First NY Ensemble Rehearsal

Last night was a momentous one for us, and for me personally - our first BrickaBrack NY Ensemble rehearsal. It was so wonderful to be in the room with this group of artists. We did a lot of "get to know each other exercises," warmed up with the ceremonial BrickaBrack "Zoom-Bang-Pow" energy game, and talked about the artists and productions that have inspired us / blown us away.

Here are a few things that stood out to me: the intelligence, sensitivity, good nature, and articulateness of these people. The fact that many found theatre as a place where they could fit in and express themselves when the rest of the world didn't make sense or seem to have a place for them. Although we're from all over the U.S. with a few foreign-born members, most of us are from small families and our parents are still married. I'm the only one who grew up in a house where we didn't lock the front door. Almost everyone has a plant and uses a mac. We have wine and cocktail drinkers, but very few who prefer beer. We have a few lefties and a few ambis. No one identifies as a conservative. We're a group of travelers rather than homebodies. We have a lot of directing/choreographing/writing skills. We teach. There are zombie people and vampire people, but no werewolf people. We prefer Gene Kelly to Fred Astaire, and Scorsese to Spielberg... Interesting!

Puppetry has been a big inspiration to the group, including Manual Cinema's recent piece Ada/Ava and Shockheaded Peter. Artists like Kneehigh, Complicite, Robert Lepage, and immersive performances like Sleep No More and Ivo Van Hove's Scenes from a Marriage were also cited as brilliant inspirations where the audience is very involved in deciding how they experience a stage piece.

I can't wait to see what we make together!

~ GG