Lisa: Widening the Scope

We are reaching the “official” end point of this exchange, but only because the grant says it all wraps up March 31.  The reality is, PearlDamour is really looking forward to seeing Haymaker this June when we are in Milton for the Street Art Fair.  And of course continuing the conversation as we continue to make work over the years.

It has certainly been an interesting arc!  We met Haymaker when they were in the throes of running their own company, collaborating with Man Bites Dog Theater on a Jeff Jones play, and producing work in progress showings of their latest work, Elektra.  We met them when we passed through Durham, performing HOW TO BUILD A FOREST at Duke.  We felt an immediate kinship with them, and since we would be coming back to NC quite a bit because of MILTON, a NET exchange seemed like a perfect idea.

And you know, it really was…..but weirdly I feel like over the course of our nearly-year-long exchange, the conversation morphed form being about audience to being about burn out.  Haymaker was putting tons of pressure on themselves to keep churning out new work while working full time jobs.  PearlDamour was putting tons of pressure on ourselves to manage a show (MILTON) that wound up being WAY larger in its reach than we had realized when we first came up with the idea.  My the New Orleans portion of our exchange — during which Haymaker performed a draft of a new show twice — we all had a bit of a deer-in-headlights look in our eyes — how to manage the art, the admin, the self care and of course The AUDIENCE.

For Haymaker, the only real solution was to pause and take a breath for a couple of months.  Elektra has been around for 100s of years.  She could wait just a few more months for Haymaker to collect themselves, and make art from a place of clarity and great energy.

For PearlDamour, the big move was to REALLY start taking one step at a time.  There was no way, with the time and resources we have right now, to make and tour a show to all five Miltons in a single summer.  To do so would likely mean shoddy work, and definitely mean pushing ourselves to the ragged ends of our energy.  Instead, we decided focus on ONE Milton this summer, with the plan to push forward to the other four in 2015.  Doing this allows us to invest tons of right effort into Milton, NC, AND help us streamline a plan as to how to effectively, yes, engage with this community filled (mostly) with people who have never seen anything like our work before.

Two companies, two threshold moments.  And in each case, the answer seemed to be:  take a moment to breathe, then take one step at a time.  You may not know what happens next, but taking it slow at this moment will help prepare you to receive it.

TO EMILY, IN RESPONSE TO HER POST:  Yes, Milton Street Fair in June.  And yes, this was / is our experiment to see how this tiny town can begin to accept us as collaborators, as fellow seekers.   Katie and I plan to be leading cloud making workshops and showing video of our work right down the street from someone doing a blacksmith demo.  Many worlds, layering together.  Wonder what audience will result?

More posts for sure, even after this “official” end…