Outdoor Stage

Sam’s Post #9 -Trailer: New Mascot for Cal Arts?

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Photo credit: 24700, CalArts blog

 

by Sam Breen

This week I will graduate with my MFA in acting, so we are turning the page on the last chapter of the trailer’s involvement at CalArts.

Every year, the Theatre School sets aside the last two weeks of the academic calendar for New Works Festival, an event by and for the students.  The trailer was chosen to be a venue for the event. Three shows were performed in and around the Spartan: “The Nomad Project”; a dance piece about the transformation of the dancer’s body;  “True Love,” a reading of Chuck Mee’s play that also involved a BBQ and water-gun fight; and “Outbound to Wonderland” a play written with the trailer in mind about a 9-yearl-old girl’s subway journey to a stop called Wonderland.

As with Arts in the One World in January, I was amazed at how people came together to make this event happen. When one of the artists was worried that her computer speakers wouldn’t be powerful enough to be heard, she made a phone call and an hour later she had a sound designer – a PA system and a couple of professional speakers on booms – in time for the performance of her show.

Another example: the cast and crew of “Outbound to Wonderland” decided it would be best to set up their outdoor stage in the middle of the night, when they could properly test their lights and visual effects, and still everyone involved in the production (actors, designers, crew etc.) showed up to help out.

New Works took care of much of the logistics and the scheduling at the trailer, so I was able to relax a little and be a spectator. I watched the shows and witnessed how, over the course of the semester, the trailer had become much more than an elaborate backdrop—it was now a central character. The Spartan had evolved into something of a mobile landmark at CalArts and a symbol for the creativity and unique collaborative nature of this school.

I think CalArts just found its new mascot. 

This post is part of a series documenting Sam Breen’a Spartan Restoration Project. Please see his first post here and check out the archive here. The CSPA is helping Sam by serving in an advisory role, offering modest support and featuring Sam’s Progress by syndicating his feed from http://spartantrailerrestoration.wordpress.com as part of our CSPA Supports Program.

Trash Piles On the Acts

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Musicians James Brandon Lewis and Erinn Horton play on the Spartan's outdoor stage while multimedia artist Kenyatta A.C. HinkleHinkle works on a current piece.(Not pictured: musician Kevin Robinson)

Dancers Ariana Daub (right) and Erin McCarthy (left)

Events at Sam’s trailer kept on coming throughout the Arts In the One World Conference, January 27-29. Some artists were so happy with the space they retruned

Graffiti artist Jose Estrada

for repeat performances. Acts included  jazz, salsa, multimedia presentations involving old time movies and country hip.  Graffiti and mixed media artists were in residence along with filmmakers and videographers who screened their productions at night inside and outside the trailers.  Two playwrights presented reading with actors.

Students, teachers, working artists and others gathered on the lawn by the entrance to the main building at CalArts.  Arts In the One World is a gathering of artist-activists interested in using their art can help bring about social change.

First convened in January 2006 by Erik Ehn, AOW at CalArts is linked to it’s sister Arts in the One World conference at Brown University.

This post is part of a series documenting Sam Breen’a Spartan Restoration Project. Please see his first post here and check out the archive here. The CSPA is helping Sam by serving in an advisory role, offering modest support and featuring Sam’s Progress by syndicating his feed from http://spartantrailerrestoration.wordpress.com as part of our CSPA Supports Program.