http://blogs.courant.com/curtain/2009/09/living-theater.html
By Frank Rizzo
September 17, 2009
Brad Burgess was looking for a purposeful life.
The 24-year from Dracut, Mass. was surfing the internet several years
ago when he came across The Living Theatre, which is still led after
more than 60 years by Judith Malina, now 83.
"Sometimes it leads you astray, but sometimes it leads you to Judith
Malina and exactly where you want to be," says Burgess during an
interview this week at a hotel room near Yale University campus,
where Malina, Burgess and Thomas S. Walker were leading Living
Theatre workshops at the Yale School of Drama.
(Check out Sunday's Arts section of the Hartford Courant about the
Living Theater's return to Yale -- and the story of the time some
members of the Living Theatre were arrested at Yale in 1968 -- along
with some members of the audience-- for indecent exposure by New
Haven police.)
"When they cast a new production of 'The Brig' in 2007, " says
Burgess, "a bunch of new people arrived and for some of us who stuck
around, it was very clear we wanted to become part of the company's message."
"It was one of the first experiences of my life where the person in
charge was so willing and wanting input from an actor, wanting to
spread and share and adapt the vision -- and being so optimistic
about the vision. I felt immediately at home with the company.
I am not a trained theater person. I had no clue who the Living
Theatre was. I just saw their mission statement on 'The Brig' blog
online and I thought, 'Oh, wow, that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm
thinking about.Right now in my life and that's where I need to be."
Was he looking for a theatrical home?
"I was looking for a purpose. I was working with an acting coach for
a number of years and didn't really enjoy who I was meeting. I was
looking for some purpose and a committed community that had a purpose
-- and that was rare."
Says Malina: "He is very valuable to me because he brings youth and
youthful input into our work. He is very central to our work."
Burgess with be assisting directing the group's next theatrical
project "Red/Noir" in December in New York City.
"The fact that we aren't know on an international level like
Angelina and Brad Pitt, I don't think really matters," says Burgess.
" Not everyone is ready for social consciousness. Having peers my
own age joining the group is not as frequent as I like. But we have
other young people. who are ready for the leap. The show is called
'Paradise NOW,' not 'Paradise LATER' or 'Paradise in 2000 years."
Burgess sits beside Malina at workshops as longtime Living Theatre
associate Walker leads group activities in Living Theatre exercises
in Biomechanics with Malina cutting in occasionally offering historic
perspective and social inspiration
Malina tells says to the fast-track Yale students that The Living
Theatre is a world apart from the "ain't-I-wonderful, egotistical
bullshit acting" and encourages them instead to make that most new
performers aspire to become instead of making "a coherent life in the
theater ...and trying to make things a little better in this lousy world.
--
For more information about The Living Theatre, go to
http://www.buildthelivingrtheatre.org
.
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