Izzy Dier’s WoHeLo Project
When I had to decide what kind of project I wanted to do for my WoHeLo, I had a hard time choosing. Narrowing down my options was difficult. At last, I decided on the perfect way to work with the community: workshopping and performing my play, “Tears In California,” with youth and those affected by the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII.
I wanted to create a place where kids could tell their stories. Power of Creativity/Person of Color was about creating a place for that to happen.
My initial plan involved reaching out to Long Beach Shakespeare Co. and Cultural Alliance of Long Beach and maybe getting a grant from the Long Beach Art Council. I called and emailed many people but, unfortunately, those initial plans never came to fruition. However, I did get a donation from the Ridgewood Heights Neighborhood Association and worked out a workshop and performance space with Averyboo Arts. Because I hadn’t gotten any other successful communications back over a whole 5 months of trying, and the limited offer to use a space in May was there, I decided to bite the bullet and use the space that Averyboo had offered to me for the project. We got the space for one month in May, that’s it. And a contract was made. I was then able to come with volunteers every Tuesday in May, 2016, from 5:00pm-7:30pm and work.
I made copies of the script, and handed out my WoHeLo Project proposals to the entire Horizon Club. I gave an announcement that I had a screenplay and had a space to perform/workshop it. Lots of people wanted to help but because it was May, and everyone’s testing and papers were due, it made getting people there harder. If I had a choice about when we could have done it, I would have chosen the end of summer, so that everyone who wanted to participate could do so. However, there was no guarantee that I would have another offer of a space to do this. So, I took the opportunity.
The first workshopping day had a low turnout, but the volunteers that came were extremely helpful and great. Delaney Guajardo started work on making one of two WWII newspaper headlines on heavy cardboard, and the detail she put into the poster that day was impressive. My family came and helped as well as members of the Lightning Camp Fire group which I had mentored. We worked on blocking with the prototype puppets mainly. Blocking is when you mark where the actors go at certain points in the show and rehearse scenes. Afterwards, I took note of what we were missing and how much material we needed for the finalized puppets, and planned to go to Michael’s to get more supplies before the following Tuesday came. The first week proved to be a good kick start to the project. I think the pace was set. However, because of the low amount of volunteers, I was worried that my props would not be completed by the time the performance date came around.
The second workshop day came. I went to Michael’s to pick up fake flowers, fake grapes, tiny miniature grocery bags, styrofoam balls, tiny clay pots, burlap, glue guns, a wooden crate with metal mesh, smaller scale wooden crates, a wooden box, canvas, scissors, sewing kits, and a large wooden crate before arriving at Averyboo. I also also made sure my volunteers had refreshments and created a snack area, so that they wouldn’t feel they had to bring outside food and drinks and keep food separate from the workspace.
Once I set everything up, I met with Ernie before the workshop, at the cafe next to Averyboo, which was known as the Breakfast Club at the time. It has since become the West Bistro. He told me about how he and his mom and sister were taken to Manzanar, an internment camp, and how he was there from the age of 2 until he was 5. He talked about how there was a society within the barbed wire; How there were schools and sports and a newspapers for the camp victims. He showed us pictures of his mother’s art work. It was astonishing. His mother made these amazing art pieces after they got out of Manzanar. They depict a mother and her children, behind barbed wire, keeping what seems the hope they have left. It moved me deeply. To look back at that moment when Ernie showed me this evidence of their experience, of having to create a space with her artwork, so she/they could continue to move on, made me feel sore, like there’s a pain to it that won’t go away. And if I feel that way it must have been a horribly traumatic experience for the people who went through it. He had recently gone back to Manzanar for a retreat, and couldn’t understand how people survived the cold, harsh weather that was that barren location off a California desert highway.
Some more volunteers in addition to the ones from the last workshop day appeared. Some of my sister’s friends, and a couple of my own, joined the crew. Props were being made and blocking was almost complete. Delaney finished the first newspaper illustration on poster, and it looked amazing. I went home that day really grateful that I have such good friends and such a supportive family.
As workshopping progressed, revising the script became part of preparing for the performance. The third Tuesday of May came before I knew it, and progress was continuing to be made. Blocking was finished, and props were continuing to be put together. I had to make most of them at home, and spent hours towards making the puppets especially. I envisioned these puppets to be Waldorf style where there are no faces. In Waldorf puppetry, this lack of expression on puppet’s face was a stylistic device I wanted to use, it allows for the audience to envision what the puppets look like, and what they are feeling for themselves. I tried doing this with how I designed them. They each had a relatively large portion of fabric, and taking that fabric, I would glue it around the canvas covered styrofoam ball to make a head. The hands were simply ends of fabric connected to ends of the string. They don’t have faces, because because then it becomes more universal. Giving them no faces makes every story more relatable because a child, or adult, could see the puppet as themselves.
The penultimate workshop day was spent rehearsing all the way through the show and having the puppeteers try on their morphsuits. Some were feeling confined in the morphsuits, but it was a relief to see that they still did their best.
The performance day finally arrived, and I was very nervous. Everyone was there and ready to see what we had been working on for the last month. So as I helped the puppeteers get in place, I took a deep breath, and sat next to my dad who was considerate enough to film the show.
The process of workshopping with puppets for the first time and doing a show and having people trust me to do that, was amazing. If I had to re-think anything, it would be that puppeteers, dancers, stuntmen, all have a hyper-awareness about their bodies and when you’re working with people who don’t particularly dance or don’t have that same hyper-awareness about their bodies, it’s really frustrating to work and expect them to do that, to have that control over what they’re doing with their hands with their arms and where they place their elbows and what they’re communicating, and how fast they move and what their tempo is, it’s timing and that’s everything. Being able to make that connection for me recently was very eye opening. It was good and it made me less frustrated but made me more frustrated at the same time. I thought, dang it, maybe that’s what I should have done to begin with. Maybe I should have looked into hiring people that were in dance groups or friends that I knew that were very aware of movement. Maybe next time I do a project similar to this I can be on top of that more. Maybe I can go look for this particular group of people and seek them out. I only just came to that. Being creative and knowing yourself is important. It requires knowing yourself, like with acting, but having your consciousness always be a little bit ahead of you. I think that’s the whole blueprint that gets laid out when you get into dance or movement or performance.
Alex Evans has passionately been working with puppets for a long time. He’s the head of Bob Baker’s Marionette Review. He read the final script and saw the DVD of the final workshopped performance and is going to put on Tears In California at Bob Baker’s Marionette Review. I am very excited to see what a professional like Alex will do to the play. I feel fortunate that professionals are interested in my work but I don’t like how giving away my work feels, to let someone else be successful with, if that makes sense. But I also know that I can’t do what Alex is doing with the puppets and the production itself, at this time. The collaborative medium of stage work does require multiple visions in coming to a final product together or at the same time. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, my work or my getting credit for the work. I believe this is an example of the work being more important.
Writing, workshopping, directing and producing my first written play was intense. I think doing all the above the line work, and having so many hats at the same time, is too stressful for me. I was very new to the experience. Now that I have done so, I know I can improve as a director to fulfill my vision. Writing will always be a part of my life as will social justice, but I might have needed more time to get the product I was looking for but am so grateful for the support of my friends, family, the amazing volunteers and the audience who gave me feedback. I am excited to direct more projects and collaborate more in the future.