My Favorite Things

Photo Credit: JK Photo

by Caitlin Meehan  

I asked some Monkeyhouse folks to share their favorite Against the Odds moments.  Caitlin's favorite things seemed especially appropriate this month right on the heels of Jason Ries (our production manager and lighting designer) winning an IRNE for his work with Company One since his designs feature so strongly in her moments.   -Nicole 

  

My favorite moment at Against the Odds this year would have to be a tie: seeing my piece, DisArmed, performed by Nicole with fantastic lighting by Jason, and getting to perform the blindfold duet with Courtney (incidentally also with fantastic lighting by Jason!)

When DisArmed was performed the first time, at the festival in NH, there was basic stage lighting with no changes. This time was 180 degrees from there- tiny pinpoints of light all over the space suddenly appeared, and began to move and morph around as the piece progressed, contributing to the motif of confusion and unsteadiness. The lighting changed and strengthened as the choreography went on, and generally created a layer of atmosphere that was not there for the initial performance.

Then, after much musing and rehearsal, Courtney and I got to perform our duet in which she is blindfolded and I am not. It really came together for this performance, and the red/green lighting enhanced the experience for us as performers, as I'm sure it did for the audience as well. We were able to include a section of improvisation within the set choreography, which is always exciting and kept the piece fresh each time. Courtney and I work really well together in this blindfolded/not setup, so it was a pleasure to perform this duet.