Yes, you know what that means! Rehearsals for our upcoming production of Caryl Churchill’s Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. have begun. And I can safely say it’s going to be very cool. Director Sam Van Der Merwe tasked Sammy Rat Rios (who takes photos for this newsletter, by the way) and me with being flies on the wall at the first rehearsal. So here’s the insider scoop:

First rehearsals at StT are always exciting. It’s usually the first time the actors, designers, and crew all meet each other. There were a lot of Sams. (Sam. Sam. Sami. Sammy.) And Saggitariuses. And a quiet, curious, darkly funny energy in the room, which fits the tone of this play very well. A couple returning artists, as well as many new ones—including two teens who have regularly taken classes with our Teen Ensemble, kids of actors in past StT shows!

Designers gave presentations on their concepts for the show, which is the first step to building the world of the play together. Some sneak peeks: Between each of the 4 stories that make up the play, the set (a collaborative effort between Sam and our TD Drew) will peel away layers “like an onion.” The costumes (by Anya Jones, who did Dancing on the Sabbath and The Glass Menagerie) bounce between time, place, and proximity to realism, but all pull from distinctly British inspirations. And in classic StT fashion there will be added touches of magic sprinkled throughout—talking objects, crystalline skin, gravity-defying pigtails, floating ballgowns, a macabre dance number, the like.

Then the cast did their first read-through of the script together. This play is at turns hilarious, devastating, tender, and outright weird. And though the 4 stories that make it up are all completely different from each other, the cast readily accepted the challenge, leaning into the strangeness right off the bat, seamlessly navigating the shifting tones and writing styles of each one.

Within this script lie many logistical and logical mysteries. Glass. has no clear sense of time or place. Gods. is one big monologue that might be performed by a different actor each night, or as a sort of Greek chorus. (Part of the audition process for this show actually involved devising a “game” that would determine who would read which parts.) Bluebeard. has lots of lines but no written characters. (Lines were assigned to actors by Sam to try and create characters based on narrative clues.) And Imp. is just….weird. Actually, it’s the normalest of the 4. But that’s what makes it so weird. Plus it’s as long as the other 3 stories combined.

After the read-through, the cast reflected and discussed. Without revealing too much, here are some highlights:

✤ Sam pointed out that the closing line of Glass. is an allusion to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen (but isn’t sure why)

✤ Anna related to Glass. as a mother, coddling your child as if they were a fragile object to their detriment

✤ Nervous chuckles when Sam asked “How do you feel about each maybe having to do the Gods. monologue on random nights?”

✤ Jonathan related the cyclical nature of Kill. to speaking to his 90 year-old mother

✤ Pearl asked why there are no characters in Bluebeard., and Sam said it’s part of the puzzle to understanding Churchill’s work

✤ Sam said about Bluebeard., “There should be blood, it should get messy.”

✤ Sam’s first question to the group about Imp. was “Do you think there was anything in the bottle?” to which Anna immediately responded “That’s not the point!”

✤ Sam compared the fairytale-esque characters in the mundane world of Imp. to The Antipodes

✤ Murri said that Imp. being so starkly different from the stories leading up to it made him feel like it might be “the real play”

✤ Kayla was curious if different characters being played by the same actors throughout the stories might reveal hidden narrative arcs

✤ As a final observation, Jonathan pointed out that Glass. is literally The Glass Menagerie

At the end, Sam announced that next rehearsal they will bring out “the big paper” to start writing down more questions they have about the play, as well as to start identifying all of the myths and fairytales the play references to maybe answer some of these questions. (FYI, Bluebeard is a favorite of Sam’s. I first encountered him in her devised show Head . Hands . Feet in 2016, and he’s come up several times since.)

Next up on the docket, we hosted two Open Space Residencies this month: Dylan Hankins with MSM, a raunchy multimedia whodunnit that centered on cruising and other vestiges of evolving gay culture, and Joellen Sweeney with SIRENS, an intimate testimonial that used song and practical magic to shine light on climate change and our oceans. Two shows that could not be more different from each other on the surface, but at their cores shared a desire from the artists to educate, preserve, and celebrate the things they hold dear with audiences. Here are some words from them about their residency experiences:

Dylan Hankins

✤ Did you learn anything new about yourself or your work through this residency?

