LIDLESS Blog

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

6/2/2016

In honor of tonight’s opening performance of LIDLESS, here is a word about the play from guest director Alison Christy:

We are the characters of an epic which we are forbidden, by the laws of mediocrity and of prudence, to live.
And yet it is an epic.
And what is frightening and beautiful is that, as majestic as the epic of nations appears, its moving forces—what causes the wars, the peace, the massacres, the heroisms—if one looks closely, in parting the curtain, are the minute and powerful humans.
The world is a theatre.
Each character who enters believes himself to be the center of the world.
And in a certain sense, because he believes it, he is.
Each one of us is the center.
And each center is besieged by the other centers.

--Helene Cixous, “The Place of Crime, The Place of Pardon”

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LIDLESS performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday June 2 - 18, 2016 @ 8PM in Fresh Arts Gallery, located in Winter Street Studios.

INSIGHT INTO THE CHARACTERS

5/27/2016

Who are the characters of LIDLESS? How did these people come to be? What's the backstory?

ALICE (portrayed by actor Mischa Hutchings) grew up in Texas, where she met her lifelong friend RIVA (Deeba Ashraf), an Assyrian-Iraqi whose family immigrated to the US. At 18, Alice and Riva joined the military. Near the end of their tours in 2004, the two served together at Guantanamo Bay. At Guantanamo, they met BASHIR (Herman Gambhir), a Pakistani man being detained by U.S. forces for questioning. After their service, Riva went on to finish medical school, and Alice married an old flame, LUCAS (Rick Evans), and welcomed Alice's boldly imaginative daughter, RHIANNON (Tanith Albright), into the world. After his release, Bashir relocated to Canada, estranged from his family. Now adults, Riva and Alice settled down in Minnesota where Riva enjoys her private practice and Alice and Lucas run an organic flower shop. Today, it is 2019, and Rhiannon, Lucas and Riva are preparing a surprise party for Alice’s 40th birthday...

THE CAST:

Pictured: (From top left) Actors Rick Evans, Tanith Albright, Mischa Hutchings, Herman Gambhir and Deeba Ashraf and Director & Dramaturg Alison Christy (bottom right).

MORE INFO ABOUT LIDLESS ARTISTS

Also - enjoy these behind the scenes shots of our actors in rehearsals, directed (and photo documented) by Alison Christy.

LIDLESS opens Thursday, June 2, 2016! Join us for opening night to meet and greet the cast after the show!

Don't Think of an Elephant

5/26/2016

Costume Designer (and actor) John Dunn shares his vision for the LIDLESS design:

One of the more interesting things about LIDLESS for me are the mentions of animals throughout the script. LIDLESS playwright, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, includes these references as shorthand for some of the play's central themes. The strongest in the script is that of a goldfish and an orange Guantanamo prison jumpsuit, for instance.

In the play, a teenage girl, Rhiannon, has an assignment to interview people and she often asks what type of animal people would consider being. Her curiosity and need to collect and explore is her way of dealing with her life. It is through the construct of her interview questions that Ya-Chu Cowhig builds some of her strongest images.

So, it made sense the colors of these animals as a guideline on putting together the costumes for the show. It's merely a guideline. I use a couple of other concepts in determining which colors go where. For example, the gray and green of Alice and Bashir's wardrobe calls back to the olive drab camouflage of her military experience.

Alice - elephant (gray, ivory); secrets we don't acknowledge, aka "the elephant in the room"
Rhiannon - raven / goldfish (black and orange); relying on exploration and collection; her asthma - being unable to breathe without support, as a fish out of water
Riva - hummingbird (jewel tones, especially green, purple, pink, indigo); able to slip in and out of a chain link fence and thus to escape pain but visit it when needed
Lucas - cricket (brown, yellow); seems to chirping a calm mantra in his head to calmly deal with life; also perhaps more grounded and comfortable with small details.
Bashir - iguana (light green, gray); somewhat zen attitude, being able to sun oneself and weather the pain

LIDLESS performances are Thursday - Saturday June 2 - 18, 2016 @ 8PM and Monday June 13, 2016 @ 8PM at Fresh Arts Gallery located in Winter Street Studios, 2101 Winter St., Houston, TX 77007.

Join us on opening night!

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"gitmo at home, gitmo at play" with artist Debbi Cornwall

5/23/2016

Photographer Debi Cornwall has some fascinating shots of Guantanamo Bay, present day. Her work focuses on the strange mixture of idyllic landscapes, high-stress military structures, and the day-to-day boredom and unbreakable routine that color the hours for the personnel at Gitmo. In 2004, photographs of cowed Guantanamo prisoners in orange jump suits shocked the world. A decade later, artist Debi Cornwall brought us a different perspective.

