. The director sometimes gave indications on how to move: ''Can you contrast the sad and dramatic music in the background?'' (my pair started to run and jump, exploring the room's walls, smiling…).

The director, asked the 'able - performers' to push the performers with disability's limits. I decided to work with balance and sustaining that balance with my partner: I made him copy me, for example by sitting in a squat position for a long time. I could see my partner tremble. I could see his muscles working. At first, I started to move slowly, unaware of which were my partner's limits. Nicola, my partner, is quite flexible and pretty receptive, so I had to push my own limits too, in order to find his. I thought that this comparison was very creative and created a pair that worked in unison.

The second part of our rehearsals consisted in creating a movement sequence by using the performers' characteristics as starting points: we had to exaggerate them and finally create a sequence. I had to lead a small group of performers. We started by exploring Gino's limping walk: each performer analyzed his way of walking and tried to copy it, make it their own. Their walk appeared to be a careful walk in a minefield. I asked the performers to play with fear in their movement: how careful would they be if space was really a minefield? Everyone managed to show how dangerous this imagined location was, besides Gino, who just continued to walk as he usually does!

We then moved on to working with Alessandra's physicality: she is a quite chubby woman, but with a lot of energy and a great awareness of her body. To continue with the previous image/metaphor we imagined a bomb exploding and tried to recreate this image by creating a movement sequence with three chairs. All the performers had to copy Alessandra who made her chair rotate, high above her head. This explosion soon became a graceful movement, that resembled some light leaves moving in breeze. It was quite an interesting and powerful image since the weight of the chairs, and the performers' struggle to move them around, was contrasted by the lightness of the movement. The movement sequence continued with the performers rejoining the chairs, as in a reverse action of the previous sequence, and started to move just their hand, rotating them, like leaves in the wind. It was beautiful to watch. It appeared like a sign of hope. 

  Mirko and his group instead, worked on Gabriella's movement, a performer with down syndrome. The two performers had to continuously straighten their clothes, as Gabriella normally does, but with one condition: they could not use their right hand. This made everything so much more interesting to watch, especially when the director asked them to take their sweater off, without using their right hand, which had to be connected with the other performer's one. In the end the two performers used their teeth and had to help each other. This was very powerful to watch, since one of the performers, Olga, is slightly scared and disgusted of having contact with other people, therefore she cleaned her hand a few times on herself (you can actually see this in the video 'Exaggerating movements' I posted.), but still let Erika, the other performer, help her.

We started off with a warm-up game outdoors in which the group had to follow and copy what the 'leader', Michele, was doing. We started running, jumping, exploring the space and following Gabriella, a woman with down syndrome, who often does not want to partecipate in group's activities. I thought that trying to get her involved, by copying her movements, surrounding her with our bodies or follow her cryptically was an excellent choice of the director, because it allowed everyone in the group to partecipate, more or less actively.

Our next work was done indoors: we started an improvisation excercise for which we had to move around, with and 'for' a chair. We had to dance with it, use it as a weapon, steal others' chairs, flirt with our chair etc. It was very funny to watch one of the performers, Stefano, who seemed to not have a pain threshold at all since he kept throwing himself on the floor and on others!! He looked like a stuntman. The whole scene became a game, in which everybody was pushing others off chairs, trying to steal them from each other. It was very energetic and had people burst out in natural laughter. The leaders had to stop this game, though, because the group did not seem to have a knowledge of danger and was starting to hurt each other.

The piece will start with every performer on stage, actually warming up body, mind and voice. When this moment finishes all performers sit on their chair, which is positioned in a line on both sides of the stage. Only two performers, 'Roger', a man around his 60ies with hemiparesis and Mirko, a young man with slight mental limits. Both the performers are wearing only their underwear and start looking at each other, until this curiousity becomes stronger and they start analyzing each other.

This scene has created a violent turmoil inside of me: I absolutely hated the fact that they were almost naked. Especially seeing 'Roger', who has a 'deformed' body, due to his hemiparesys (one of his leg is tiny compared to the other one, since he cannot use it and therefore did not develop muscles; one of his arms is visibly bent and 'crooked' due to his disability), really made anger grow in me. I analyzed myself and understood where this anger came from: why did the director choose an old man to show almost naked in front of an audience? Age should be respected, not displayed as tool to induce emotions and stimulate people to think. I will not argue if an old man decides deliberately to show his body for artistic/cultural/social/political purposes, but I will stand up for someone who does not know why her/his clothes are stripped off him.