“At the risk of sounding hackneyed, I learned that we do actually need more gay art. In an older version of the play, CRUISER 2 jadedly talks about how cliché most gay art pieces are. Another gay artist doing some phallo-centric, sexed-up drawing or sculpture or photograph of a nude male or of gay sex. Not really groundbreaking. “But if the straights can make the Venus de Milo and the Venus of Willendorf and the Birth of Venus, then I can make the Penis de Milo, the Penis of Willendorf, and the Birth of Penis and people’ll just have to deal with it.” A month ago, if you had asked me about this play, I would have danced around the fact that I was quite nervous. Do we need another gay story about cruising? We have Friedkin’s Cruising, we have Rechy’s Numbers, Guiraudie’s Étranger du Lac, En malas compañías, Looking, Spa Night, Hustler White etc etc…. it’s a gay artist’s rite of passage to make some piece like this. And I’ve learned to just accept that and embrace it, because I do actually think I have some novel things to add to the gay cannon, and everyone’ll just have to deal with it!”

✤ Five words that resonate with your work?

“Philosophical, prurient, polyphonic, pulpy, profane.”

✤ Anything you’d like to share about the history/future of this project? Is this one of several iterations, or a standalone piece?

“Follow me on Instagram @icpdylan for updates! This residency has me ENERGIZED to continue with this show. I’m also looking for producers so… if you have money and loved this piece or like the idea of it. Hit me up! Let’s get this show on its feet. I promise the next iteration will be even sexier!”

~~~~

Joellen Sweeney

✤ Did you learn anything new about yourself or your work through this residency?

“The residency was a great push for me. I’ve wanted to make a work inspired by my love of (and grief for) coral reefs for a long time, and I’ve never quite had the courage or the fire under me to do it. The residency provided both a space specifically marked for exploration and the necessary pressure of a deadline to kick things off, both of which I really needed.

I learned a lot that I want to carry forward too. A lot of my residency time was spent writing and workshopping the SIRENS music — I developed a practice of warming up with 15 minutes of improvisational singing/piano to get things flowing, and I think it’s a tool I’ll definitely come back to. The residency also challenged me to be bold about naming what I like and following through on that; I realized part way through that I wanted to have puppets, and that time and budget meant I was going to have to (get to!) make them myself. I was nervous about including them — what if people weren’t down with the DIY/practical effects aesthetics? What if they find out that I am soft and whimsical and a little bit childish?— but I had to remind myself that I love them, that some instinct in me wanted them to be part of it, and that my job is to fulfill that desire as bravely as I can and see what happens.

The residency challenged me to make MY work and stand behind it, which was a fantastic push.”

✤ Five words that resonate with your work?

“Ecological, emotional, whimsical, musical, DIY.”

✤ Anything you’d like to share about the history/future of this project? Is this one of several iterations, or a standalone piece?

“This was a first iteration for sure. I want to write a lot more music for this, and I’d like to interview more voices from the field to include as testimonies. I’m curious to connect it more directly to action -- to use any emotion generated to take a step towards the ecological future we want to make together. For me, it’s about the reef, but it’s likely something different for each person in the audience. I’m sure every person could name some home of their heart that’s under threat right now, some specific grief that needs their attention. I’d like the next version to include this sense of expansion and prompture for a next action after the lights come up.

I’m grateful to say that the residency has made me even MORE interested in making and sharing this story than before.”

~~~~

Both of these artists are longtime friends and collaborators of StT—Dylan recently directed a staged reading of his very own translation of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba during our Blood Wedding staged reading series, and Joellen is a frequent actor and music composer who was most recently in Dancing on the Sabbath and Forbidden Fruit. Giving these members of our community the chance to experiment, develop, and present their original work through our Open Space Residency program has been such a gift! Thank you for supporting the work of emerging artists in all the ways that each and every one of you do.

Finally, I want to include a spotlight on our amazing graphic designer who does all of our beautiful show and event posters, drew the cute sign for Little Red’s Curiosity Shop, and designed the fresh font for our new logo by hand: Em Craig!

Em Craig

✤ Could you say a little about the poster you made for Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.?

“I was really inspired by Karl Blossfedlt! When reading the synopsis of the play, I was intrigued by the idea of surrealism and how that could be portrayed. I think Blossfedlt’s images are equally elegant and eerie and have a subtle feel of being surrealist. I ended up going down a rabbit hole, and really enjoyed the juxtaposition of a single, almost fragile flower posing with the idea of four short stories that explore violence and power.”

✤ Your posters feel very symbolic. How do you go about picking the images/objects you use for shows?

