This past week I chose the instruments that will be thrown into our theatrical mix — a set of big, mystical-sounding chimes, a cajon (a wooden box-shaped drum) and a xylophone! I’m eagerly awaiting the latter two in the mail, and all this along with my guitar, the voices of my cast (not to mention our newest cast addition will be bringing in her viola!) will make our soundscape. It’s important to get the toys early so that you have plenty of time to play with them, you see… :)

Last week we also had a series of smaller rehearsals focusing on character work. This is particularly necessary since various members of the cast are playing ideas-made-human. They feel like flesh and blood, but their actions represent much larger movements of knowledge, myth, and history…  One thing this led to was my finally spending some time with Paul Gauguin.

Thanks to www.tate.org.uk

I know I have referred to Gauguin as an unreliable narrator, and while that’s true, that’s watering down my feelings towards him a good bit. I suppose every one needs a scape goat, and well… it’s possible he’s been mine.

The reasons that Gauguin drives me crazy are simple:

1) Vincent never physically harmed himself until he lived with Gauguin. Nor was he in an asylum before then. And while I’m aware that doesn’t prove he’s to blame, I do think things may have been quite different if some else had been in Gauguin’s place.

2) Gauguin’s accounts of his time with Vincent are inconsistent, full of myth and exaggeration, and essentially unreliable. This is also done with the desire of creating mystery, which bothers me as a researcher and someone dedicated to truth.

3) Gauguin and Vincent lived together for a measly nine weeks, and yet they are always hung side by side in museums, and basically are tied up in each other’s reputations forever.

4) Personal reasons: I don’t like his work, he’s pretty obviously self-involved, he slept around while he was married with five children (whom he left behind in Copenhagen, while he ran off to Tahiti), etc etc. I just don’t like him.

However, this past week an actor and I dug around in his childhood and early life, and I found numerous facts enlightening about him. One was that he was born in Paris, moved to Peru when he was three (his father died on the voyage), moved back to France at 7 years old. In Peru, he was raised in the house of upper-class, distant relatives. In Paris, he no longer had servants. He became a sailor at 17, and his mother died at 19. He continued sailing until he was 22.

There is dislocation and loss all over Gauguin’s biography. There is no doubt he had difficulty pinning down his own identity, and this is what led him to gain an interest in myth, in romanticizing his loss of self into mystery. It is also undoubtedly what led him towards egotism – after all he had little that was static and dependable in his life.

While I haven’t suddenly started admiring him, I do think I understand Gauguin a bit better now. Everyone comes from something and somewhere…

It’s time for me to climb into bed now, I got a busy week of fundraising, dancing, playing, singing and blocking ahead of me!

All my love, until next week…

Secondly, I’d like to invite all of you to our fundraiser parties in Chicago! We have three super awesome nights planned all for your enjoyment, and money made at each event will help Vincent’s Yellow come to life.

Tuesday, JUNE 22nd at The Spot (4437 N. Broadway Avenue) at 7pm
Play TRIVIA! Win Money! Drink!
$5 entry

Thursday, JULY 1st at 63 East Lake Street (at Wabash) at 8pm
ROOFTOP EXTRAVAGANZA! Raffle! Jacuzzi! Great views of Chicago! Drinks! Sponsored by Magic Hat!
$10 entry, email me to get on the guest list

Thursday, JULY 14th at The Spot (4437 N. Broadway Avenue) at 8:30pm
Sing KARAOKE! Free drinks for an hour and a half!
$15 entry

Now, I don’t care if I hardly know you, I’d love to see you at any and all of these events. You can go out and drink anywhere, anytime, but why not support great art while doing so? I think there are pretty much no excuses. ;)If you do not live in Chicago, and cannot come to these parties, or — heaven forbid — cannot come to the show, I’d like to encourage you to make a donation to this project. I am self-producing Vincent’s Yellow, which means the whole budget (except for what I raise) is coming out of my own pocket. Your help, even if it’s $5, would mean the world to me. If you can’t come to the show, but wish you could, then why not donate the price of a ticket, $18? Every penny helps us buy costumes, paint, chairs, postcards… the list goes on and on.

Also, you’d be helping a project that I’m convinced has huge amounts of karma blessing it, and so that karma would also be spread to you. This I’m positive about. Press the donate button in the right-hand column of the webpage, it will allow you to donate through paypal.

Lastly, I wanted to share a little yoga with you all.  Yoga is a major part of our ensemble’s practice within rehearsal. It builds our strength, our flexibility, our stamina, and our team spirit. Enjoy the little video (also by Timothy Caldwell) and have a wonderful week!