Past Projects
Baltimore Observed
Over the past semester, a group of Towson University graduate students delved into the nature of the city of Baltimore, collecting photographs, videos, soundscapes, newspaper articles, interviews, court transcripts, radio excerpts, old Baltimore TV footage, musical recordings, city documents, and material from Sun obituaries to create an impressionistic performance piece about the city based on this “found” material.Most of the text in the show is verbatim; snippets are imagined; all of it is based on actual events or conversations. We began the project with eight students, but along the way we sucked in as many talented grads and undergrads as we could muster to help us shape this show.
We also collaborated with a group of UMBC grad students who were working with Professor Stephen Bradley there; their images and soundscapes are both part of the performance and part of the lobby installation pieces.
Here at Towson, the students worked with Towson professor Stephen Nunns, journalist & playwright Karen Houppert, and New York City-based director Eric Nightengale to sift through the material, grapple with diverse sensibilities, and develop ways of performing this unconventional material.
We tried to resist the temptation to tidy this script into a simple linear plot or monolithic viewpoint since—it seems to us—this work-in-progress that is the city of Baltimore resists such tidy resolutions itself.
In the end, we hung the script on then-Mayor Martin O’Malley’s Believe Campaign, drawing heavily on documents from the actual marketing presentation made to the mayor in 2002, because we thought the exhortation to believe—part bravado based on the notion that change can come through the sheer willpower of sloganeering and part, a last resort desperate plea for salvation—exemplified the curious mix of conflicting feelings folks have for this city: love, frustration, pride, anger.
As O’Malley grew as a character, we incorporated the story of the Dawson family. The Dawsons, who took the mayor at his word when he urged them to call 1-866-B-E-L-I-E-V-E to report drug dealers in their neighborhood, paid a high price for their belief. After making 109 calls to report drug activity, their house was fire-bombed. Twice. The first time, they survived. The second time, on October 16 at 2:18 a.m. local drug dealer Darrell Brooks kicked in the door, splashed gasoline on the stairs while the Dawsons slept, and lit a match. The family of seven perished.
What that incident meant for the mayor, who championed the cause through the Believe campaign and repeatedly urged citizens to report drug activity, is unknown—although we do know that he lashed out at WBAL shock jocks who blamed him for the Dawson deaths. As the mayor struggled with the repercussions of this, so too does the city continue to struggle with how to best solve its myriad of problems without growing jaded or complacent: We want to believe.
Lost in Electroland
When songwriter/playwright Michael Todd moved from Fairbanks, Alaska to New York City, he started writing ((( Lost in ElectroLand ))). "I was living in a tent on the side of a hill: no computer, no cell phone, and no connection to Western civilization. Two weeks later I'm drinking peppermint mocha lattes in a crowded subway, caring whether my shirt had buttons or snaps! I had never seen the hook of advertising and the pull of lifestyle obsession so clearly. I had to write a show about it. And I had to get out of New York."
Todd patched together original songs and a dense sound and video design to re-imagine JM Barrie's Neverland as a lifestyle-obsessed corporation where lost boys and girls grow up. "The Captain hooks us with advertising. And we all grow up. I grew up in ElectroLand for sure. You did too."
((( Lost in ElectroLand ))) was a live music-based production centered around the story of a hilariously tragic young man, Peter Pippin. It featured a live band, a fully integrated sound and video design, and the song-stylings of three burlesque-reminiscent lady-robots who were more than happy to give you a Twinkie or a tap dance. A story concert for the paranoid at heart.
Beyond the Simple Present
Beyond the Simple Present captured some of the true experiences Maggie Cleland's students have encountered as immigrants' adapting to life in the U.S. The play recounts their stories as they learn English and reshape their identities in a new country. The idea for creating a theatre piece about adult ESL students came to Cleland during her first week of teaching at Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP), in 2003. She was moved by the students’ experiences, some of which were amusing, and some heartbreaking.
Cleland left REEP in 2005 to pursue her MFA at Towson. While there, she learned about community-based theatre and found a way for her two callings, ESL and theatre, to coexist. With the support of the REEP Program and Towson University, Cleland embarked on a seven-month project with 16 REEP students to collect, develop, script, and perform the personal stories of REEP students. Under Cleland’s direction, their work — Beyond the Simple Present — was performed for over 400 community members at the Kenmore Black Box in Arlington, Va.
Dirty Little Rooms
A writer, a cheap motel room, and one long rainy night. This is the deceptively simple premise of Dirty Little Rooms.
Conceived by MFA students Carolynne Wilcox and Pamela J. Gross, this work used the struggle of one writer to navigate her way through a creative block as the catalyst for an exploration of obsession, isolation, feminism, and the mystery of language. Rich with lyrical poetry and sharp wit, the piece ultimately addressed the central question at the heart of all art: why are we driven to create?
Sound Application and Technology
Students were given an overview of the development of sound art and its related technology. They also explored the usage of sound technology in a real-time performance context and developed approaches toward integrating audio hardware and software into their work. This included a practical introduction to basic audio hardware and at to least one audio software application (Ableton Live).
There were two assignments for this course, both in the form of artistic projects. In the first assignment, students were required to create one short sound piece using Ableton Live. The second assignment focused on the practical use of sound technology in a live performance context. For this project, students were organized into two or three groups in order to create short performance pieces that made elaborate use of real-time sound processing.
6 copy, Pamela Gross
6_Copy-pamela_gross.mp3
General Consensus on Beckett Rendered, Lane Pianta
General_Consensus_on_Beckett_Rendered-lane_pianta.mp3
Harolds Rant, Carolynne Wilcox
Harolds_Rant-carolynne_wilcox.mp3