A PEEK INTO PROCESS @ GRAND CONCOURSE: THE WORLD OF THE PLAY

For every production there is a special exercise that remains consistent amidst the constantly adapting and evolving processes of our rehearsals.  As the script is just starting to marinate with the company of a production, each cast member and designer is asked to find inspirations that bring them into the world of the play.  In the initial iteration of this exercise, production members were specifically asked to source images to fuel this inspiration, but as time goes on, we’ve discovered a variety a media can be instructive for this exercise: soundscapes, songs, video, foods, cookbooks, poems, telescopic cosmological photography, and more.

It is pitched to our artists to find inspirations that are either DENOTATIVE or CONNOTATIVE. 

DENOTATIVE inspirations ground the work in what is explicitly outlined in the play. These might be indicated by lines or stage directions that inform the artist what is literally essential to the telling of this story. 

CONNOTATIVE inspirations are looser, seeking to evoke the less tangible essences of the story, the structure, the setting, a character, relationships, and/or all other manner of things.

Below we’ve created a gallery of some of the images that were brought to the rehearsal table on August 12.  See if you can determine who sponsored which images and how it has informed the product we hope you’ll see October 11th-27th.

Each member of the production is encouraged to let their imaginations explore boundlessly, but when presenting these inspirations to each other, to self-select just a handful. This process helps in curating a disciplined lens, instinctively guiding the artist to define what inspirations are strongest and/or clearest to their creative minds.

A PEEK AT THE SOURCE MATERIAL:

The Grand Concourse (also known as the Grand Boulevard and Concourse) is a 5.2-mile-long stretch of roadway in The Bronx, the northern borough of NYC. The majority of the thoroughfare spans 180 ft wide, boasting far more real estate for travel and traffic than just about any other street in all of NYC. It’s a shocking investment of space and resources considering the tightly compacted population of the NYC boroughs. When considering the history and impact of such a construction, you may contemplate similarly established roadways here in NE Ohio such as “The Opportunity Corridor.” Sure it’s a less densely populated area, but there are parallels enough to wonder: what becomes of a community when places for people to live are transformed into roadways by which people pass over? Which investments strengthen us and which hurt us?