“I am a very big fan of research, iterating and pushing my designs really far! After learning about each play, I tend to research it quite a bit and almost design around a feeling that I have about said play if that makes sense. It’s like a feeling and a vision that I try to mix with elements of the play. I don’t love being too on the nose with my designs either so I wonder if that’s where the more symbolic feeling comes from.”

✤ What is your art background that led you to where you are now?

“I didn’t really discover my love for the current work I do until I was in college! My grandpa was a painter, and I grew up going to art museums (which I still love), but jumping around my first two years of college I slowly started to pick up on my love for things like type, layout, photography, etc. I’ve always leaned more on the creative side, but once I was in my design program, it felt like I finally found what my brain was wired for. It has become my biggest passion. :)”

✤ 4 pieces you’ve made for the theatre that you love?

~~~~

Phew. That was a lot to get through! That’s all for now. Until next month~!

Peace,

Kai

Our Substack is stirring from its slumber as “Beyond the Looking Glass,” a new monthly donor-exclusive blog that gives you all a deeper look into everything we are up to at Shaking the Tree. Expect to find artist interviews, dramaturgical notes, sneak peeks, community shoutouts, and whatever else we feel might be cool for you to know about. Through this project, we want to deepen the connection between our art and our audiences, and express our gratitude to you, our friends and fans, who help make all of it possible!

As we get closer to mainstage shows, we’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes secrets about our creation processes, from concepts to designs to rehearsals. (Like did you know Sammy wore two different shoes at rehearsals to alter her gait for The Glass Menagerie?) In the meantime, we’ll highlight some of the recent goings-on around here.

Earlier this month, we hosted Little Red’s Big & Bountiful Summer Bazaar, the latest in a series of seasonal markets we’ve been hosting as an extension of our in-house store, Little Red’s Curiosity Shop. You might be wondering why a theatre company is doing such a thing. Sam has said in the past that if she wasn’t in theatre, her dream job would be as a shopkeeper of her own boutique of oddities.

But this is more than a passion project! StT has always been interested in fostering interdisciplinary dialogue between the arts. The store and markets have been a way for us to uplift and connect with local makers, bakers, poets, painters, tattooers, apothecaries, tarot card readers, dogs, and generally interesting individuals in our extended creative community.

Speaking of interdisciplinary dialogue, we hosted two artists through our Open Space Residency this past month: Sophia Tweed Ahmad and Yumiko Noriyuki. Sophia created and performed an original piece, Of Feather & Bone, weaving together her interests in dance, martial arts, music, and costume design into a personal mythology, while Yumiko filled our gallery space with photographs and physical ephemera that tell a visual story of heritage and history. Here are some words of reflection from each of our residents:

Sophia Tweed Ahmad

✤ Did you learn anything new about yourself or your work through this residency?

“I learned that I want to learn Urdu, my father’s first language, which I’ve been trying to learn on and off. But it just reignited my desire to learn Urdu.”

✤ Five words that resonate with your work?

“Water, spirals, timebending, ancestry, offerings, rituals.”

✤ Anything you’d like to share about the history/future of this project? Is this one of several iterations, or a standalone piece?

“I think I would like to continue to develop the song from this piece. I also did physical theatre in this piece, which I haven’t done before, and wrote a narrative to it, which is also something new. So I’m excited to continue to use those tools in my work, whether it’s developing this more or in future works.”

~~~~

Yumiko Noriyuki

✤ Did you learn anything new about yourself or your work through this residency?

“I learned a lot! I knew that my family approved of me as an artist, however this residency helped me FEEL that approval and the encouragement to keep moving forward. I learned that I’m capable of putting together something like this and that this is just the first of many.”

✤ Five words that resonate with your work?

“Remembering, honoring, grief, community, passing it forward, sharing.”

✤ Anything you’d like to share about the history/future of this project? Is this one of several iterations, or a standalone piece?

