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OnSite Theatre Company takes site-specific show to Craft Alliance One show played in a men's room in New York's Central Park. Another premiered in a Chicago bar (drinks available, but not included in the price of tickets). A third was performed in a big American car cruising down a Louisville, Ky., street. Two actors, including the guy at the wheel, took the front seat, with the audience in back. Only three people could see the play at a time, of course, but it was short. There was time for multiple showings. All three plays are examples of site-specific theater — plays that are designed to be performed exactly where they are performed and probably nowhere else. It's an intriguing trend in contemporary theater. OnSite Theatre — a troupe that stages site-specific theater exclusively — is mounting its third production, "Exhibit." "Exhibit" is set at the Craft Alliance gallery showing "Locusts & Honey," artist Jennifer Angus' stunning wall piece involving exotic dead bugs. Written for OnSite by Joe Hanrahan, "Exhibit" is tied to this particular art show. That's in keeping with OnSite tradition: All of its productions are written for the St. Louis spots where they have been performed. "Bowling Epiphany" by Carter W. Lewis and Dan Rubin took place in a south St. Louis bowling alley in 2007; both actors and members of the audience bowled. Rubin and Lauren Dusek's "Overexposed" was set in a venerable photo studio at the edge of downtown last year. The "Overexposed" actors portrayed characters involved in modern commercial photography and TV work. Members of the audience, who followed the performers from room to room in the handsome old building, were handed disposable cameras as they entered and were encouraged to take all the pictures they liked during the performance. This is quite a departure from usual theater etiquette, which forbids photos and recordings. But it was a perfect touch for a show at OnSite, dedicated to reevaluating theatrical norms. Fundamentally, all site-specific theater shares that goal. When you're only feet from the actors (like the audience at the car play), you have a different relationship with the performers than you do when you sit in the dark, far away from the actors under the lights. When you're bowling instead of confined to a velvet chair, like the audience at "Bowling Epiphany," you're released from the physical constraints that most people associate with theater. When you enter a public bathroom with a ticket for a play, you have to look at an ordinary, potentially repulsive place in a new light. Suddenly, it's a temple (or at least as a worthy vessel) of art. It changes expectations. That's exactly what Ann Marie Mohr and Kristen Edler, the founders of OnSite, always wanted. Best friends since they were 3-year-old neighbors inBallwin, they maintained their relationship and their mutual love of theater through years and a number of moves. By the time each returned to St. Louis, their lives had changed a lot: grad school, marriage, motherhood. (Mohr had her second child on Valentine's Day; Edler expects her first in a couple of weeks.) But their dreams have remained in sync. Why site-specific theater? They have their reasons: — There was nothing like it around. — It compels them to use work by local writers, a group that they like to encourage. — They didn't have to buy or rent a theater, which they could not afford anyhow. Instead, they had the opportunity to explore intriguing, unusual locations in the city. Because the places in which they present plays weren't intended for that purpose, they can't handle large audiences, but that's not a problem. They can't afford to stage plays for large audiences, either. — It offers a chance to widen the prospective audience. For example, some people who came to "Bowling Epiphany" were more interested in bowling than in seeing a play. "This is so different from anything that most people know, it almost isn't like going to the theater," Edler said. "The show is never the same on any two nights because so much depends on the audience." This time, the audience won't get to bowl. In "Exhibit," the actors (Sarah Cannon, Andrew Neiman and Margeau Baue Steineau, under the direction of Annamaria Pileggi) and the audience play people who have come to see an art show — an art show involving "bug art." A comedy with romantic overtones, "Exhibit" will involve walking around — no stage or conventional theater seats — and an unusually involved role for people who are not, strictly speaking, in the play. Site-specific theater demands the same qualities — such as a smart script and strong performances — that any good production does, said Hanrahan, who was an actor in "Overexposed." "But there's a random quality to it," he said. "And, like the characters, the audience is random, too." Mohr thinks that site-specific theater can give audience members "a sense of ownership" in the play they've gone to see. "You are an integral part of the experience," she said. "You take an active but nonthreatening role. That's exciting." Mohr and Edler stumbled onto the "Locusts & Honey" setting when they approached the Craft Alliance for a donation to an OnSite benefit. Now they are on the hunt for an offbeat, inspiring location for their next effort, and will hold a playwriting contest for writers who want to craft a piece suited to its peculiar ambience, whatever that turns out to be. Hanrahan thinks writers should relish the opportunity: "You feel like you're on a theater holiday."
