Live From The Lodge

On my Livejournal blog I have some young friends on my Friends List, and if any of them had seen last night's performances, they probably would write a post along the lines of "OMG! I saw Irondale and Strike Anywhere perform last night and they were SO AWESOME!!!"

And they were indeed pretty awesome. Irondale performed the company created show '9/11: Voices Unheard.' I must admit that in such a festive atmosphere as the retreat, I wasn't sure I was up for a show about Sept. 11, but 'Voices Unheard' was terrific. It was based on interviews with family members of people who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center (along with one first-responder fireman who narrowly survived), performed by Scarlet Rivera, Patrena Murray (two roles), Damen Scranton (two roles), Michael-David Gordon, Terry Greiss and Sarah Merkel (call her Merkel). Live music frequently accompanied their voices.

I couldn’t help but compare ‘Voices Unheard’ to last year’s big Sept. 11 movies, ‘United 93’ and ‘World Trade Center.’ Both of those films dealt almost exclusively with the events of the day, without reflecting on its repercussions. While the Sept. 11 families had their own fascinating, unique stories, they also served as stand-ins for America’s citizens anywhere, and I appreciated seeing 9/11 through their context. Or, for that matter, ANY context.

After an intermission, Strike Anywhere performed a work-in-progress “sound painting” inspired by the life and work of John Lennon. I may not write much about it, partly because it IS a work-in-progress, but mostly because I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe its mixture of song, dance, spoken word and performance techniques whose names I don’t even know. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen ANYTHING like it – even the comparable shows at Atlanta’s 7 Stages don’t really come close. But it was cool, and by the end, my mind was pretty much blown.

And later, the musicians of Strike Anywhere (along with some guest musicians) jammed for the benefit of the folks on the dance floor of the lodge – which seems somehow unfair, given the effort that they’d put into entertaining us roughly an hour earlier.

Earlier on Monday, someone told me about Irondale’s tradition of putting on plays in the campground as part of their annual retreat. I heard about a ‘Waiting for Godot’ that started on the road outside the camp, and ended with actors standing in a rowboat on the lake, illuminated by car headlights. I heard about a show set on the waterfront that was performed on the actual dock of the lake (and included an unexpected but fortuitous downpour at the climax). I heard about an adaptation of a certain J.K. Rowling work, that featured members of the audience pulled in rowboats along the edge of the water by an actor. And I wished I’d gotten to see those shows.

But after the performances of Irondale and Strike Anywhere, I certainly wasn’t disappointed.

(PS: I didn’t have the list of Irondale musician names or Strike Anywhere performers when I wrote this, so if anyone cares to I.D. them in a comment, that would be great,)