Featured Associate Artist: Quincy Tyler Bernstine

Happy New Year, everybody! Meet our January Featured Associate Artist. Many thanks to Quincy for participating! Click HERE to see our 2012 Featured Associate Artists' answers to these questions.

Name: Quincy Tyler Bernstine
Year Joined The Civilians: 2001. I'm one of the original members.
Where you're from: Born in Madison, WI. Raised in Washington, DC.
What City You're Living In: Queens, NY

How did you first get involved with The Civilians?
I actually went to graduate school with Steve. We were in the same class at UCSD. When he was forming the company, he asked me to participate.

What have you done with us, both in terms of investigating and performing?
Let's see...one of my "interviews" made it into Gone Missing. The guy who is desperately trying to explain to the cops (while being arrested) that he lost his id? I overheard that from my bedroom window late one night. I also performed a handful (or less) of performances of Gone Missing (on one of it's tours) back in the day (I went in for Alison Weller). I was in the original workshop production of Paris Commune. I also did the Ladies and (I Am) Nobody's Lunch. Oh, and Mr. Burns (not the Woolly production but I was a part of that original process). I think that's it.

Tell us about something that surprised you, either in an interview, in using the investigative method, or in a rehearsal process.
Few things surprise me anymore. How sad it that?!

Why has it been interesting to work in this way?
It's so easy to get caught up in the mundane details of our own lives. Or, let me not speak for everybody. It's easy for me to do that. What I love about this type of process is that it forces you, if only for a brief time, to think outside yourself. I love that The Civilians celebrates the fact that everyone has a story or, at least, something to say. And that there's artistic value in that.

What is the last project you worked on outside of The Civilians?/What are you currently working on?
I recently closed a production at Soho Rep. WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENATATION... The title goes on and on. It was an incredible experience. [Editor's note: The play is by Civilians' R&D Group writer Jackie Sibblies Drury!] I start rehearsals in early February for a show at The Public. It's a play called Neva by Chilean writer/director, Guillermo Calderon.

What artist has had the biggest impact on you?
That's a difficult question for me to answer. I am constantly being impacted by artists...those I work with on a daily basis, and those whom I've never met. But if I had to give one name it would probably be Lynn Nottage.

What’s the last play you saw?
What Rhymes with America at the Atlantic.

What’s your favorite bad movie?
Probably, Dirty Dancing.

Do you like sports?
I love sports. RG3 is all I have to say. I prolonged my Christmas vacation so that I could be in DC when the Dallas Cowboys got their asses kicked. And they did. It was awesome. I expect the Redskins to win the Superbowl this year. GO SKINS. I played soccer for 10 years growing up (and even into my freshman year of college), lacrosse, and softball.

Question from Last Month’s Featured Associate Artist (playwright Bess Wohl): 
What's the meaning of life?
Man, I wish I knew...I guess to make your life have as much meaning as possible. Whatever that means.

What question would you like us to ask our next Featured Associate Artist?
If you didn't work in theater, what would you be doing career-wise?

Click HERE for Quincy's bio!

Monthly Media Roundup December, 2012

Happy New Year! We hope you've had a great holiday season. Our office has been closed starting December 21, and will reopen January 2. We wanted to still keep you in the loop about what has been happening for us online this month, so here's the December Media Roundup. See you in 2013!

Blog:
R&D Group Post by Matt Dellapina about his R&D project

Podcast:
Occupy #S17, Part I featuring a performance by Tony Award-nominee Kathleen Chalfant, a monologue by our Associate Artist Colleen Werthmann, and a song by Jill Sobule

Subscribe on iTunes HERE!

Press:
Mr. Burns is the Washington Post's Best Show of the Year
Paris Commune in L Magazine's Best Shows of the Year
You Better Sit Down as a New York Times Best Unscripted Moment of the Year

Video:
Occupy #S17 Clip of Kathleen Chalfant performing at Joe's Pub
And we've got a bunch of video clips from our Education Program at the Brooklyn High School of the Arts, where students conducted interviews and created their own show about voting, civic responsibility, and voting. Here they are:
Why Do You Vote?
Voting is for Bigger People
Who's Bush?
Does Race Matter?

And here is video of the kids performing a song that Michael Friedman wrote, which they sang as part of the show!

