The Water Station
Directed by Julia Devine
Featuring movement by Jess Bouharevich
Creative Tech by Lauren Zito and film by Robin Lasser
A play without words.
Migrants on a journey.
CAST
Child ...................................................... Maxx Preston
Two Men ……………….............................. Nicholas Alkobi& Aaron Reneau II
Woman with a Parasol ...….................... Arisa Izumi
Man in the Trash ................................... Owl Merle
Woman with a Cart .............................. Jessica Rigby
Woman with a Plastic Bag .................... Amy Ward
The Caravan .......................................... CARAVAN6: Jess Bouharevich, Mark Friedman, Nicole Babu, Megan McCullough, Amelia Gervais
Two People ............................................ Philo Yunrui Wang & Zaniah Smalls
Person with a Huge Load on Back …..... Lauren Zito
Live from the Cardboard ….................... Henry Gelber
CREATIVE TEAM
Director ................................................. Julia Devine
Set Design............................................. Erika Guay, Olivia Davis, Julia Devine and CFS Courses "Creativity for Life" & "Fashion and Sustainability"
Water Station Design ........................... Kim Hartshorn
Video & Projections .............................. Robin Lasser, Lauren Zito & Jack Byrnes
Costumes ........................................…… Cast & The Costume Shop
Props ….................................................. Olivia Davis & Erika Guay
Sound Design ….................................…. Julia Devine & Jack Byrnes
Original Music ...................................... Henry Gelber
Choreographer for the Caravan ........... Jess Bouharevich
CREW
Stage Manager ...................................... Lydya Felix
Technical Director ................................. Ben Wright
Assistant Stage Manager .................... Suzanne Tracy
Projection & Sound Operators ............. Jack Byrnes
Production Manager ............................ Margaret Swick
Costume Shop Manager …................... Erika Guay
SPECIAL THANKS
Marguerite Perreta and RobinLasser, Tonya Cribb, Edith Ellis, Walter Early, Aude Lochet, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, Ausable Freshwater Center, Kim Hartshorn, Benjamin Wright, Erika Guay, Margaret Swick, Shawna Mefferd-Kelty, Dwayne T. Butchino, Lauren Zito, Xavier "Gibby" and the Campus Thrift Store, THE390 Students, Students from CFS Courses: "Creativity for Life" and "Fashion and Sustainability", Cinara Marquis, Hunter Martin, Anna McShane, Diane Fine, Kimberly Hall-Stone, Art and Music Faculty, Everyone who donated shoes and life preservers.
Thanks to College Auxiliary Services and the Alumni Association for co-sponsoring our opening night reception.
SOURCES
"The stars in the head(Dark Lights Remix)" and "A Dream of Water" b y Colin Stetson, "Ice Ships Weep" by Robin Lasser.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
The Water Station is a play without words about migrants on a journey in search of sustenance, safety, stablilty, love, or meaning. They all encounter a broken tap of running water, and sometimes each other, in the course of their travels. Where they are going and where they are coming from is unknown. Each traveler or group of travelers bas a reason for their Journey.
The playwright Ōta Shōgo was one of the leading contemporary playwrights and directors of Japanese theatre. He pioneered the "Thuatre of Silence." Ōta Shōgo said. The desire to stage living silence is the desire to act out the un-paraphrasable realm of experience." The first staging of The Water Station premiered in Tokyo in 1981 The production's set, sound, and movement were documented and published in 1990. Our performance references this document but creates a new version inspired by the exhibition Climate's Shipwreck Ballad by Robin Lasser and Transmutation Traces by Marguerite Perret, You can see Robin's Ice Ships Weep films projected on the walls of the Sculpture Court. Instead of listening to Satie and Albinani in Shōgo's production, you'll hear new sounds live from the cardboard-in addition to music by the experimental saxophonist Colin Stetson.
Throughout the rehearsal process, these committed performers created their own characters and reasons for their Journeys: climate disasters, the migrant crisis, refugees, war, shipwrecks, runaways, pilgrimages, and waste (both physical and electronic).
According to the International Rescue Committee, "Every minute conflict and disaster force 20 people to flee their homes, often with mere seconds to make impossible choices about what to bring with them on a Journey of unknown length to an unknown destination.*
Heraclitus said, "Nothing la permanent except change." Our places are temporary. In some way, we are all pilgrims on this earth. How do we sustain each other and those to come along the way? How do we sustain and share our natural resources? Left with questions, we are called to action.
Working on this piece connected me to a unique group of students, faculty, staff, artists, and community members. The process was a true sharing of resources and I'm grateful for chese collaborations.
Thank you for stopping here on your collective Journeys.
Julia
ARTIST'S NOTES
I love that The Water Station is interpreted in conversation with Climate's Shipwreck Ballad and Transmutation Traces, the exhibition currently installed in the Burke Gallery located near the Nina Winkel Sculpture Court where this play comes to life!
The Water Station brings new meaning to the Ice Ships Weep fims now mapped onto the architectural space surrounding the sculpture court. The fusion of films, architecture, and cast of characters transform this place into a memorial / temple embracing migrants on a journey towards social and environmental change.
This collaboration is a dream come true for me. Art and theatre collide making magic together! A wordless love letter in the time of climate change.
Yours in art and community,
Robin Lasser
PBS:
Art and Drama Take a Deep Dive into Lake Champlain
Press Republican:
Disparate Travelers Find Their Way to the Water Station
Lake Champlain Weekly:
The Water Station
Cardinal Points:
The Water Station’s wordless wayfarers