Art Beat


Behind the scenes: Jump-Start’s ‘íCarpa!’


This is the first in a series of blog posts about Jump-Start Performance Co.’s development of “íCarpa!,”  a new piece which opens Sept. 14.

Thursday night’s (Aug. 30) rehearsal of “íCarpa!,” a work slowly coming to life at the Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start, began with a bit of quiet chaos.

Rehearsal had been cancelled the night before due to illness. And the company wasn’t quite at full strength Thursday, either: Billy Muñoz, who wrote the script and plays one of the characters, was out sick, and Amanda Silva had to bow out, too, because she had to work. Once co-directors Laurie Dietrich and Marisela Barrera had figured out who was showing up and who wasn’t, they swiftly decided to press on, working with the actors on hand with persona development.

“The carpa goes on,” Barrera said.

The interactive show is about a traveling circus — a carpa, in Spanish — that’s on its last legs. The company includes a Ringmaster (Dino Foxx), a Teller (Sandy Dunn), a Mermaid (S.T. Shimi) and a Strongman (Sheila Sisler-Curry). (Muñoz plays Payaso and Silva plays the Flyers.)

Dietrich asked the actors to pull into makeup and “evocative costume pieces” just to get a feel for the look they’ll have in the show. That was particularly important for Shimi and Foxx: Filmmaker/photographer Erik Bosse, who also sat it in on the rehearsal, plans to take them to the coast this weekend to create a short film for the show in which the Ringmaster pulls the Mermaid from the sea, and Dietrich wanted to make sure that the look they’ll have on film aligns with what they’ll do onstage. If they don’t match exactly, she said, that’s fine, particularly for the Mermaid; that will help illustrate the idea that her time outside of her natural element has altered her physically.

Barrera oversaw much of the rehearsal. Each of the actors laid claim to a small quadrant of the stage, marking it with a prop or two.  (In Dunn’s case, there were many props, each of which, she said, had a meaning. She built a small nest in her corner of the stage, outfitting it with fabrics and other items, creating a tableau that was appropriately evocative of a fortune teller’s digs.)

Barrera led them through an exercise in which they slowly brought their personas into being, starting with their faces and moving gradually down their bodies to their feet and including their tissues and their blood. Each actor transformed utterly as their personas took hold of their bodies. Some of Shimi’s natural spark was evaporated as she became the Mermaid, imprisoned in a metal tub (she’ll be in a tank for the show, but that’s still being built); Sisler-Curry, who had put on her faux beard before rehearsal and spent much of the time before the session began quietly reading, took on a strut and a broad, magnetic smile; Foxx became melancholy, a sadness sinking into his eyes; and Dunn so completely became her character — a haunting presence, with big gestures and hypnotic eyes — that it was almost as if she had somehow slipped out of a silent film reel and into the 21st century.

Barrera then had them interact with one another, altering the chemistry on stage once again. There was a spooky little moment when Dunn strode up and put a hand on Foxx’s chest; Dietrich noted later that she had seen a little fear in Foxx’s eyes in that moment, and he said that no other character ever touches the Ringmaster, and that perhaps she does it because she’s the only one that knows the truth about him.

There was also a nifty bit in which Sisler-Curry took up residence beside Shimi, kissing her arm and taking evident delight in the salty taste. Sisler-Curry later said she was playing with the idea of the Strongman maybe bringing a bowl of soup over and sitting beside the Mermaid, kissing her and using the salt from her flesh to season the meal.

Barrera also had the actors create three distinctive actions for their characters, eventually asking them to play with pace and order. Sound wasn’t much of an element, though Dunn experimented with a laugh that got a little louder with each pass, and Sisler-Curry, hoisting foam core weights painted to read “75 pounds,” worked with some loud exhalations.

Barrera guided them through, at one point having them work through the movements as if they’d been doing them for hundreds of times and had to find it in themselves to do it once more; Foxx’s movements instantly slowed, as if he was suddenly exhausted. She also had them work through the movement as if they were wind

After they’d worked on their sequences a bit, Barrera asked Dietrich to take a look at them. When she saw a particularly striking pose, she said “Freeze.” Everyone was to then turn and look at the actor in question, noting what they were doing; Barrera’s daughter, Valentina, was enlisted to document those poses with a smart phone.

After a short break, they discussed what they’d done, sharing observations.

“It’s not going to be hard to present we’re in a tent outside,” Foxx said, wiping away some sweat. “It’s really hot.”

The rehearsal was the company’s first on the stage. They had questions about the configuration for the show; Dietrich said there is a plan to remove some seating and alter the space in other ways, but, she said, until the work actually took place, it was hard to say for sure how things would look. By the time the actors meet up again next week, she said, she was hoping the theater would be configured the way it will be for the show.

The actors talked a bit about what they had come up with for their three actions. Foxx, who had come up with a few gestures welcoming the audience and ended with a deep bow, said he had been playing with the light. Barrera told him that might be an important element of the character: “Maybe the light feeds you.”

Dietrich noted things she had seen in their work. To Foxx, she said, she had seen a sadness she hadn’t noticed before in the character, adding that there was a sense that “you sort of don’t exist when no one’s looking at you.”

To Shimi, whose movements including an attempt to escape the tub, she said, “I noticed a lot more panic from you tonight.”

She noted the “very weird” quality about Sisler-Curry’s character who is, Dietrich said, “very obviously not a guy,” though she has the beard and takes on a masculine movement as the character. And she pointed out the charisma of the character, who has a beaming smile.

She praised Dunn’s look and physicality as the Teller.

As the work wound down, Sisler-Curry said she was headed to Walmart, fake beard intact. And Foxx worked on a fire act, spinning burning wands and swallowing flames. Barrera cranked up the music to accompany his movements.

Categories: Jump-Start, Theater

Deborah Martin

Deborah Martin