#freestreet

[sercemiru]

спа на марсе

[sercemiru]

◡̈ 🖤+🤍

[sercemiru]

[maryaspontlemus]

Not surprising given that Free Street Theater is the gift that keeps on giving, but they have now made full-length recordings of two recent shows—2019's Still/Here: Manifesting Joy and Survival and Parched: Stories about Water, Pollution, and Theft—as well as the Free Street Theater: 50 Years of Joy & Justice documentary available on Vimeo for FREE.

Watch, share, get inspired, and send a little love (or, if you can, other forms of support) Free Street’s way. <3

(P.S. You'll see me in Still/Here. Andrés built the Parched set. We love Free Street!)

Image description: A video title card, showing an aerial view of part of Chicago on a bright sunny day. A neighborhood (part of Wicker Park) is in the right foreground, with a highway (90/94) cutting through the left portion of the image toward the downtown skyline. The words “Still Here” are superimposed in white text, sitting on the horizon line. Near the center of the video still, the tri-part theatrical set for “Still Here” is installed in a park.

[maryaspontlemus]

From around this time last fall through August, I was a member of the core creative team that devised Free Street Theater’s summer 2019 show, Still/Here: Manifesting Joy and Survival. The commitment was basically like a part-part-time job, with two or more devising rehearsals a week for the 10-month period, as well as generative assignments and community workshops outside that. It’s impossible to estimate how many critical conversations, demanding activities, creative breakthroughs and dead-ends, and personal and collective journeys occurred across those interactions, but what we came up with together through all those challenges was a show that I remain immensely proud of. The final official description of our shared creation, care of Free Street, was:

The apocalypse is here…but it’s not what you think. In a Chicago that is being rebuilt again and again, who is the city designed to serve? How does our city’s past predict our future? And what would our city look like if it were truly designed for all of its people? Part manifesto, part history lesson, part fever dream of the future, Still/Here invites audiences to imagine a more just and joyful Chicago.

Created and performed by an ensemble of 17 artists from across the city, Still/Here is based on material collected in workshops with community members across the city, as well as interviews and conversations with hundreds of people who were asked to answer the questions: What’s still here? What isn’t? And what does your joy require?

At the conclusion of this long and incredibly fulfilling process—and with a boost from additional artists who joined our ensemble for the final stages and shows—we performed Still/Here in four Chicago parks (for free!): outside the South Shore Cultural Center, and in Humboldt Park, Cornell Square Park (Back of the Yards), and Walsh Park (Wicker Park). Some of the most rewarding moments for me, personally, included hearing audience members say that the issues we engaged in the show made them feel less alone, often because they realized something didn’t only affect their community or them as an individual; or hearing audience members say that they felt seen; that they had never before heard their neighborhood discussed, celebrated, or even mentioned in a play; that they learned something new and illuminating about the history of their city; that the show “raised [their] consciousness” about and “inspired confidence to confront” unjust situations; that we got it right or told the truth. There were also moving interactions that I really hadn’t anticipated, such as little kids wanting to meet us after the show like we were celebrities, people telling me they cried during my monologue about my neighborhood (at least some promised they cried “in a good way”), and even getting recognized at a community meeting the following week (“Hey, weren’t you in…?”). It’s not work one does for recognition, but it still felt amazing to have our group’s months of effort to create something that was simultaneously joyful, critical, and real seem to be so valued by the people we made it for and with, and to see that the show seemed to have resonated with so many, across neighborhoods, identities, and generations.

Special thanks from me to Free Street for their unique and essential vision and for inviting me into this process; to my fellow ensemble members for their unending brilliance, clarity, courage, and generosity; to the hundreds of people who contributed (and entrusted) their stories and experiences to our process, as well as to those who gave their time by showing up to witness and participate in the final production; and—as always, and as I wrote in my program bio—to “all people who ask big questions, engage with complexity, and challenge [me] to do the same.”