“All of the furniture and clothes hung in the exhibit were mine, my ancestors’ or my friends’. The suitcase selling the books was the suitcase my grandmother took to internment. The baseball pants are from the camps. It’s all very collaborative and intentional!”

~~~~

Our residency program, which was originally conceived of pre-pandemic and reemerged in 2024, has been an opportunity for us to foster emerging local artists in both performing and visual arts across creative mediums. We believe that the future of keeping theatre innovative and alive involves dissolving the walls between art forms, expanding and reshaping conventions through the intermingling of practices, perspectives, and people. We are so grateful for the ways in which our community has grown and changed through these artists.

Now, a development that you may or may not have noticed, a subtle transformation that could have slipped under your nose: with the help of your donations and some generous grant funding, we have finally been able to touch up the paintjob of our warehouse, and thanks to our painter Harry, we got a matching door to our office and lobby. Take a closer look: that’s not “Blessed Blue,” that’s “Aquarium,” baby! (Sam would also like you all to know that the old black accent color was “Dark River,” and the new one is “Black of Night,” spoken in an ominous tone.)

Also, we are going to have new signs! Though we love our old logo so much, we decided it was finally time for something new. We ditched the classic comedy and tragedy masks for a sleeker, more modern look. The font on our new logo was created from scratch by our talented graphic designer, Em Craig, with feedback from Sophie Van Der Merwe, another accomplished graphic designer and Sam’s daughter. Here are some mockups of what the new signage will look like:

On the topic of graphic design, we’d like to give a shoutout to the artist who has been doing our show posters recently, Em. Check out her latest work, the poster for our next mainstage production, Caryl Churchill’s Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.:

We’ll be doing a deeper dive into Em’s work and Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp. in our next blog post. Until then, thank you for your continued love and support!

Peace,

Kai

This is the first full-length scripted play directed by Shaking the Tree’s Associate Artistic Director, Rebby Yuer Foster. Prior to this, they had produced projects in other mediums with the company, including memoir/documentary film 家 人 (Jia Ren), anthology of experimental digital media Short Flix, and 行为艺术 (behavioral art) installation/performance MODELMINORITY. This next piece is the most recent iteration of their individual brand of work as a figure of the emergent generation of young theatre artists in Portland.

A large focus of Rebby’s work is to highlight the voices of Asian diaspora in the world of performance. With this piece in particular, their aim was to tell a universally “human” story with Asian actors, after witnessing too many theatres almost exclusively casting actors of color with their heritage as the sole defining element of the story they are being asked to tell. Changing the narrative of what stories Asian artists can and can’t be a part of, this production features the work of an all-Asian cast and a largely Asian design team.

The show runs from May 20th to June 17th. Book your tickets here to witness the ferocious performances of actors Akitora Ishii, Kiana Malu Willhoft, Heath Hyun Houghton, and Alanna Fagan.

~Kai

P.S. As a sneak peak, here is a companion piece to the production written by dramaturg Emily Hogan, part of our interactive Collective Audience Screen Time Bank:

Performer Claire Aldridge, who worked with choreographer Amy Leona Havin to bring this piece into being, invites us into the generative process behind this character’s uniquely movement-based story…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

CA: Yearning. Desperate. Resilient. Hopeful. Phototropic. Fermenting. Stained. Aching.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

CA: I did not actually, when Sam and I met up in September (which feels an eternity ago now) I was immediately drawn to the project as a whole. Throughout our conversation I found myself pulled more towards themes and modalities of performance, rather than a specific fruit. I knew I wanted to live in the realm of dance theater. It was Sam who came to me with the Grape and visions of Dionysus. I didn’t feel as connected to the grape until I started digging into the more scientific research surrounding grapes. Did you know that grapes actually thrive in poor soil? The less nutrient dense and harsher the climate, the sweeter the grape. And the fermentation process of wine? That metaphor of struggling and reaching for light, only to die and be reborn as a whole new vice? Now there was a feminine story I could explore.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

CA: That is part of what excites me so much with experimental dance theater - I’ve researched and found an arc for our dear sweet Grape, and share her experience predominantly through gesture and expressive movement. It's a much different structure than a monologue - and leaves much more room for a voyeur to imbue the movement with their own story. I began with heartbreak, and my own personal habit of making these dark animalistic characters who live in this suffering- but this structure of cyclical repetition demands something else. So I have been working on finding the levity; heartbreak is dark and so painful, but her courage to continue to love, to choose to fall over and over while constantly reaching for pleasure, that is what I have discovered along the way.

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

CA: Oh yeah. I mean, once I felt I had a grasp on the real world life of a grape I could lean into some of the stories I saw her in. Okay, ready for your Grape reading list?

1. De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

2. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

3. Women by Chloe Caldwell 

I was also deeply influenced by music so here’s a playlist for you: 

“Pleasure to the Beautiful Body is Pain to the Beautiful Soul” - Oscar Wilde

- Amorphous Absorption by Perila

- YAN by LI YILEI

- Dropped Soul by Murcof

- Echolalia by Faetooth

- Yesterday, 2095 by desert sand feels warm at night

- Valentine, Texas by Mitski

- M by Florist

- Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Sleigh Bells 

- Nami by Meitei 

- Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain

- I Dont Wanna Be Here by Like A Villain

- Darkness Forever by Soccer Mommy 

- Undone by Zsela

And of course devised work is directly influenced by the lens through which you view the world. So a lot of this comes from my own experiences of love in a queer femme body.

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

CA: Oh god. If you're going to make me narrow it down - I am very curious in working alongside the cyclical and repetitive demands of the piece. How can I make this 8 minutes stand alone - yes - stay alive with each cycle - yes - but how can I also allow space for myself, the room, and the performance’s inevitable change over the course of an evening? Or the whole run? How do I make space for her solitude to be affected by the voices of 8 other rooms leaking through the walls?

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

CA: Chairs. Secrets. Chalk. The past and present in parallel play.

The Grape's room is the only room with a choreographer. How did that come about?

CA: Once we knew we wanted to tell this story through movement - Sam paired Amy and myself together - as she had with writers and actors. Sam has an amazing eye for ensemble curation, so naturally Amy and I found throughout the process that we have deeply similar ways of approaching work and our aesthetic styles have a natural sort of conversation happening between them. When we were in the room together the work just flowed.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Returning playwright Sara Jean Accuardi and actor Kailey Rhodes paint us a picture of the hardy inhabitant of the lone grain of the group’s bleak roomscape…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

SJA: Longing for more than dust and mouse shit. 

KR: Dry, desperate, askew. Are there mice or not?

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

SJA: Right before the pandemic, Samantha and I were brainstorming a project in which The Farmer’s Wife, of “Three Blind Mice” fame, was a character. That project didn’t happen (thanks a lot, COVID) but when this opportunity came up, and the wheat berry was one of the options, we knew this would be the perfect opportunity to resurrect the idea of The Farmer’s Wife. 

I also love that the wheat berry is a little out of place among the other fruits featured in this play. It’s not sweet, ripe, or juicy. It’s hard. It needs to be processed. It takes water, time, skill, and patience for the wheat berry to become something more. But where would we be without it? So much of civilization is built on those little seeds. 

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

SJA: I thought The Farmer's Wife would be this wild tail-chopping broad, but as I dove into writing this piece I kept getting caught up in the fact that she doesn’t have a name. She is defined by her relationship to the person she married, and that person, in turn, is defined by his job. She is so far removed from herself. Who was she before she became The Farmer’s Wife? I realized that was the story I wanted to tell. 

I always pictured the piece taking place during the Dust Bowl when the soil was so dry wheat could not grow. What is a kernel of wheat without water? What is a person without their identity? 

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

SJA: Samantha shared a quote with me from Kate Lebo’s The Book of Difficult Fruit that, to me, relates to the world of this piece: “Wheatberry dust is more explosive than gunpowder.” 

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

SJA: Watching Kailey bring this character to life has been such an amazing experience! She is a fearless performer. 

KR: The femininity of the Wheat Berry room is a very different embodiment than the lush, sensual expressions that may be found in other rooms. In fact, it's as if every emotion that this woman could feel has been dehydrated, becoming something more brittle, almost turning to dust. What does that mean for connecting with her, as an actor? I am curious about how her room mirrors the room that is her brain--thirsty, imaginary, ending.

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

SJA: One can never have too much dirt. 

KR: The walls.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Partnered duo playwright Michelle Ruiz Keil and actor Sofía Marks share a little about the eccentric character birthed by the cultural impact of this beloved fruit…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

MRK: Welcome to The Serpent’s School For Wayward Girls!

SM: Once upon a time Eve met Britney Spears.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

MRK: I was very excited that the Apple was still available the first time I met with Samantha to talk about this project. I’ve had a long relationship with myths about female sexuality, curiosity and destruction. The Apple, with its connection to Eve and the idea of original sin, was the perfect lens for my exploration of why female curiosity is so threatening to patriarchal power structures.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

MRK: I started the story with another garden myth—the story of the destruction of the immortality of the Aztec gods by the Goddess Xochiquetzal who picked a forbidden flower from the World Tree in Tamoanchan, one of the Aztec’s thirteen heavens. I’ve been fascinated by this goddess and her stories for years, ever since I learned of her when researching my first novel, All of Us With Wings.

