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Statements by Melina Bielefelt, company member[Interviewer’s notes: In discussing LAPD's work, Bielefelt refers to what director Ann Bogart calls, "The violence of articulation." Expressing one's experience, opinion and history sometimes pits the community-based artist against an arrogance and disdain that desire only silence. –F.L.] History with the ensemble I have performed in a couple of shows and I teach workshops on Skid Row at the women's shelter [under the auspices of LAPD. In 1990 or '91, LAPD was in Minneapolis when I was in school at the university. LAPD had set up a residency in a shelter and made a show. They were in town for two or three weeks to make the show in the shelter and got the people to perform. I pestered them and finally got together with them, but I didn't actually meet John until five or six years later when we met at Highways [Los Angeles performance venue.] Her personal mission realized through the ensemble Emma Thompson said, "I like people who've suffered, because they're kinder." And I find that inspiring. Even if someone's just trying to kick a habit, it's courageous. It's fucking hard. Why I've found it personally valuable, is because they've invested so much in just showing up. There's something about them not being trained actors for the most part, there's such an energy and a commitment to just show up, there's something about the energy that's released in their performances. It creates opportunities for them to break through. It's their spirit, you always see their spirits in the work. As a consequence, I'm raised up, too. You have to have a healthy ego to want to be onstage, but I find these people, for the most part, don't have a need to prove themselves or to be seen in a certain way, it's more about how do they get themselves to the work, and it's hard for them. It's the process, it's so new to so many of them, you see it to a lesser degree in the workshops, because it's only the first Saturday of every month. It's given me the courage to try to new things and to stretch myself in a different way, and given me the opportunity to give of myself, and a chance to work in a supportive environment. It's not the same kind of ego as other theater. The ensemble's impact John's [Malpede] just interested in asking questions, and the people who stay with the company are interested in those questions. LAPD pulls the heart out of people. People come to this work, and they're afraid and don't have much of a voice, and are going through a lot, and are in treatment programs, and we lose some, but I see them by the end having found a voice. A voice is released, which gives their spirit action. They're more able to express themselves after they've committed to doing this work with the company. Afterward, many of them are very serious about it and make their own opportunities to continue to do this work. Two former homeless people are writing a play to perform in the shelters, that started from the workshops. Other people have started organizations of their own and get involved in politics. They're serious hard-working citizens who are there for any number of reasons. John's really good at bringing people together for forums and discussion. When we do stuff in shelters, there's often talking in the middle of the show, people will respond, cheering, talking back, and then there's always a discussion afterwards. Either people can't really engage or talk, or else they're in your face. The shows are made from transcripts and they're also from improvised material and they're also from dense poetic text, which one of the recent shows was. Impact on the non-Skid Row community If you get it, you think it's beautiful, and if you don't, you really don't. It's theater for social change. It's something that people can grab onto because they want to feel they're giving support. When we did the piece with Pascal [guest director Rambert], we had to make sure it was a secure parking lot, the show was done in a parking lot. We had to make sure that it was a safe place for people to come. People who would go to [UCLA's premiere theater venue] Royce Hall were also there. It reaches a real dichotomy of audiences. Some will come outside of Skid Row and some won't. Some people will come to support theater for change. On Skid Row, you have to watch yourself in a different way, and you see that by the way they're [the audience from greater Los Angeles] in their chairs. It's a more immediate experience for them. To create a successful grassroots ensemble You have to create an ensemble immediately. In whatever community you choose, there will be a need to express a story. Working improvisationally to find that story, to heighten that and develop the material, and the work touches their strengths, because you never know what you're gonna get, a bridge-club lady or an ex-Broadway actor. You work to see what you have, and working together clearly to get where you need to be. You have to realize as a group where you're all looking to go to. "We will have lines and we will stand and read it," for instance, or any agreement on what the end product will look like, and also a commitment to decide how much each person is willing to invest. You can't just show up, with this work, you have to show up for each other and give space for each other and decide what it's going to be. You have to kind of feel it out and discover what's possible. You have to really listen. Ultimately it's the only thing in whatever we do. Ferdinand Lewis is a founding member of The Ghost Road Company, an educator, writer and theater artist. He is currently at work on two books: "Ensemble Theater: An Anthology" and "Ensemble Theater: Traditions, Approaches, Strategies." He lives in Los Angeles. |
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