See the imageS: debi cornwall

"I wanted to look at this all-American place and ask if this is who we want to be... Is America at its best in this place?" (Debi Cornwall)

Everything is in place, there is no walking outside the lines... It struck me as a study in contradictions. On the one hand, you have this tropical paradise and architecture emphasizing how we’re in this tropical place in a surreal way. On the other hand, you have the routine, the utter boredom, drab cement and aluminum siding. Both are coexisting, which reflects the two very different kinds of lives there: those of the guards and those of the prisoners. - (Debbi Cornwall)

Cornwall has three instillations from her visits to Guantanamo: "Gitmo at Home, Gitmo at Play," “Gitmo for Sale” (a look at items available at the Guantanamo Bay gift shop), and coming soon, "Beyond Gitmo."

THE ART OF ASS-CLOWNING

5/19/2016

By Leah Short, LIDLESS Production Dramaturg

Even the most dedicated and serious artists have days when all the emotions and intellectual preparation of rehearsals bubbles over, and the work that day takes a turn for the absurd.

We at Horse Head affectionately refer to this phenomenon as "Ass-Clowning." Some of the great Ass-Clown-ers of the century have made their way through our illustrious group. The impish Ass-Clownery of Founder Kevin Holden is the stuff of legend. The molasses drip voice of the ever smooth Andrew Love makes for a grandly juxtaposed Ass-Clowning - at once vocally sensual and contextually, utterly fucking dumb. And of course, the ladies of Horse Head are not one to be shown up by their male counterparts. Ivy Castle and Mischa Hutchings Ass-Clown so well together that two years ago we spent whiskey soggy months at PJ's Sports Bar making a whole damn show of it for you (see Spaghetti Code by Abby Koenig, HH 2014).

And yesterday in LIDLESS rehearsal, in the midst of challenging art, so much work, professionalism and passion, we reached peak Ass-Clownery. We spent the day exploring how a character can have an asthma attack on stage while another character struggles to comfort them back to a place of calm and safety. I'm not going to do too much explaining, because inevitably like all jokes of the moment, it would be much funnier in time than I could ever put on paper. Suffice it to say that some of our directorial notes today included:

When you lay down, you don't have to go full on Count Chocula

We don't want you guys to look like the cover story from Holding Your Own Boobs magazine.

So, in honor of our first real instance of Ass-Clownery in this process, I leave you dear readers with an SNL oldy in case you need a pick me up, or if you just want to see an example of true Ass-Clowning from some Pro's.

LIDLESS performances are Thursday - Saturday June 2 - 18, 2016 @ 8PM and Monday June 13, 2016 @ 8PM at Fresh Arts Gallery located in Winter Street Studios. Get your tickets today!

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LOAD in : Community power!

5/13/2016

Horse Head is forever thankful to our many, many friends and volunteers. Last year, over 75 HH supporters volunteered their time, muscles and talents to helping us pull off a WHALE of a project (The Whale; or, Moby-Dick) - and we are so thankful to have many of them back again this year.

Sometimes, non-profits need a few helping hands, and we are so thankful to know that you all go our backs!

Do you want to get involved? Horse Head is currently seeking front of house volunteers for our June 2 -18, 2016 project! Want to see the show for free AND become a part of the HH family? Let us know! We'd love to have you.

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LIDLESS by frances ya-chu cowhig - coming this june!

5/11/2016

Horse Head is at it again, gearing up for our next production! LIDLESS by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig is a daring, poetic and surreal drama about the aftermath of America's war on terror.

Rehearsals are well underway at our venue Fresh Arts Gallery at Winter Street Studios, with opening night June 2nd just a few short weeks away!

How does a woman go from a GITMO interrogator to an eco-friendly florist? How many birthday cakes and piñatas does it take to put the past behind you and live happily ever after?

For now, enjoy these sneak peak rehearsal photos - and click the button below for more information about the LIDLESS artistic team!

﻿BEHIND THE SCENES

DIRECTOR'S NOTE

INSIGHT INTO THE CHARACTERS

Don't Think of an Elephant

"gitmo at home, gitmo at play" with artist Debbi Cornwall

THE ART OF ASS-CLOWN﻿ING

LOAD in : Community﻿ power!

LIDLESS by frances ya-chu cowhig - coming this june!

BEHIND THE SCENES

THE ART OF ASS-CLOWNING

LOAD in : Community power!