I understand what the director wants to show: he wants to underline the difference between a body with no physical impairments and one that does; he wants to show that we are all the same in the end: we are all made of skin and bones. We are all human.). Though, I did not understand why there was not someone with no physical OR mental disability half naked on stage. I might offer myself, just for the rehearsals, since I will not be in Italy in May, and ask a male performer (a social worker) to join me, so the whole scene does not look like a discrimination. As another solution, I will ask if we can ask a younger physically disabled performer to perform instead of 'Roger'. Seeing him, naive and unaware of the powerful scene he was playing just killed me. It was like a violation. (I am sorry if these words sound harsh, but this is exactly how I felt.)

After this scene, Alessandra a woman with down syndrome, enters the space and dresses up the two performers as if they were her own personal statues. She performed these actions vigorously but with care at the same time. Her entrance was almost a relief from the intense (almost too intense) emotions cause by the previous scene. When she exists, 'Roger' and Mirko finish dressing themselves, Mirko finishes earlier and exists the space, leaving 'Roger' alone. 'Roger' 's getting dressed process is slow, difficult and frustrating. 'Roger' manages to get dressed, only by sitting down, using his only available hand. He is dressed and he is out of breath.

Everyone stands up and clap for him: they are really happy for him. They get closer to him, all besides Gabriella. The group notices that she has separated herself, so they all come near her, while she stands on a chair (this is a great goal for her, since she is always afraid of hurting herself and getting ill). Once Gabriella is towering above everyone: she starts moving her hands, making the performers move and fall according to her orders, creating a physical-theatre/dance scene. In the end she destroys her subjects by pushing them on the floor with her movements: they all lay 'dead' on stage.

At this point Rosa, a disabled performer on a wheel-chair, starts playing with her wheel-chair amongst us, completely ignoring the frustrated 'Queen' (Gabriella who has failed to 'kill' her). Here Rosa performs the scene I have described in my previous post.

Michele Comite, our director, worked on Rosa's (a woman on a wheelchair) movements. He managed to transfor her chair into a bumper car, creating a surreal and slightly eerie effect on stage. The scene was funny, it is clear that Rosa is playing, but the soundtrack to the scene is an anxious music. When Rosa finishes this performance, she starts describing her object (we all had to bring in an object that we were attached to): she brough a phot album with her. Rosa starts talking about her memories, about her grandmother, her dead mother, her alchoholic father, her foster family, her attachment to her twin sister, her ability to take car of her own catheter. It is a sad and touching story, that creates unease in some of the audience members, but it is extremely powerfull!

We tried the same excercise using physical touch, in the attempt of giving the concept of intensity a physicality. This task was easier for the disabled performers, who could understand what they were asked practically when had to shout vowels. Although, for some members, such as 'Little Olga', who is autistic, excercises that involved touching others are harder to perform. Probably, due to her disability, physical contact does not recall positive emotions.

The third task was to move the partner's body parts with an imaginary string. This was probably the hardest task for most of the performers, as they did not understand the idea of an 'invisible' object. Some of them are practical and pragmatic, therefore, imagining an object that is not actually there was really hard.

During the second part of the reherasals we worked on creating three movements, that we had to perform in different sequences: movement 1, then 2, then 3...movement 2, then 1, then 3 etc. For some performers, as Gino, who has difficulties walking and standing up, this task was very hard. The director Michele, overcame this, by asking these performers to add a sound to their movements and to be mostly sitting/laying/rolling on the floor. In this way even these performers' sketches (those with a physical limit) were powerful and interesting to watch.

During this session I noticed how some performers, such as Stefano, 'Roger' and Nicola, have a strong sense of rhythm and that as soon as music starts, they start dancing, or clicking their fingers and singing along. I would really like to use this ability of theirs in my future workshop. Each one of them was playing an air drum, staying in tune and with the right rhythm too, demonstrating that including music in a workshop could be a good idea.

With:

OLGA BONATO ALESSANDRA CARRARO ROSA MICHELI GABRIELLA GABRIELLI RUGGERO TOMIO GINO GRAZIOLI STEFANO PIZZINI OLGA FARRIS STEFANO SCARTEZZINI NICOLA FRIZ ERIKA SOMMAVILLA MIRKO DALFOVO JENNIFER MILLER ANDREA GABBIANI FEDERICA AMBROSI VERONICA MERIGHI MICHELE MERLER CHIARA DALLASERRA ROBERTA RE

Off-stage voice:

MICHELE COMITE

ONE ACT

First scene (Equal and different).