Images: Photos # 1, 2, 5, 11, and 12 courtesy of Free Street Theater, with aerial and most others by Alejandro Reyes. Photos #3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 by Agnotti Cowie. The images reflect different aspects of public shows outside the South Shore Cultural Center and in Humboldt Park. Most images depict scenes from the performance, including movement sections, monologues, and intercharacter conflicts, with some interactions appearing more humorous and others more serious. Other images show an impromptu cast photo and the colorful set from above.

[maryaspontlemus]

It's...happening! I'm honored to be a member of the team that devised—and will be performing in—Free Street Theater’s brand new show, Still/Here: Manifesting Joy and Survival. Here's the official description:

The apocalypse is here… but it’s not what you think. In a Chicago that is being rebuilt again and again, who is the city designed to serve? How does our city’s past predict our future? And what would our city look like if it were truly designed for all of its people? Part manifesto, part history lesson, part fever dream of the future, Still/Here invites audiences to imagine a more just and joyful Chicago. Still/Here is an original piece devised by a multigenerational, multicultural ensemble in conversation with Chicago communities over the course of a year.

The show is FREE and FAMILY-FRIENDLY and being performed in collaboration with the Chicago Park District's Night Out in the Parks:

Thursday, July 25th, 6pm @ South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Dr. (on the lawn behind the building)

Saturday, July 27th, 3pm @ Humboldt Park, 1301 N. Humboldt Dr. (near the boathouse by the lagoon)

Thursday, August 1st, 6pm @ Cornell Square Park, 1809 W. 50th St.

Saturday, August 3rd, 3pm @ Walsh Park, 1722 N. Ashland Ave.

All performances are outdoors; bring a blanket or whatever you need to be comfortable. The Cornell Square and Walsh Park shows will be ASL-interpreted.

Image description: Some sneak preview images that show the joy/justice juxta: The show’s promotional poster, me in a 50x50 performance of one of my many Still/Here roles (capitalist developer), and the Still/Here set. Middle image by Lena Jackson; others courtesy of Free Street.

[maryaspontlemus]

I'm excited to be a member of the core team that is devising Free Street Theater's 50th-anniversary show, Still/Here: A manifesto of joy and survival! Still/Here is an original production that celebrates community resilience and imagines a future for Chicago where all thrive. The show will be performed in Chicago Parks and other free public spaces this summer (dates TBA). As part of the devising process, our multigenerational, multicultural ensemble has been sharing personal stories, doing research, and considering broader questions like what survival has looked like over time, what the past can tell us about the future, what we should carry into the future and what we should leave behind. And, importantly: If we are to celebrate the joy of survival, how can we lift what we have lost and what is still here, as we demand a city that makes room for all of us? Our fearless leader Coya Paz once described her vision for the final production as "a party meets a protest," and somewhere in there will be a vibrant manifesto of love and resistance, informed not only by the ensemble members but also by our friends and neighbors (like you!) as well as people we meet through public workshops.

Our ask: At this stage in the process, each of us ensemble members is reaching out to folks we know to ask, quite simply, "What is still here?"—specifically, things in Chicago that you would want to hold onto, bring forward to the future (~Chicago in 50 years), be noticed or remembered or centered. If you have willingness and a few minutes, I'd love to hear your response and pass it along to the larger ensemble. I know this is a huge prompt and would happy to share examples or sample guidelines if that would be helpful.

Regardless, we’d love to see you out at a workshop this spring or a performance this summer!

Image description: The image shows white text against a purple-gradation background and reads: “Still Here / A manifesto of joy and survival. A community-devised project that reminds us of what we have left behind, and what we should carry into the future. July/August. Free!!! In parks across Chicago. Dates and locations TBD.” The Free Street logo is in the top left-hand corner, purple text against a white background. Image courtesy of Free Street Theater.

[itsyomike]

Looking up Free Street. . . . #freestreet #twilight #clouds #portlandmaine #portlandme #maine #streetphotography #maine #landscape #landscapephotography #urbanlandscape #photography #fineartphotography #photography #iphonography #iphoneography #iphonephotography #hipstamatic #hipstadreamers https://www.instagram.com/p/Bo2yMcZlACq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fzksdzg1o0ci