I have also been very drawn to the idea of teenage it-girls and what becomes of them in modern popular culture. Combined, these ideas got me going down the right path.

And finally, when I first met with Samantha and the actor for my piece, Sofía Marks, she mentioned her recent encounter with the work of the Chicana feminist scholar and poet Gloria Anzaldua and her book Borderlands: La Frontera, also an old favorite of mine. When I revisited that work, the Apple’s storyline really started coming together.

SM: During one of my first conversations with Samantha Van Der Merwe and Michelle Keil, we talked about what it was like to be socialized as a girl and how this impacted walking in public. We shared a feeling of vigilance and self-surveillance. We were forced to develop a keen awareness of our bodies, especially at such a young age. The patriarchal sexualization of young girls has become a prevalent theme in the Apple room. Not only has the Apple been a room of playful curiosity, but one of anger and vulnerability. As I embody each character in the play, I am reminded of my own fears, curiosities, and joys. They help me reflect on my girlhood. 

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

MRK: The Apple room explores the experience of the Kore—the ancient Greek word for young girl, an idealized version of youth and beauty. Worldwide, there are many goddesses that embody the Kore archetype. I revisited all the stories of the Kore that I could find—including modern Korai like Britney Spears and Billie Eilish.

These myths and the excellent horror film She Will led me to explore the ideals of my own youth, particularly the career of the actress and model Brooke Shields, who controversially starred in a film where she played a child prostitute and was featured in a series of famously provocative commercials for Calvin Klein jeans. I also explored some of my own experiences with racism and sexual harassment as a young girl.

SM: I admire how this piece draws on real-world events, global mythologies, and lived experiences to unravel a common thread in the expectations of girlhood. We learn from an array of “curious girls:” the Aztec goddess Xochiquetzal, Britney Spears, Brooke Shields, and Biblical Eve. Michelle Keil, our playwright for the Apple room, has brought some cold truths into the play with a smile.

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

SM: I’m curious about all the ways a situation or a phrase can be turned on a dime. One minute pleasant and the next minute threatening. I’m excited by the way my character holds knowledge. Maybe it’s a tool, a weapon, a toy, something light to throw at the audience and something meaningful to withhold.

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

MRK: I don’t want to reveal much about the room’s design--which I am incredibly excited about and completely love! I will say that I’ve been blown away watching the Apple Room’s actor, Sofía Marks, embody this role. It is an incredible treat to see my ideas and words brought to life so beautifully. Watching Samantha and Sofía collaborate in creating the role and working with Shaking The Tree’s brilliant team has been a nourishing and transformative experience.

SM: I’m excited for my heart-shaped sunglasses, pink fluffy pencils, and some big shoes to fill.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Fitting for such a unique fruit, this is the only room to feature the work of a playwright (Josie Seid), a musical director (Joellen Sweeney), and not one, but three performers (Max Tapogna, Madeline Ross, and Joellen Sweeney). Returning StT collaborators Joellen Sweeney and Josie Seid provide some details on the conception of this fruit’s story…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

Joellen: Seductive, succulent, soft, ravenous, cheeky.

Josie: Dangerous, irresistible, magnetic, convicting, mysterious.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

Joellen: When I joined the team to write the music, I didn't really know what a quince was; I'd never tasted it. As I researched, I came to respect it as a complex and storied fruit. I was drawn to details like the fact that it smells delicious on the tree, but is too astringent to eat raw--it draws you in and then bites you back.

Josie: I did pick the fruit. I was really drawn in by the possibility of going into the world of myth around the quince or the golden apple. I am a lover of fairytales and mythology, so it was exactly what I was excited to write about. The fact that it was a song and being able to work more closely with Joellen who I had worked with on Fucking A sealed the deal, and made it irresistible to me.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

Joellen: In our early conversations as a Quince cast, we talked a lot about the Greek myth of the Golden Apple of Discord. The "golden apple" that sparked the contest between Hera, Aphrodite and Athena  (that in turn led to the Trojan War) was a quince. Quinces were also given to Hera as a wedding gift, and were kept safe in a garden by the daughters of Hesperides, goddesses-nymphs of evening. So we started with these myths and ranged widely!

Josie: I was also drawn to that idea of those things that we pursue so fervently. How does it change you when you get it? What did you sacrifice? Is it what you expected? I wanted to play with that idea of the secrets that drive you to pursue something and why; and what will your next obsession be? 

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

Joellen: Early on, each singer in our room shared what kind of music they most loved to sing (Joni Mitchell, Ernest Chausson and Kurt Weill, respectively) and Josie and I drew on those inspirations to craft each character's solo. For the group singing, I was inspired by the works of Caroline Shaw, Dahk Daughters and Vokalselskabet Glas. 

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

Joellen: I'm most curious what it will be like to share this piece in such an intimate setting with the audience! 