Closed curtains. Off-stage a voice reads a text by Stefano Benni:

‘What happens to the so-called normal people when they suddenly meet a madman that shouts and assails them with incomprehensible ravings? When they see someone collapsed on the steps of a church? After the meeting they remain still, with an expression of unease, of fear or dizziness. But their face has changed, as if they were photographed by a blinding light. They shake their head, they talk to themselves, for a moment even their normality seems cracked. What have they seen in that light, what landscape, what unbearable truth that they will forget right after, but of which the image will remain forever, in some innermost dark depths of their heart, in the library of their life. (Medèn in Benni. 2003)

MUSIC > TRACK 01

On stage: Andrea, Jenny, Erika, Nicola, Ruggero, Rosa, Olga F., Olga B., Mirko, Federica, Alessandra

1. Curtains open. Disabled performers are facing the audience, still, their arms straight down, in different locations, covering the whole stage.

In foreground on the stage’s sides Andrea and Jenny are looking at themselves in a mirror. Amongst the people behind, ‘Roger’ too has a mirror. Andrea and Jenny fight about the concept of ‘’EQUAL/DIFFERENT’’. They then exit the scene. Some of the figures exit too. Erika and Nicola continue arguing on the same theme, concluding with an angry exit as well. ‘Roger’ lifts his mirror and looks at his face. ‘Roger’ concludes the scene alone on stage throwing the mirror on the floor. He repeats (almost mocking) the gestures that the previous performers.

MUSIC > TRACK 02 Skunk Anansie – Charlie big potato

VIDEO> Equal/different

MUSIC > TRACK 03

  Scene two. (The cages)

On stage: Jenny, Olga B., Olga F, Stefano, Federica, Erika

1. Some people of the previous scene enter the stage. Each performer performs an gesture with a mirror and then distorts it. (e.g. Two people play Ping-Pong with the mirror, a lipstick becomes paint to color one’s own face, glasses become an unnatural object, placed around a little portable mirror… )The gestures are repeated.

2. Off stage this text is read:

Sometimes I shout. Out of desperation. it’s normal. it’s not so normal. Sometimes I cry. out of sadness. it’s normal. no, it’s not normal. I sometimes fling a book against the wall. out of exasperation. it’s normal.I mean, it’s pathological. I sometimes don’t want to get out of bed. I feel paralyzed by fear. it’s normal. no it’s alarming. you need a cure. I sometimes hate human race. out of disillusion. it’s normal. no, it’s a misanthropist thing. shame on you. I sometimes would strangle you. because you make me angry. it’s normal. no, it’s criminal. I sometimes don’t see a future, but only a thick fog, suffocating, a vacuum. I’m blind. it’s a clinical case. I sometimes feel handicapped. due to my helplessness. do to my inability. it’s normal. it’s absolutely abnormal. I sometimes go crazy. due to insanity. it’s normal. no it’s crazy. I sometimes feel different, an outsider, weird, singular, irregular. it’s normal.

3.       During the reading Andrea and Jenny enter the stage and lock all the performers in a cage that they build on stage.

MUSIC > TRACK 03

Scene three (Searching for the lost opportunity. Part one.) .

Alessandra enters the stage, looks at the people in the cage and laughs histerically. She shouts:

‘’I…am… free!!’’

She starts dancing. Jenny and Andrea enter the stage and worried start blocking her and talking louder and louder:

Jenny: Alessandra

Andrea: Alessandra!!

Jenny: Alessandra, stop it!

Andrea: She can’t make it!

Jenny: Ah no, she needs sustain!! Alessandra, you can’t do it!

Andrea: Alessandra, don’t disturb during the lesson!

Jenny: Ah, but the girl has down syndrome…

Andrea: You got it, Alessandra…

Jenny: ..you’re down!!

Andrea: Alessandra, you can’t write properly!

Jenny: Alessandra, you can’t count!

Andrea: Alessandra, you can’t do anything!

Jenny: Alessandra, you can’t go out by yourself!

Andrea: You can’t grow up!

Jenny: You can’t get married!

Together: Alessandra!!

They exit the space.

