And So We Became American
a text-movement-sound collaboration among
Andrea Kuchlewska…Playwright
Christy Funsch…Choreographer
Zac Jaffee…Director
June 23 & 24, 7pm
Noh Space
2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco
Presented as a work in progress in foolsFURY Theater Company‘s Fury Factory festival.
About And So We Became American
And So We Became American is a spectacle with a cast of 15 that explores the individual in community and community in the individual.
Christy, Zac, and I invited artists to respond to the prompt And So We Became American, and to then participate in the performance of a script partly constructed from the language of their responses. Fifteen people on stage at once! Addressing what it means to be American from fifteen divergent histories converging here and now.
And So We Became American was first inspired by my feelings of cultural alienation as an American and my desire to query that in the community. For a long time being an American meant being rootless to me. Traditions and stories were not passed down in my lineage from the old world to the new; we assimilated, as it were. Traditions can be constricting, but traditions are also grounding; my American experience has been one of throwing the baby out with the bath water. My response to this has been embarrassment – about being cut off from my heritage, and about my wishing I hadn’t been cut off. This is similar to the experiences of some Americans, and markedly different from the experiences of many other Americans. I wanted to hear a variety of voices and confessions, histories and identities next to one another in the public gathering space of the theater. I am turning to the community for help, to hear their stories, as I form and reform my own American identity.
Christy, Zac and I wanted to set these texts into play with movement and sound. Christy was inspired to investigate the idea of private gestures in public spaces and Zac wanted to incorporate the use of everyday sound equipment. Ever-present during the process has been the joy of the investigation: What will these elements do in resonance with one another?
