The Boston Globe - 23.08.2019

G2 The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2019

Insider

B

oston poet and playwright Letta Neely
was drawn to the character of Caliban
whenchoosinga scenefor the Fort
Point Theatre Channel’s production of
“Tempest Reconfigured.”
“Caliban is defined as a monster,” says Neely,
whose scene will be presented at Fort Point as a
workin progress on Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. “But who cre-
ated that labelfor him?And how can he movepast
that?”
Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” traces the final
days of the magician Prospero on the island he has
ruled since his brother’s betrayal years earlier. The
title refers to Prospero’s ability to control the cli-
mate, causingthe storm that shipwreckshis ene-
mieson the island and allows him to turn the tables
on them. In addition to raising his daughter, Miran-
da, there, Prospero also controls Caliban, an island
native whose father was a sea creature and whose
mother, Sycorax, was a witch.
The play, says Fort Point Theatre co-artistic di-
rector Marc Miller, is rich in themesof transition,
which resonated with him as he steps back from a
leadership role in the company he founded in 2007.
“There’s also a lot about the relation of the hu-
man to the environment,” he says, “andsince we’re
at ground zero for the waters risingin Boston, we
felt it was important to talk aboutthat.”
But he and his co-artistic directors hesitated
when considering a full production of the play.
“When we thought about what we could bring to
it,” says co-artistic director Christine Noah, “we de-
cided the community organizations who have been
contributing to the workFort Point produces would
bring new interpretations to issues we are all facing
today in Boston.”
Withthe support of a Boston Foundation Live
Arts grant, the result is “Tempest Reconfigured,” a
collection of six short scenes inspired by Shake-
speare’s play, created by performingpartners from
acrossthe city, includingArtists’ Theatre of Boston,
House of Escada (a ballroom house of LGBTQIA
people), Luminarium Dance Company, OrigiNation
Cultural Arts Center (which offers dance,theater
arts, and African history education), Petrichor Per-

formanceCollective (a group of singers who focus

on R&B/soul stylingswith heavy gospel and jazz in-

fluences), and The Loop Lab, whichwill document

the performances.

Noah says each of the partners was given the

freedomto choose scenes from the play that spoke

to themand worked independently to develop their

performances. The groupswill present theirscenes

separately withintheirneighborhoods, and then

the full “Tempest Reconfigured” will culminate in a

series of performances this fall, includingat the

BlackBoxTheatreatCodmanSquareHealthCenter

(Nov. 7) and the Boston Public Library (Nov. 14).

“We have a costume consultant who is creating

some consistency across the pieces, and we’re also

providing yards of fabric that can be used as back-

dropsor as part of theirscene,” says Miller. “We are

providingsomeresources, and eachgroupcan

choose to incorporate theminto their scene or not.”

At Fort Point, actor Manuel Aquiles Lopez Torres

says rehearsals have beenunlike anything he’s done

before.

“If felt less like memorizinga script and more

like talking about my own experiences,” he says.

“We became a kind of ‘hive mind,’ wherewe wereall

thinkingaboutthe sameimages, ideas,and charac-

ters. It was magical to see it unfold.”

Neely says writing in this devised theater style

was new to her but also a thrill.

“It felt a little like leaping off a ledge,” she says

with a laugh, “but by relying on each other’s exper-

tise and vulnerability, we created a scenethat reso-

nates for all of us.”

Neely chose to focus on an imagined conversa-

tion between Sycorax and Caliban because theseare

characters who are rarely seen in the play but who

have great back stories,she says. In the scene, Syco-

rax, like every mom,triesto encourage her son to

focus on what’s important.

“The idea behindit,” says Neely, who plays Syco-

rax, “is to gain control of yournarrative. And then

share that story with others.”

Thompsontakes ‘Jitney’ for anotherride

Tony Award nominee John Douglas Thompson

returnsto the Huntington Theatre for a staged

reading of August Wilson’s “Jitney” Sept. 16 at the

Calderwood Pavilion in a benefit for Front Porch

Arts Collective (pay what you wish starting at $25,

http://www.bostontheatrescene.com). Thompson, who

was seen last seasonon the Huntington stage in

“Man in the Ring,” for which he won an Elliot Nor-

ton Award, will be joined by Johnny Lee Davenport,

BrandonGreen, and Elle Borders (who all appeared

in Front Porch’s “Black Odyssey”), alongwith Chris-

topher Edwards (Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s ar-

tistic director) and MauriceEmmanuelParent, one

of the foundersof Front Porch. Thompsonearneda

Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance as

Becker in “Jitney.” The readingwill be directed by

Monica White Ndounou.

‘Hype Man’ returnsfor threeshows

Company One’s award-winningproduction of

“Hype Man: A Break Beat Play” returnsfor three

performances in a special fund-raiser for the com-

pany Nov. 14-16 at Oberon (Tickets: $35-$150,

http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org).Idris Good-

win’s drama with music follows a friendship among

threemembers of a rap group who find that race

and gender divide themand bring them together in

unexpected ways.

TerryByrne canbe reachedat [email protected].