Paris Commune - A Podcast Discussion

A special guest joins us in this week's episode: Kristin Ross, Professor of Comparative Literature at New York University. She has written extensively about Paris Commune. Her book The Emergence of Social Space: Rimbaud and the Paris Commune was what inspired Steve Cosson and Michael Friedman to start working on Paris Commune, which premiered at ArtsEmerson last month and is running in BAM's 30th Next Wave Festival. The play investigates the Parisian working-class uprising in 1871, and we want to extend a special thanks to Kristin for talking with us and sharing her expertise on the subject with us in this podcast. This episode kicks off with Brian Sgambati performing Leur Bon Dieu, a nineteenth century song in the show originally from the Commune with Lyrics by Eugène Pottier, Music by Emile Bouillon. Wrapping up this week, we have Aysan Celik (our Featured Associate Artist for September), singing “Mon Homme” by Jean-Baptiste Clément, adapted and translated by Michael Friedman.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Monthly Media Roundup September, 2012

We have had an AWESOME start to our 2012-13 season here at The Civilians. We kicked off the year with a nearly sold-out cabaret at Joe's Pub, a national event about Occupy, and the wonderful world premiere of Paris Commune at ArtsEmerson in Boston! And here's a quick summary of all the new stuff we posted this month!

Blog:
Rehearsing the Revolution - A report from the Paris Commune rehearsal room
Occupy Wall Street #S17 Wrap Up - Tweets and pictures from our national performance event for the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street
Sneak-Peek of Occupy - Awesome excerpts from some of our recent interviews
The Commune on the Common - Description of rehearsals for Paris Commune up in Boston

Featured Associate Artist - Aysan Celik of Paris Commune

Podcast:
Paris Commune - Behind-the-scenes interviews with the artists working on Paris Commune
You Better Sit Down Salon Night, Part 3 - More from our post-show events at The Flea Theater following our run there in April

Subscribe on iTunes HERE!

Video
Animated Paris Commune Trailer

Photos
Check out photos from Sam Breslin Wright's Flickr account documenting Paris Commune rehearsals!

Stay tuned for lots of exciting stuff coming up in October - including the run of Paris Commune in the BAM 30th Next Wave Festival!

Enter to Win Two Tickets to the Paris Commune Invited Dress!

As you might know, our upcoming run of Paris Commune in the BAM 30th Next Wave Festival in the Fisher Building sold out in around 48 hours. But we really want you to see the show!

So leave us a comment answering our question and get entered into a raffle for two tickets to our Invited Dress Rehearsal on October 3 at 2:00pm. 

We want to know:

If you could change one thing in our country, what would it be?

In the actual Paris Commune, the citizens of Paris rethought lots of different elements of society, from free speech rights to women's rights to the practice of baking bread at night. So talk to us! What would you want to change if you could reimagine our society? More healthcare? Less healthcare? Campaign finance reform? Less regulations for businesses? Leave us a comment below, and get entered to win the tickets!

We're also running this contest on our Facebook and Twitter, so feel free to enter there, too!

Daniel Jenkins, Aysan Celik, Jeanine Serralles, and Nina Hellman in Paris Commune tech

Aysan Celik in Paris Commune tech

And thanks to Sam Breslin Wright for generously sharing photos with us!

Rehearsing the Revolution

Here's a report from rehearsals of Paris Commune by Adam Odsess-Rubin! The show opened last night at ArtsEmerson - many congrats to all of the cast & crew! Grab a ticket to see the show in Boston HERE!

We are just days away from the beginning of tech here in Boston, as the room focuses in on Nina Hellman as she begins a rousing rendition of ‘The Internationale.’ As Hellman’s voice trembles with empowered indignation, the rest of the cast slowly joins in the final chorus.  With the end of the song, the rehearsal studio breaks into chaos as the actors/ communards prepare to defend the utopian socialist society they created, a new society that is tragically set up for defeat.