3. Veronica enters the stage and slowly gets closer to Alessandra, hugs her, at first sweetly, then in an asphyxiating way, gradually blocking her completely. Alessandra is pushed on the floor. Alessandra is put in the cage too. All the performers try to exit the cage, moving their bodies and hands desperately. Alessandra, exasperated, tied and blocked shouts:

‘’I want to be free!!’’

MUSIC > TRACK 08 Subsonica - Disco labirinto.

MUSIC > TRACK 09

Scene four (Searching for a lost opportunity).

A text is read.

The cage is suddenly destroyed and all the performers prepare the stage for the next scene (a sofa is brought on stage, a little cocktail table..). The cage is positioned down stage right and used as a clothes hanger.

MUSIC > TRACK 10

Fift scene. (Fifties party)

On stage: Rosa (on the sofa)

Ruggero (sipping ‘champagne’ at the table) Andrea e Federica (kissing in a corner) Nicola e Gabriella (dancing) Chiara and Gino (dancing)

Party scene. Centre stage: a sofa on which Rosa, dressed elegantly, is laying. A couple is slow dancing (Gabriella e Nicola), another couple (Andrea e Federica) is kissing, ‘Roger’, very smartly dressed, is sipping a drink. A wheel chair is in the left corner of the stage.

‘Roger’ gets closer to Rosa and asks her if she wants to dance, but she refuses. ‘Roger’ understands and walks away, gets the wheelchair and brings it close to the sofa. Rosa reacts terribly and starts shouting at him, sending him away from there. All the other dancing performers exit.

‘Roger’ instead pushes the wheelchair even closer to her. Rosa does not acknoledge him and pushes the wheelchair on the floor. ‘Roger’ caresses Rosa and sits next to her, helping her on the wheelchair, that he lifts up straight.

Rosa and ‘Roger’ start dancing.

MUSIC > TRACK 06 BILLIE HOLIDAY, I’m fool to want you

Scene six (eternal children)

Voice off stage reads text.

5 children enter the space marching with a small colorful chair each. They sit in line and keep dancing.

5 disabled performers enter the space (Rosa, Ruggero, Olga, Stefano S., Alessandra) very seriously and position themselves amongst the children. They create a little train of chairs. They are all facing the back of the person sitting in front of them. Olga, the first in line, quickly turns her head and all the other performers do the same. Quickly they all turn their head to face forwards straight after.

All the disabled performers turn their chair so they face the a child. .

They all start playing clapping games.

The children start jumping from their chairs, until one girl (Emma), on her third jump, falls. All the other children hug the disabled person they were playing with. Rosa calls Emma, and kisses her knee slowly. Children and disabled performers exit the scene in a messy but happy way. Only Alessandra and Nina, a little girl, remain on stage. They clear the space, then Alessandra states: ‘‘I’m a grown-up!’’

VIDEO> EYES

MUSIC > TRACK 10

MUSIC > TRACK 11 (Abba – Mamma mia)

MUSIC > TRACK 12 (Tanita Tikaram, Valentine heart)

  Scene seven (Black and white)

Michele enters the stage with a huge black balloon, tied to a little bag of sand. He positions the baloon in centre stage.

Michele dances with the balloon, trying to touch it, without succeeding though.

Opposite him enters Veronica with a big white balloon: the two meet, search for a contact, try to melt one with another, but in the end each performer exists with his own balloon.

MUSIC > TRACK 13

  Scene eight: (cromatica part 1)

Chiara and Roberta perform their choreography, all developed around a wheelchair. They give the chair other meanings and purposes. They drag and dance with a huge piece of white cloth.

MUSIC > TRACK 14

  Scene eight: (cromatica part 2)

All the performers enter the stage, dressed in white, holding a bowl of color. Each performer has a different color. All performers are on the white cloth.

Everyone starts painting themselves and the others creating a colorful human rainbow.

The title of the piece ‘LOltre Possibile’ is projected on the backdrop.

MUSIC > TRACK 15 Marta sui tubi - Cromatica

CURTAINS CLOSES

Bibliography

Medén in Benni, Stefano. 2003. Achille piè veloce. Milano. Feltrinelli Editore. Pp. 70

Tracks:

Abba. 1975. Mamma mia. UK.Polar music.

Billie Holiday. 1958. I’m a fool to want you. Columbia.

Marta Sui Tubi. 2002. Cromatica. Unknown.

Skunk Anansi. 1999. Charlie Big Potato. UK.Virgin.

Subsonica. 2000. Discolabirinto. Casasonica.