As an artist, you wish for projects like these.

Upon my return to New York after my apprenticeship in Bali, I was contacted by the head of Gaea & Co. Theatre Company, Lily Filippatos. She and her ensemble of actors were in the process of putting on an experimental production of The Seagull, and she was seeking someone to lead them through mask work. In this production, they were finding the roots of the characters and relationships through experimental movement work, to bring the actors to rich life and out of the intellectual stiffness from which Chekhov is usually performed. I signed on, and it was the perfect proving ground for applying my teaching work through mask to the large undertaking of a production. Moving into the second half of production, I took on the role of Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, one of the leads of the play, and a character dear to my heart.

This production was put up in an estate house in the nature of Cape Cod, a shockingly accurate (although American) match to the description of Sorin’s Estate in the play, where the setting takes place. The play was done in such an immersive fashion, that the audience would be moved each of the four acts- to reflect the truth of what was in the script. Audience members were treated to characters moving about the space, seen in passing windows and behind the action of the scene. Entrances were from all directions, and we staged the play to a tee for the environment we were in: complete with a stage in the garden, and darkness falling outside as the final action of the play took its hold. For any audience member who arrived early, they experienced the characters improvising and interacting through the estate with each other, complete with period costumes and physicality.