Nina Hellman

Late night rehearsals this past week have seen many laughs and frustrations, tensions and giggles, but what stays consistent is a unified drive to create a piece of art we can all be proud of come opening night.  As Assistant Director, I have the unique opportunity to sit back and observe the masterful focus this cast and crew puts into their work, and the rapid progress that comes of it.  Sam Breslin Wright infuses intense humor and passion into his performance of Pere Duchesne, the fictitious joker that provides commentary on the action, Jeanine Serralles glows with the light of the revolutionary as Louise Michel, the ‘red virgin of Montmarte,’ and Daniel Jenkins gives goosebumps as a poor incensed baker who joins the Commune.  The entire cast and crew turn history into a living, breathing experience from the first moments of rebellion, to the infamous ‘Bloody Week.’ With a healthy dose of tragedy and comedy, we are thrilled to bring this show to the public.

The show is certainly complex: Stage Manager Terri Kohler and ASM Lily Perlmutter as well as Director Steve Cosson have their hands full.  On the tables down in front of the stage, one might find hundreds of pages of blocking notes, floor plans, piles of gaffe tape, floor plans, aspirin, and sometimes grapes!  The crew is small, but dedicated.  Coming early and staying late, they work to support the actors and keep rehearsals running smoothly.  While Steve gives notes to an actor, stage management might be running around swiftly transforming the stage from one scene to another, while still composer Michael Friedman is in a corner with pianist Jonathan Mastro discussing ‘Yodeling Ducks,’ a song adapted from a 19th Century French tune to tell the story of a lonely duck who finds the virtue of socialist solidarity.    

Laughing over drinks at the Intermission Tavern after a late rehearsal, becoming short of breath as Aysan Celik (Seamstress) beautifully sings ‘Mon Homme,’ marveling at the majesty of Arts Emerson’s newly renovated Paramount Theater- these are the experiences that make up our time leading up to the world premiere of Paris Commune in Boston.  As earnest and wild as the commune itself, it will surely be an experience we will all never forget.  

Here are some photos from tech rehearsal generously shared with us by Sam Breslin Wright!

Nina Hellman and Jeanine Serralles - scandalous pose! 

Charlotte Dobbs as The Soprano

Aysan Celik and Daniel Jenkins working on "Yodeling Ducks"

Nina Hellman, Aysan Celik, Daniel Jenkins, and Kate Buddeke working with Director Steve Cosson

Paris Commune - The Podcast

Our latest show, Paris Commune, will be having its world premiere run at ArtsEmerson in Boston followed by a run at BAM's Next Wave Festival this fall. The play is about the explosive Parisian uprising of the working class in 1871, in which French citizens launched an attempt to overthrow the government and reinvent society. We wanted to give you a look behind-the-scenes at our efforts to recreate these historic events for the stage. This episode features interviews with Paris Commune's director and co-author Steve Cosson; co-author and translator and adapter of the songs Michael Friedman; and actor Aysan Celik (who is also our Featured Associate Artist this month) who has been with the project throughout its development. The episode closes out with Quincy Tyler Bernstine singing "La Canaille," a song performed at the radical cabaret of the actual Commune in the nineteenth century.

Grab your tickets to ArtsEmerson HERE! (BAM is already sold out - keep your eyes on the blog for a special ticket offer next week, though!)

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

The Commune on The Common

Many thanks to Adam Odsess-Rubin for writing up this post, and to Sam Breslin Wright for the photos!!

"Welcome to Boston!” says Kate Buddeke, as the company of Paris Commune loses its place rehearsing a maniac can-can finale, with Michael Friedman on piano. The cast and crew arrived in Boston last week to begin rehearsals at ArtsEmerson. Buddeke plays La Bordas, a popular singer who performed at the Tuileries palace for the reign of the Commune in 1871. The mood of the room changes at the drop of a hat: one moment, Kate captivates the rehearsal room with her powerful raspy voice singing ‘The Cherries of Spring,’ and in another the cast will fall into laughter over Michael seguing into some music from the musical Annie. 

The cast in dance rehearsal in Brooklyn

Rehearsing in a large windowless room on the fourth floor of ArtsEmerson's Paramount Center, the cast and crew manage to entertain each other between running scenes. The other day, director Steve Cosson was working with Aysan Celik (read more about her HERE), who plays the Seamstress: a Parisian who moonlights as a prostitute. Fellow actress Nina Hellman off-handedly commented that the rehearsal room looked like the dance studio from the Natalie Portman movie Black Swan. Michael started to play some music from the movie on his piano and Steve took on the Vincent Cassel director role in talking to Aysan. Steve cried, “You can be the white seamstress, but I need to see the black one!” as the cast burst into laughter.