WALTHAM — Sometimes, things
keep getting worse.
Whensomeone’s circumstances
lead to a downward economic spiral,
and one loss triggers another, it’s
called cascading. The Women’s Stud-
ies ResearchCenter at Brandeis Uni-
versity’s yearlongprogrammingon the
phenomenon culminates with “Root
Shock | HannahChalew, DanielaRive-
ra, CorinneSpencer” at the Kniznick
Gallery. The exhibition explores com-
plex plights related to social, econom-
ic, and environmental justice.
Rivera, a Boston artist originally
from Chile, was awardedthe deCordo-
va Sculpture Park and Museum’s
$35,000 Rappaport Prize last week.
Her 2017-18 show at the Museum of
Fine Arts, “DanielaRivera: The Andes
Inverted,” examined the blessings and
curses of Chileanmining.
In June, Rivera installed “Without
Trace/Sin Evidencia,” a wall madeof

Zote, a Mexicansoap,in the Kniznick

Gallery. Staff and visitorsfoundits cit-

ronella aroma hard to take, and the

piececamedownin July. In a new, re-

lated installation, the artist has nim-

bly created a small memorial where

the wall was. “Without Trace” touches

on the cleansingaspects of Chile’s

1991 National Commissionfor Truth

and Reconciliation Report, which

foundthat morethan2,000people

weremurderedfor politicalreasons

underthe rule of dictator Augusto Pi-

nochet. The common soapaptly ties

domestic abuse to state-sanctioned vi-

olence.

In Rivera’s soberingsecond instal-

lation,“CornerWith Used Casings,”

mirrorsappearto multiplya heapof

bullet casings, implying that violence

is only one of many consequencesof

the widespread availability of guns.

Chalew, whoworksin New Or-

leans, makes paper out of plastic and a

byproduct of sugarcane, a crop intrin-

sic to the Atlantic slave trade. She

draws damaged landscapes — such as

a dizzyingview of a pipe-rimmed

drainage ditchin “Solastalgia” — on

this ethicallycompromised,physically

hardy stratum, as if to say, “This is the

groundwe stand on. Wheredo we go

from here?”

Spencer, fromBrooklyn,creates

delicately choreographedvideosof

black women moving ritualistically in

ambiguous spaces — deserted ware-

houses, barren fields, and milky pools.

Her aching, lyrical incantations evoke

eternalrhythmsof loss,and conse-

crate the struggle.

Giving form to devastating experi-

ences,“RootShock” acknowledges the

lasting impact. And finds hope. And

moves toward healing.

Cate McQuaid canbe reachedat

[email protected]

on Twitter@cmcq.

JOSH REYNOLDS FORTHEBOSTON GLOBE

Fromleft: ChristineNoah,Fort PointTheatreco-artisticdirector;ManuelAquilesLopezTorres,actor;Letta Neely, poet andplaywright;and
Marc Miller, Fort PointTheatreco-artisticdirector, in theirrehearsalspaceat the ChannelCenter.

GALLERIES| CATEMCQUAID

ROOT SHOCK| HANNAHCHALEW,

DANIELARIVERA,CORINNESPENCER

At KniznickGallery, Women’s

StudiesResearch Center,Brandeis

University, 515 SouthSt., Waltham,

throughOct.10. 781-736-8100,

http://www.brandeis.edu/wsrc/arts/

current.html

ByJon Pareles

NEWYORKTIMES

T

he idea sounded promis-

ing. Sleater-Kinney, the

three-womanband that

arosefromthe riot grrrl

movement to make smart,

knotty, engaged, passionately ambi-

tiousindierock,was getting produced

by AnnieClark, better knownas St.

Vincent, a songwriter withstartling

ideas and constantlyshifting guises.

The result is “The Center Won’t Hold,”

an album that all but jettisons Sleater-

Kinney’s longtime musical identity.

It’s an unexpected expansionof

Sleater-Kinney’s musical vocabulary

and a bold swerve in the direction of

pop.Unfortunately, most of the time

it’s a wrongturn.On July 1, Janet

Weiss — Sleater-Kinney’s catalytic

drummersince 1996 — announced

that she was leaving the band as it is

“heading in a new direction.”

From its formation in 1994,Sleater-

Kinney’s music has been defined by

the gnarledinterplay of CarrieBrown-

stein’s and Corin Tucker’s guitars:

sometimes meshed, sometimes over-

lapping, sometimes at cross-purposes,

sometimesintricate, sometimes noisy.

But on the new album,the guitars are

constrained,cedingspaceto key-

boardsand electronicbeats; often,

they’recontenttorepeatneatlyde-

ployedhooks.Instead of tense, fluctu-

ating humanfriction,there’s layered

pop architecture.

It’s similar to the way St. Vincent

usedsynthetic soundsand immediate-

ly legiblepop structureson her 2017

album “Masseduction.” But “The Cen-

ter Won’t Hold” isn’t a matter of the

producer commandeering the band.

Accordingto the albumcredits,the

songswere entirely written and per-

Continuedonnextpage

Sleater-

Kinney

veers

off course

ALBUMREVIEW

SLEATER-KINNEY

“THECENTERWON’THOLD”

ROZETTERAGO/THE NEWYORK TIMES

CorinTucker (left) andCarrie

Brownsteinof Sleater-Kinney.

Art that

rises above

destruction

DanielaRivera’s “CornerWithUsedCasings”andanimagefromCorinneSpencer’s video “ThisEternalThread”

STAGES| TERRY BYRNE

At Fort Point,

they’re taking

‘The Tempest’

by storm