Monday, April 30, 2018

Day 280 WordPlay-Storytelling With a Musical Spin-An Intimate Experience




The Bricolage Theater  is synonymous  with “adventurous theater”.  It  is a forum were art can be  pushed to new limits.   In the show WordPlay, actors, writers, and just ordinary people, tell their own stories with the injection of music.  This is grown- up storytelling with literally a spin as a  DJ spins real-time soundtracks during the dialogue. I recently saw this show which was an entertaining yet intimate experience as strangers shared their lives.   




Refection

I love to hear  stories (see author lecture, Ruth Reichl- Day 146, and the Rocky Bleier story- Day 182).  A story is a way of communicating but when telling it, you have to dig a little deeper to remember the event and  how you felt at the time. What  you learned about life and yourself makes the story worth telling.

WordPlay contained 5 stories worth telling. They ranged in subject matter from a camping honeymoon in the African Sahara Desert (Stephen Cooper), a love affair in Peru that turned sour (Kelsey Robinson), to a  simple fender bender (Alan Olifson). All  were told with “heart” and with  comedic punches. They made you  laugh and sometimes cry. The stories were better than going to a  play because they were a real life window into the author's life. Each story  was crafted with so much  honesty!

 Even though some stories tackled serious subjects like an abusive father (Jane Graille), or personal anxiety (Hannah Brizzi), the authors told their stories with levity oftentimes laughing at themselves,  which softened the complexity of the tale. The added spin, literally  the DJ  spinning real time tracks during the show,  augmented the dialogue and added  the pulse throughout the show. 


WordPlay is creative adult story telling  that not only entertains but that feels intimate. The intimacy and honesty of  sharing true stories among strangers was a unique theatrical  experience.  Don’t miss the next WordPlaat the Bricolage Theater on July 27, 28 and November 16,17, 2018. Who knows, maybe  I  will share my story!

For tickets go to Bricolagepgh.org. 

Other Source
Bricolage  http://www.bricolagepgh.org/programs/current-season/