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EXHIBIT The bright little comedy "Exhibit" — OnSite's latest venture into offbeat theatrical venues — may not ask too much of its audience, but its slight demands have rarely confronted theatergoers before. They include: — Being surrounded by bugs. They're dead, and they're beautiful. But still, they are bugs. Artist Jennifer Angus has arranged them in elegant patterns for her exhibit, "Locusts and Honey," on view in the Craft Alliance gallery through May 17. — Letting an actor talk to you — directly to you — at a distance usually reserved for personal conversation but at a volume associated with, well, acting. — Climbing stairs. And, for much of the performance, standing rather than sitting. Written by Joe Hanrahan and directed by Annamaria Pileggi, "Exhibit" takes a good-natured poke at the art world, its pretensions and its potential — which may extend well beyond the work on the walls or on the boards. As members of the audience mingle, one Art Lover (Margeau Baue Steinau, over the cultured top) emerges from the pack. She wants to talk to — well, anybody. Everybody. This self-dramatizing woman loves art and artists both, hardly a unique combination. Naturally she is drawn to two attractive characters (Andy Neiman and Sarah Cannon). Determined to have an artistic encounter, she pursues them with or without encouragement (mainly without). Yet maybe this woman, easy to laugh at, is doing them a bigger favor than they realize. That kind of theater — plays written for the places where they're performed — demands characters you'd find in each particular locale. And what's a gallery without an Art Lover or two? Hanrahan also works in the theme of this show, bugs, and the uneasy feelings it can provoke. Phobias make good ice-breakers, creating an instant aura of vulnerability. Neiman and Cannon, two of the most charming performers on the St. Louis stage, make it seem attractive as well. Previous OnSite productions, where audiences got to bowl or to snap photos, gave theatergoers more to do than "Exhibit." Looking at an art show, after all, is not that different from watching a play (and it draws pretty much the same crowd). On its own terms, however, "Exhibit" makes a nice change of pace from take-your-seat theater, and a different, fun way to spend an evening, especially on a date. Afterward, you could discuss your phobias. |
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Talking Broadway Exhibit I used to have a girlfriend who would say that she wasn't much interested in football, but she was very interested in football players. It's the same with the characters in Exhibit: they hang out on the fringes of the art world because they're interested in artists, not art, and in at least one case because doing so reinforces their carefully cultivated self-image as one who has the sensitivity of an artist, if not the talent. Margau Baue Steinau does most of the heavy lifting as Art Lover, a woman of a certain age who wears a cape, believes she has an artistic temperament, and assumes that everyone who dresses in black is an artist. But she means no harm, and her many affectations (including the belief that mentioning Kafka immediately elevates the conversation) can be excused with as charming personal foibles. Artist Type (Andy Neiman) attends exhibits as a way to meet girls, and wouldn't you know that Other Artist Type (Sarah Cannon) is on the rebound from her latest failed relationship with an artist. Do you suppose these two attractive young people can find each other? They've already made a good start by cultivating the hipster look, including the requisite all-black attire. OnSite specializes in site-specific theatre, and this play was written for and is performed in the new gallery and artists' workspace at Craft Alliance Grand Center, where the current show is "Locusts and Honey" by Canadian artist Jennifer Angus. "Locusts and Honey" is a grand celebration of insects: the walls are covered with geometric patterns formed by the bodies of insects, mostly cicadas, which a gallery attendant assured me were entirely real, and the artist's notes inform us that "nearly 70% of the food we consume is the direct result of insect pollination." The exhibit also includes smaller display cases of insects, variously shaped bottles of honey, and a display case of wax objects. The content of the gallery show is worked into the play: the two Artist Types discuss their attraction and repulsion to insects, which Angus also