DXM Projects
Upcoming The UnRegistered. A 2008 Election Cabaret.
Written by Andrea Allen and David Schmader
Directed by Allison Narver and Jack Bentz
Settings and Costumes by Jennifer Zeyl and Lights by Geoff Korf
October 2, 3, and 4th 8pm
Lee Center for the Fine Arts, Seattle University
What might Seattle University and the edge of the Central District have in common? Since both groups are Americans, odds are a lot of them are not voting in the 2008 general election. Our question is - Why? Why are Americans not voting? Why are young Americans not even registered? What are the stories behind this decision to stay at home on Election day? Is gaming just that much more interesting than getting off your butt and going to the polls?
Listen
Starting in the spring of 2008, DXM will begin the intensive listening in the communities on both sides of 12th Avenue; the street that marks the eastern border of Seattle University on First Hill. We will be going dorm room to dorm room finding out what makes a citizen and knocking on doors up and down 12th looking for stories about why folks vote or don't.
Speak
Then we will take all this info and write several short plays on this theme presenting them at the Lee Center for the Arts located on, you guessed it, 12th avenue. Throw in a live band, voter information, food, and voter registration and you have a heck of an evening designed to appeal to your inner founding father! We will present it all in an early October election cabaret.
The aim of this project is to dig a little deeper in the motivations behind voter apathy. To stem some of this apathy through education and motivation to actually vote this year. To register as many university students as possible. To build community between Seattle University and its neighbors. For citizens to get entertained, get informed, get motivated and get out and VOTE!
Pastorela St. Joseph 2008!
December 2008, Yakima
Yup, we are doing it again! But this time even bigger! The Devils will be back but then again so will the Angels. Will you be in the audience this time?
Past Pastorela St. Joseph 2007
Jack Bentz, SJ, founder of Washington State's Deus X Machina theater company, announces the premiere of a new Christmas play based on a Mexican Christmas ritual theater. The script of the production, La Pastorela St. Joseph, has been adapted to reflect life in Yakima through interviews with local residents, both Anglo and Latino, in downtown Yakima. The play will be presented in collaboration with La Casa Hogar, St. Joseph Catholic Parish and St. Joseph/Marquette School. Directed by DXM Associate Artist Ashley Sparks with design elements by Diane Baas.
La Pastorela St. Joseph is the first fruits of Bentz's experience living and working in Mexico, where he studied traditional forms of Mexican ritual theater. La Pastorela is based on the classic Mexican Christmas play in which shepherds search for the baby Jesus and encounter devils and angels along the way. Deus X Machina's interpretation updates the classic to incorporate the experience of Yakima today by turning shepherds into the area's apple pickers and portraying devils as local gang lords and small town troublemakers.
"I wrote La Pastorela after meeting with different groups in the Yakima community to find out how they felt about their lives here so the play could reflect their world," said Bentz, a Jesuit priest who was raised in eastern Oregon and is a graduate of Gonzaga University. "Young people felt differently than older people did, and recent immigrants had a completely different take on Yakima than earlier arrivals. Their experiences were the foundation of the script, but the process we shared is one that can help us build a common vision of our future together."
The play was developed through story circles, which is a workshop/group interview that brings people together to share the stories that describe their lives. Bentz uses story circles as the foundation of his community-based theater to fulfill the mission of his order, the Society of Jesus, which is to engage culture in ways that support and sustain communities. Dramatic elements derived from the story circles then are added to the structure of an existing story that is well-known to the community to make the old tale relevant to their current lives.
Unlike typical theater companies, community-based theater seeks to involve as many people as possible. La Pastorela will feature 20 dancers, a children's chorus and 19 speaking roles in a company of about 100 residents needed to put on the production.
hear more about the production here.
The Tempest at NewHolly
By Andrea Allen, based on interviews with the residents of NewHolly and the play by William Shakespeare
Directed by Jack Bentz
July 20-22, 2006
Thursday-Saturday at 7:00pm
Production made possible by our partners at 4Culture
The Play: Shakespeare's play about the big storm is also the story of a father, Prospero, who creates an island home for his daughter, Miranda. Driven from his home by political forces, including the treachery of his own brother, Prospero strives to make a better world for his daughter to grow up in. The Tempest at NewHolly is based on stories of immigration and family from the residents of NewHolly. Focusing on the young characters of the original play-Ferdinand and Caliban, as well as Miranda-this story explores the relationships between parents and children, as well as what it means to build a community. The Tempest at NewHolly is an original adaptation that is family-friendly and uses contemporary language.
The community: NewHolly is a community in the Beacon Hill area formerly known as Holly Park. Built in the 1940s to house defense workers and veterans, Holly Park was converted into public housing in the 1950s and has been managed by the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) ever since. By the 1980's this housing community was failing beyond repair and had become the most distressed of SHA's housing stock. In 1995, SHA began the ambitious project of deconstructing Holly Park as part of the federally funded HOPE VI redevelopment program. The plan included housing for a mix of incomes including market-rate housing. All of the homes share a similar architecture, many with front porches, sloping roofs, and picture windows. Current residents are truly diverse, haling from many countries including, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Shoreline, Holly Park, Samoa, Vietnam, China, Somalia and Los Angeles. The 20+ person cast for The Tempest at NewHolly, ranging in ages from 8 to 55 years old, is a combination of community members and professional actors.
12 X 12
a dozen stories with 12 Avenue
written by the DXM ensemble with denizens of 12th
Staged Reading - Dec 12th only. Two performances: 6:30pm and 8:00 pm.
The Stellner Studio Theater, 1621 12th Ave. (Annex Theater's new space at the Capitol Hill Arts Center)
DXM is doing the super short version of their community based methodology! This time with the people who work and live on 12th Ave E. between Union and Denny. We are doing an 18 month process in twelve days! We have twelve days to tell a dozen stories about one little street. All those shops, all those people in the tattoo parlors, police stations, cinemas, restaurants, lock shops, wine stores, and cat food emporiums, are collaborating with the ensemble as we create twelve stories about Twelfth. Oh yeah, and it is in the twelfth month and real near the twelve days of Christmas.