Josie: I’m so interested to know what people will be thinking. Will they be purely watching the story or will they be thinking about those things that they have pursued or those secrets that they have? 

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Olivia Mathews, performer and creator of the story unique to this room, chose to “devise” this piece from scratch, rather than work with a playwright. Read on for what that means, and for some sneak peeks of what to expect from the claustrophobic world inspired by this fruit…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

OM: Twisty, subterranean, cavernous, dark, thick, revealing, earthy, emergent.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

OM: I did! I was one of the first people to sign on to the project so I had a lot to choose from. I was drawn to the pomegranate pretty immediately because I have a lot of delightful childhood memories of eating them with my siblings and father. We always looked forward to pomegranate season. Sam also expressed an interest in exploring the story of the goddess Persephone and as I was researching her, I became invested in that creative direction. 

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

OM: I started by developing what I knew about Persephone and tried to take in as many different perspectives on her specifically but also Greek myths more generally. Sam and I have a shared interest in bringing her essence in a more contemporary, intimate interpretation of her. We’ve been focusing a lot on her presence in both the world above and below and the tension between those places and identities. 

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

OM: I started by listening to the podcast Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! to get an initial understanding of the story of Persephone. Other important texts for me in developing the world of our Persephone have been Girlhood by Melissa Febos, Circe by Madeline Miller and Mythology by Edith Hamilton. 

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

OM: We’ve started by developing a connection to the physical vocabulary and world of the performance, which is really exciting. We’re still determining what the quality and amount of text will look like and we’re beginning to dive deeper on what my relationship to the audience will be. I’ve been loving exploring Persephone’s status and ideas about her otherness as an immortal figure who has a unique experience of death. 

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

OM: I am so very excited for the way light and sound are helping to conceal and reveal myself and the environment throughout the piece! 

The Pomegranate’s room is the only room without a playwright or choreographer. How did that come about? 

OM: When Sam offered me a position in the show she asked me about my interests as a performer and, having recently finished a devised program with PETE, I talked about developing original work and text and my process for doing so. I told her that I’d love to collaborate with a playwright but if it worked out that there wasn’t one that would be a good fit for the room that I would be more than happy to take a devised approach where we started with movement and design and developed text out of that. It’s been a dream to collaborate with Sam and I’m so grateful for the freedom she’s given me with this project! 

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Returning StT collaborator Heath Hyun Houghton, playwright of the ghostly tale given voice(s) by actor Madeleine Tran, gives us a comprehensive history of this familiar yet not-so-familiar fruit…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

HHH: Papua New Guinea: overgrown, archeological remains: Kuk Swamp.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

HHH: I was given a couple of choices, but the initial offering, wild banana, was ultimately the one i ran with. In the beginning I planned on exploring the impacts of generational racism in the U.S., specifically focusing on the idea of the term banana as a criticism or slur directed at ethnically AAPI people, who culturally identify more with Western culture than ethnic culture. But domestication became a fascinating area of research for me. Particularly the role domestication played in giving rise to ownership and the patriarchy.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

HHH: Research. I read four books on the banana wars of the twentieth century.

This lead to an understanding of how the banana helped to spur global trade routes from the Caribbean up the eastern coast of the U.S. and across the Atlantic to Europe.

The idea that the vast majority of bananas in grocery stores globally are genetic clones of one type of banana, the cavendish. They never reproduce as they are sexually sterile. As a result all commercial banana plantations are susceptible to a root disease caused by a fungus called fungal fulsarium wilt.

Prior to the middle of the twentieth century all commercial bananas were developed from the Gros Michele, and this banana was the first to be completely commercially eradicated. (The banana still exists, but is not produced industrially.) The success had to do with the banana’s ability to be transported over distances.

Most wild bananas are extremely localized. They cannot travel and maintain their integrity. If not for the horticultural endeavors of those who came before, the banana may very well have never become a global enterprise.

By the early twentieth century, humanity’s relationship with the banana had produced a variety that was more hearty than previous iterations. Andrew Preston and Lorenz Baker were the first to bring bananas to the market in an attainable way. Prior to their work, the banana was a luxury item due to the limited shelf life. Preston and Baker were able to develop refrigerated shipping on a large scale level that transformed the banana from a delectable treat for the rich, to an everyday staple for all. Bananas from Jaimaica, the Gros Michele, were a variation of bananas brought to the Caribbean by Jean Francois Pouyat.

