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TITLE OF SHOW: Tree Whispers LENGTH OF SHOW: 60-minutes INTERMISSION none required THEME [describe in one sentence]: That all communication is refracted, reflected and indirect; that each one of us is in his or her own time-capsule, and we have only words and movement to get outside ourselves, to reach out to another human being. CONTENT [brief description]: This was the first show in which Robert Greenwood [actor] and Dana Luebke [dancer] created a new format for their presentations. Instead of alternating pieces of theatre with dances, they completely overlaid them, inventing a wholeness, a multi-layered, multi-faceted collage of theatre/dance which reflected and refracted the communicational values and meanings of the individual pieces because of seemingly unrelated or disconnected events, ideas and movements happening simultaneously. Bob portrays a dozen or so characters, all of who cannot communicate their needs and wants directly, while Dana dances throughout the pieces, weaving a constant and twisting rhythm of movement pieces and styles which embellish, enhance, distract and reduce communication to essentials. GOAL [the purpose of this show]: To give some idea of the complexity and the raw need for real communication and what its lack does to all of us. POINT OF VIEW OF ARTISTS: Bob was in a park in Edinburgh, Scotland, during the Festival one year and happened to be in an outdoor restaurant when he saw a woman talking animately and with great passion – to a tree – ergo: TREE WHISPERS. The image and the human situation was so compelling that he immediately started creating the next year’s Festival presentation. Working like Cage and Cunningham, Bob and Dana created their works around the them, but completely apart and separately until just two days before the premiere of the piece when they brought them together, finished and polished – and watching themselves on videotape – selected the order and sequences and overlays that provoked the most thought. CLASSIFICATION: Festival and Adult, parental guidance suggested. PRESENTATION [skills used to present show]: The stage is open. A stretched, white curtain hangs at the back of the stage. This is used as a frontal projection screen for hundreds of images of trees, leaves, branches and roots that play throughout the piece. Down stage left there are two white chairs, placed back to back. A newspaper is the only prop. Dana dances in cut-off green tights. Bob is dressed in green pants and a simple, short-sleeved, light-green shirt. Both are barefoot. From one inarticulate scream from the dancers, from an opening pantomime of the woman talking to the tree and the confusion of her emotions, the characters pour onto the stage in a tirade of voices, movements and emotions. Some of the characters are pathetic, some hilarious – none can communicate what they really need to say; and the dance goes on and on, ending in a small, simple love song, the only music in the entire piece. TARGET AUDIENCE: Festival and Adult audiences who really want to think, who don’t mind being jarred, who demand more of themselves and the arts than is usually thought of as entertainment. CAST: Robert Greenwood (actor) and [Mr.] Dana Luebke (dancer-actor) WHERE SHOW HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY PERFORMED OR WORLD PREMIERE, ETC.: TREE WHISPERS premiered in Edinburgh at the prestigious EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE and the SWANSEA FESTIVAL FRINGE. The production has since played in Calgary, in Montreal at Tangente in the FESTIVAL DES HOMMES, in Windsor, Ontario, at the INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM FESTIVAL and for the MID-PENNINE ARTS ASSOCIATION in England. REFERENCES FOR SHOW:
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