notes as a defining theme of her exhibit, and insects find their way into several other conversations as well. There's none of the traditional separation between actor and audience in Exhibit: instead of a formal stage, the actors move around the gallery (and among the audience members) as if they were there to see the exhibit. When the action moves downstairs, the audience follows, and when the actors returns to the gallery, the audience follows them right back up the stairs. Exhibit runs about 50 minutes and feels more like an appetizer than a full theatrical meal. Perhaps with this in mind, OnSite has scheduled performances for 7 pm and 9 pm, so you can see the early performance and still catch an 8:00 show at the Fox, the Kranzberg Center or the Black Rep, or have a leisurely pre-show dinner and see the 9:00 show. Exhibit will run at the Craft Alliance Grand Center in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Building, 501 N. Grand Blvd in St. Louis City through April 11. Ticket information is available from 314-686-0062 or from the company web site www.onsitetheatre.org. Cast Crew |
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Ladue News Story: Patrons at the Craft Alliance mill about, observing the current display by Jennifer Angus titled “Locusts & Honey.” The Canadian-born artist weaves patterns of dead insects into geometric shapes and repetitive styles that at first glance resemble wallpaper, but upon closer review reveal their true nature. Particularly fascinated by this is a middle-aged woman stylishly dressed in black. She holds sway in the viewing area, freely dispersing her opinions about this particular exhibit as well as all manner of contemporary culture. The bug motif, e.g., allows her to spin into references to “The Fly,” “Aliens” and “Starship Troopers” and even science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein. The Art Lover has a passion for artists and their work, and conjectures freely about their inspiration as well as their creations. When she sees a studious young man strolling about, she pegs him as one of those creative sorts. And when he asks her about a curious young woman furtively glancing about the gallery, she naturally assumes that the young lady, also dressed entirely in black as is the young man, is an artist herself. The young man’s quest to learn more about the young woman takes the gallery’s patrons, including the Art Lover, on a journey that reveals much more than the lifeless forms on the walls. Highlights: OnSite Theatre, under the guidance of artistic director Ann Marie Mohr and managing director Kristen Edler, has carved out an unusual niche on the local theater scene by presenting site-specific theater, works that are inextricably integrated into the location in which they are performed. Previous productions have taken place in a bowling alley and in a photographer’s studio. Written by St. Louis actor and playwright Joe Hanrahan, this world premiere effort is a richly woven tapestry that is at once beguiling and captivating. In little more than 45 minutes Hanrahan takes us into a different ‘exhibit,’ where the Art Lover, played impeccably by Margeau Baue Steinau, is so pre-occupied with the meaning of art that she sadly misses the simplest expressions of human contact. It’s a beautifully written piece given a glowing interpretation by Steinau and her colleagues Andy Neiman and Sarah Cannon. Other Info: Director Annamaria Pileggi cleverly shapes the production with sharp directorial skills that keep the focus on the players in this wide open performance space. With the able assistance of stage manager Joy Ryan and the actors themselves, she takes the audience on a poignant trek throughout the two floors of the gallery that is both illuminating and obfuscated, depending upon the character making observations. Cannon stalks the space as a woman emotionally burned by a lover who has taken her for a painful ride while fueling his own need for artistic “expression,” while Neiman nicely underplays his scenes, both in his subtle entrance as well as his reactions to the others characters. In one of the episodes of the classic TV series, “The Prisoner,” a genial old fellow tells a wide-eyed young woman in the totalitarian Village that “we’re all pawns, my dear” while playing at an outdoor chess table. Likewise, “Exhibit” reminds us of the constant challenge in human connections in a studied, engaging fashion. Rating: A 4 on a scale of 1-to-5. |
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