This led to exploring how the banana traveled from Southeast Asia. One of the earliest examples of human domestication of plants comes from Kuk Swamp, where evidence of banana cultivation has been discovered. The plants are associated with canals and drainage ditches for irrigation, offering a glimpse of early Polynesian expansion, and the types of foods they were carrying with them.

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

HHH: Nang Tani, or Lady of Tani, is a Thai folklore figure. Part of a pantheon of Nang Mai, or ladies of the woods. Nang Tani is strongly associated with wild banana plants. Some stories present her as a woman who died in the forest and became a ghost. They are seen as protecting of those who may be lost in the forest, but also vengeful towards men who may have harmed women or girls in the community.

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

HHH: I’m so excited to see these fabulous artists and collaborators take these ideas and run with them. The conversations in the room have been fascinating and I can’t wait for audiences to get a glimpse their work.

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

HHH: The collision of worlds. The experiment with the other rooms and their storytelling techniques and devices in conversation with one another. I think this will be a very cool experience for audiences.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Playwright Andrea Stolowitz provides some insight into the creation of the character represented by this this fungal fruit, portrayed by actor Vana O’Brien…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

AS: Timeless, earthy, learned, steadfast, familiar without knowing why.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

AS: I am an avid mushroom forager and have been engaging in this hobby for over twenty years.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

AS: I just started with why a mushroom would be forbidden and then I took way the obvious psychedelic implications which were not that interesting to me. I began to think of mushrooms as medicines and that varying degrees of toxicity could bring about medicinal uses.

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

AS: The story of Adam, Lilith, Eve and the current attempts to control women’s access to abortion and reproductive medicine.

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

AS: I am excited to see how all the pieces will find their intersections with each other.

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

AS: Cooking and the smell-o-rama.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

Playwright E.M. Lewis and actor Val Landrum share some of their thoughts and dreams about this soft, sweet, and strange little fruit…

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In 8 words, how would you describe the world of this room?

EML: Ripe, lush, fragile, ephemeral, unexpected, and impossibly sweet.

VL: Womby.

Did you pick your fruit? What drew you to it?

EML: I knew immediately that I wanted the fig to be my fruit! I came to this project with a story about the first time I ate a fresh fig, off the tree. And now I have two fig trees of my own, here on the farm.

Where did you begin with building a story? Has your concept transformed over time?

EML: I began with two focal points — the experiences of women who are navigating the middle of their lives and the incredible sweetness of ripe figs.

Are there texts, tales, or real-world events that have inspired your work on this piece?

EML: The character I’ve created for The Fig and the Wasp is fictional, but I’ve definitely put a lot of my personal experiences into the building of her story. Plays are made out of playwrights. The conversations I had before I started writing with Sam and Val were tremendously valuable, too — I guess you might say there’s a bit of all of us in this piece!

VL: Yup. Turning 40.

As we begin physically devising and rehearsing, what are you curious about exploring?

EML: I can’t wait to explore the character’s relationship with the audience in this intimate theatrical setting!

VL: The floor.

Without revealing too much, what design elements are you excited for in this room?

EML: Figs are a fascinating fruit — unique in their physical structure — and I can’t wait to see how that manifests itself in our physical space.

VL: The floor.

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Forbidden Fruit runs March 4th - April 1st. Book your tickets here.

~Kai

8 fruits. 8 rooms. 8 stories. Each of our next few posts will focus on a fruit, fungus, or grain - a “fruiting body” - from our eponymous upcoming production, open March 4th until April 1st. This part-installation art, part-performance piece thrusts the audience into a beautiful but twisted world of subjugation and exploitation, not unlike our own. However, as in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland - one of the primary texts this work is in dialogue with - the rules here can go topsy-turvy in an instant. Will you, as listener and participant to their stories, help liberate the stifled voices of this sick menagerie, for better or for worse? Or will you remain a voyeur to their secrets, struggles, and desires, and let their cycle of silence continue forever?

This show is a commemoration of Shaking the Tree’s 20th anniversary, after being founded in 2003 by artistic director Sam Van Der Merwe. As such, it has a little bit of everything that has made this company so distinct over the years: fantasy, spectacle, immersion, darkness, and an indomitable spirit. It’s a massive undertaking and a huge collaborative effort, with 6 playwrights, 12 performers, a choreographer, and a team of designers, painters, and builders working on it together. You won’t want to miss it! In the meantime, check this blog out every now and then in the weeks leading up to opening, and book your tickets here.

That’s all for now. More soon.

~Kai