I was first introduced to The TEAM a few years ago when I caught ARCHITECTING at P.S. 122, and what I remember distinctly was that about twenty minutes in, I had the serious urge to leave at intermission. I knew it was a long show and I didn’t think I was going to make it.
Then something happened. I can’t even recall what it was. I recall seeing the beautiful choreography of an arm in synch with achingly effective music just beneath it, I recall having the title ARCHITECTING slowly begin to place itself inside my imagination, and before long I was watching with the abandon exhilaration one has when they discover an artistic voice they simply cannot believe they are just now coming round to.
And so I have followed The TEAM’s work since then and have seen several developmental showings of MISSION DRIFT; from Brooklyn to Governor’s Island to the old Ohio and finally here to the COIL Festival. And while I wouldn’t want to color anybody else’s experience with my own impressions of the work they do, I can just only say how touched I am to watch artists pushing their craft with such fervor through exploration upon exploration in search of something heartbreaking, infuriating, beautiful, honest, and not stop until they get there.
When they started this project it was simply called “American Capitalism Project,” and I remember being curiously excited to see how they would delve into such a topic. I imagined something taking place today, perhaps in the high-tensioned board rooms, skyscraper buildings, or even among the unemployment offices. So when I realized that the Las Vegas project they were developing was the same piece, I could only wag my tail that they had taken their investigation to perhaps the most ridiculous centers of American capitalism (granted, I LOVE Vegas, I’m ridiculously happy when I’m there. And I go often).
For me, what MISSION DRIFT has become is a time and an example of a theatre company at their most muscular, tackling what theatre should be tackling: not only the faults of the world we live in, but how we came upon those faults to begin with. While so many artists are content to tell us stories and then cleanly wrap them up as either injustice or heartwarming, The TEAM isn’t satisfied until the audience can watch how they landed at the truths in their work and the steps it took to get there.
MISSION DRIFT takes us from contemporary Las Vegas, back through its origins; further back through American history until we land in 1624 Amsterdam, and then back again. Following two interconnected stories of two couples, we navigate through time and the characters’ discovery of ownership; watching how the simple want of family and purpose is so intricately tied to the gargantuan need of more than we should have.
And though we travel from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam, through the frontier, and out west, then back again, we do so to the hauntingly remarkable musical atmosphere of Heather Christian, whose captivating voice and magnetic performance as Miss Atomic paints a smoky, lush tone to the entire journey.
Interspersed with her songs, we bob and weave along with the performers as we watch them struggle with their own place and fault in the monetary construct that is Las Vegas and profit. Director Rachel Chavkin illuminates this unstable journey by moving us between story lines sometimes seemingly haphazardly, until not only the characters, but the performers begin to bleed into one another.
At certain points the performers will pull away from the world, even if just for a single line, to address their fellow performer. And acting as a guide of sorts, Miss Atomic treats the world as though it is a cabaret-style lounge in one of the downtown Vegas casinos, often talking at the characters, almost as if she is controlling them. A device that is later broken, as the luster of Las Vegas begins to be revealed as a place that is continually imploding on its own appetite. This is executed with poignancy as a Native American (Ian Lassiter) delivers a speech not quite understanding the human right to “boundless growth.”
At a full two hours with no intermission, MISSION DRIFT is a piece that is not afraid to challenge its audiences to be actively engaged in the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of what is onstage. There isn’t always an orderly narrative or even clearly defined reason for what we are experiencing. Often with the draw of the music underneath these characters placed in this strangely familiar world, I could only grin to myself. Exactly what I want the theatre to do to me: take me someplace I don’t know how to get to on my own.
MISSION DRIFT
written by The TEAM (Theatre of the Emerging American Moment) in collaboration with Heather Christian and Sarah Gancher
music by Heather Christian with musicians Gabe Gordon and Matt Bogdanow
performed by Heather Christian, Amber Gray, Brian Hastert, Libby King, Ian Lassiter, Lucy Kendrick Smith
as part of Performance Space 122’s 2012 COIL Festival
Thru January 29.
For more information: http://www.ps122.org/performances/mission_drift.html.
Matthew Paul Olmos was recently selected by Sam Shepard as the inaugural awardee of La MaMa ETC’s Ellen Stewart Emerging Playwright Award; he is a Sundance Institute Fellow, two-time Resident Artist at Mabou Mines/Suite, lifetime member at Ensemble Studio Theatre, terraNOVA Groundbreaker Playwright and current Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange where he is developing his absurdist comedy MONKEY, to be presented in April 2012. He is currently writing a 3-play cycle on the U.S/México drug wars entitled SO GO THE GHOSTS OF MÉXICO. And will present a new work at La MaMa ETC in spring 2013. www.matthewpaulolmos.com.
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