The cast in rehearsal in Boston

The first and only stop before Paris Commune’s run at the BAM Next Wave Festival in the new Fisher Space, ArtsEmerson and Boston have welcomed us with open arms. Most of the cast and crew are staying around the Boston Common, a landmark not far from where so many significant moments in the American revolution occurred. Mere minutes from the church where Paul Revere famously warned the colonists of the oncoming Red Coats, the city’s history lends fascinating layers to the play's text. Chronologically between the American Revolutionary War and the current Occupy movement, the Paris Commune lives in one of the most exhilarating and bloody chapters of the revolutionary history book, and we're looking forward to reflecting on all these themes with audiences in a few weeks.

The stage!

The cast on stage at ArtsEmerson

For tickets to the show at ArtsEmerson, click HERE!

Featured Associate Artist: Aysan Celik

Welcome to our new blog series of Featured Associate Artists! We'll be asking a new Associate Artist each month the same ten questions so that you can get to know some of the many faces that have been working with us over the years and contributing their talents to our projects. Many thanks to our first, actress Aysan Celik!

Name: Aysan Celik
Year Joined The Civilians: 2002
Where you’re from: Claremont, CA
What City You’re Living In: The San Francisco Bay Area, and out of a suitcase.

How did you first get involved with The Civilians? 
An actor had to drop out of Canard, Canard, Goose?, and Michael suggested me to Steve as a replacement. Michael and I had worked together at the American Repertory Theater a few years prior, when we were both still in swaddling clothes.

What have you done with us, both in terms of investigating and performing? 
Performing: Canard, Canard, Goose? (the original production at HERE Arts and the 10th anniversary concert at Joe's Pub), This Beautiful City at the Studio Theater in DC (I covered the set of roles originated by the wonderful Alison Weller), the cabaret series Let Me Ascertain You (specifically Porn and Atlantic Yards), many a benefit, and almost every reading and workshop production of Paris Commune over the past ten years (and I am thrilled to be in rehearsals for the premiere right now).

Investigating: due to timing, I have missed a couple of chances to create pieces from the very beginning/interview process. I have experienced this on pieces outside of The Civilians, and I am hopeful for another opportunity with the company.

Tell us about something that surprised you, either in an interview, in using the investigative method, or in a rehearsal process.
If Steve looks like he is shocked at what you are doing, it could mean he is actually tickled.  (Could)

Sometimes it can catch me by surprise how absolutely strong and hopeful people can be while in dire situations, or when faced with censure or derision.

Why has it been interesting to work in this way?  
The text in the pieces is from people simply answering questions. They have not tried to shape their thoughts into a play, a film, or a novel. They're sharing their stories, speaking their truths. Granted, there is potential there for crafting or dramatization, but because a question is being answered in a moment, live, spoken, I think it’s less worked over. It’s direct. Most of the time, it does not seem to me like they planned what they are saying so that they could create something that is stylized or polished. This text then of course becomes developed into a theatrical experience by directors, designers and actors, and yet those words are still there, as they were spoken. That interplay of the un-crafted with the very crafted is interesting to me.

What is the last project you worked on outside of The Civilians? Ingmar Bergman's Persona - adapted and directed by Craig Baldwin, at HERE Arts this past August. It was a stage adaptation of Bergman's shooting script for the film, in which he wrote beautiful, weird and haunting commentary, and very vivid narration that is not necessarily reflected in the film in an obvious way. Any fan of the film should read this shooting script - it is a revelation. Bergman was fittingly a character in this piece, and was portrayed by Michael Rudko. Nick Westrate played Sister Alma (the nurse), and I performed both the doctor and Elisabeth Vogler (the actress who has a nervous breakdown and stops speaking).

What artist has had the biggest impact on you? 
There are so many. A few major ones: Pina Bausch, Yoshi Oida, Shinichi Suzuki, Jim Henson, and Gene Kelly.

What’s the last play you saw? 
A Bird in the Hand, by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas. It just opened at Theater For a New City. I highly recommend it. It is magical, cruel and funny. The birds are exquisite. I love his writing.

