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The fourth Cornerstone Institute Summer Residency was in many ways the smoothest Institute experience yet, despite many challenges. The catchphrase of I-4: "That went surprisingly well" and the word heard most often: "Awesome."
We collaborated with the community of Holtville (pop. 6000), in southernmost California. [ See http://www.holtville.ca.gov/ ]
There are 15 students in the I-4 class. The I-4 students range in age from 19 to 36 and hail from New York, Massachusetts, Minneapolis, Seattle, Houston, Berkeley and a number from the Los Angeles area. They jumped in fearlessly to all tasks, particularly going out and talking to strangers in the community.
This year we were able to ease into the residency by adding 2 full days at the beginning. Institute arrivals began on Thursday, July 5. We began introductory classes earlier and were able to get to know each other and where we were a little before auditions began. The extra days also allowed us a little time to acclimatize to the Imperial Valley heat. One new experience was an exploratory scavenger hunt: students and staff divided into groups and went out in vehicles to explore the Holtville area. Everyone was given a map with locations and tasks to do at each of the locations. Very much fun.
Our mailed audition postcards to residents didnt arrive through the post office in time so all the students went out door-to-door one evening canvassing the town to distribute audition flyers. They also visited Sunday morning services at many of the 16 churches to help get the word out about auditions. All students participated in various ways at each of 3 single-location audition sessions. We saw approximately 71 people at callbacks at the Middle School.
Two days later we cast over 60 people in the play dividing most of the cast into various groups including 3 chorus-type groups that served very specific functions or had limited scenes. By performance-time we had a cast of 60. Vic Trevino our guest artist actor played Oberon and Ensemble member Lynn Jeffries performed as a puppeteer. Six Institute students were in the cast as well. Additionally we cast a family of 7th Day Adventists who could not perform on the Friday night, so company members Michael Garcés and Blanca Gutierrez stepped into their roles for one performance.
Director Laurie Woolery incorporated students into roles of responsibility managing and rehearsing the large cast. The students did remarkably well with the tasks they were given in and out of the rehearsal room.
Designers Sara Clement (set), Lonnie Alcaraz (lights), Elizabeth Cox (costumes), Lynn Jeffries (puppets), Rachel Jendrzejewski (props) and Paul James Prendergast (sound)supported by student associates-- created the world of the play, doing a lot of the hands-on labor alongside with the production team and production calls with students.
The community cast was fantastic. The sweethearts were high school students who really shined for their bravery of stepping outside their comfort zones to perform. Shakespeares rustics were local crops in A Holtville Nights Dream and were played by children plus two Institute students who did the roles of Bottom and Philostrate. There are too many stand-out individuals among the cast to include all the stories here.
The play had three performances and ran about 90 minutes. We had doorprize giveaways of donations from local businesses before each performance. Two local businesses sold Holtville Threads T-Shirts and Holtville related items outside the theater before and after performances.
Opening night was very exciting with a full to standing room only audience that included the Mayor, City Manager and other City Council members as well as family and some of the school maintenance staff who were such a help to us throughout our stay. We had more than 700 audience members total see the three performances. Much gratitude to all the Cornerstone friends who made the 8-hour roundtrip trek to come see the show!
The classroom component of the Institute was presented by Deb Piver with great success once again. The long first week (really 10 days) included 7 classes that culminated in a new 8th class that incorporated a creative element: short compositions created quickly by the students and shared with each other and staff as audience. Cornerstones Director of Community Partnerships and Audience Engagement, Nico Lang, taught a class this year for the first time. In the second week early Cornerstone member and choreographer Sabrina Peck joined us as a guest artist faculty to lead 2 days of movement workshop. Peter Howard came in to teach a class about Community Representation. The Future Projects classes during Week 3 were as usual, among the most popular and inspiring experiences for the students.
We were lived at Holtville Middle School, overlapping with summer school for the first 2 weeks! The kitchen facilities were great and Co-Company Managers Jeff Wells & Byrd Shuler and were, as ever, amazing cooks, caretakers and everyday leaders. Birthdays were celebrated, company events went smoothly and spirits were often lifted by the choices they made and the work they did.
Our Artistic Director Michael John Garcés was in residence as Dramaturg for the show and playwright Alison Carey joined us for the first week. Shay Wafer was able to be with us for most of the fourth week and helped a lot especially with her delicious meals!
Cast member Elivira Alvarado opened her home to us on many occasions: including a terrific dinner party at her house on our first day off and an opening night party!
We had visits from past many Institute graduates: Jack Bentz, Mia Osherow, Marcos Najera, and Daniel French. One day we had all four Institute Summer Residencies represented in Holtville by a total of 8 individuals including Jeff, Byrd, Greg & Rachel who were all on staff.
Were looking forward to a reunion party in Holtville in December.
A Holtville Night's Dream on the Internet
Listen to BBC's The World (August 7, 2007) 5-minute piece called Shakespeare on the Border
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/11928
View photos taken & posted by Cornerstone's Communications Manager Rachel Jendrzejewski on a photo sharing site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cornerstonetheatercompany/sets/72157600889517122/
Paula Donnelly
Institute Director
Cornerstone Theater Company
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