What’s your favorite bad movie? 
She’s the Man is a teeny bopper take on Twelfth Night, to which it bears very little resemblance. So many of the performance choices are so confounding, so deeply awkward, and sometimes even unintelligible, that they are kind of ridiculously funny. At moments, you wonder if it's all on purpose! Also David Cross is in it, so yay.

Do you like sports?
Yes. I love the Olympics - everything makes me cry.  I absolutely love watching tennis!  A few of of my all time favorite players to watch: Martina Navratilova, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

What question would you like us to ask our next Featured Associate Artist? 
What book do you re-read?

Click HERE for Aysan's bio!

Paris Commune in the News

First of all, let's all wish the Paris Commune a happy 140th Anniversary! March 18 marked the first uprisings that led to the overthrow of the government. March 26 were elections, and March 28 (today!) was the day that Commune was officially proclaimed. Here is text in our play, PARIS COMMUNE, straight from one of the posters for the election made in 1871:

“Citizens: We have defended Paris. Aided by your generous courage, the Paris Guard expelled the government which was betraying us. But our mandate has expired, and we do not pretend to take the place of the old government. This is not a military coup, but a legitimate change of power. Hold communal elections, and we will step down. And let Paris write a fresh page in the book of history!”

Paris Commune is of course still implicitly present in the current revolutions, and Glenn Beck, according to the Huffington Post, is also seemingly talking about "government officials' salaries should not exceed that of the average worker" - an idea that the Commune also had.

Happy President's Day!

In honor of the national holiday that I am most prone to forget that celebrates the leaders of our nation, here are some quotes about leaders and leading from past Civilains' shows. Not terribly optimistic, I'm afraid... 

From (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

NONAGENARIAN

Now I’m feeling unhappy about my country because I do not understand the president I have. Presidents have been inadequate. Presidents have been crooked. Presidents have been whatever… not behaving well. (Oh I can’t forgive Clinton. He should have had better taste.)  But this man is really incredible. I’m afraid… I’ll tell you that as a child of immigrant parents, who lived during McCarthy, I’m afraid to send a letter to the editor of the New York Times. I’m afraid to say something negative about Bush because someone will come down on me and I’m just too old now to handle it. And I’m very disappointed in the Democrats. I’ve always thought they were more concerned with the general population. They used to go out in the streets with papers and say, “This is not good. This is what’s really going on.”  But now … I don’t know what people care about. It’s like people have forgotten how to feel pain. And those are the type of people that don’t have dogs.

FROM SHADOW OF HIMSELF

The king learned much from his friend - 

 that his power was a gift,

and against the nature of things, to abuse it.

The people were glad.

There was peace, for a time...

But the heart of the king was not easy.

FROM PARIS COMMUNE

ACTRESS/LOUISE

Isn’t the whole point of the Commune that it’s—that it will be different? I think, sure, Louise Michel says too that the Commune will have to—it should be ready to fight to defend itself. And Louise, yeah, she’s prepared to fight and die even - but for liberation. Which I think is by definition the opposite of “authority,” right?

ACTRESS / ELISABETH

Well no.  I mean, not necessarily.  Not if the authority serves the people.  If you’re going to take over a city you’re going to need some sort of effective and decisive leadership, right?

RIGAULT

Paris, we are making a revolution!

ACTRESS / ELISABETH

Exactly.

Happy Valentine's Day from The Civilians!

Here are what a few of our shows have to say about the relevant, contemporary topic of this week - which is to say, love!

From YOU BETTER SIT DOWN Tales from my parents' divorce:

So I guess the main question is – why do people fall in and out of love?  Why is one second children are in the middle of a stable family, and the next moment, you know… you’re driving up to a vacation in Maine, right?  (laughs)  And you know, who is this dark-haired woman sitting next to you… Dad? 

As far as your Mom goes, there are two separate possible explanations, as far as I can see, and I don’t know which it was, really… either she fell out of love with me, or she just wanted to fuck other guys, you know?  (Laughs)

From PARIS COMMUNE:

I always will love, the cherries of spring,

The season which leaves a hole in my heart,

A wound that is never healed.

And all that may be by Fortune revealed

It never will soothe the grief in my soul.

I always will love the cherries of spring,

And think of the hole I guard in my heart.

From (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH:
I mean I’m not sure just hearing about things is real. The radio sings about love, for instance, but love’s something you have to experience for yourself to know it… That’s true. Or at least I think that’s true!