Interview: AMERYKA's Nancy Keystone's Constantly Creating Cultural Conversation

Critical Mass Performance Group's AMERYKA has been chosen as the next production of this year's Center Theatre Group's second annual BLOCK PARTY running April 19 through April 29, 2018 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Utilizing CMPG's signature blending of movement, image and text, AMERYKA picturesquely illustrates the various parallels of the United States and Poland's political histories.

We had the opportunity to talk to Nancy Keystone, CMPG's founding artistic director, and director and co-writer of AMERYKA, as she rhapsodizes on all things cultural, critical and collaborative.

Thank you for taking your time out for this interview, Nancy!

Thank YOU for your interest!

What was your initial reaction when you found out AMERYKA was selected for CTG's BLOCK PARTY 2018?

We were absolutely thrilled! BLOCK PARTY is an incredibly generous program from CTG, and an incredible opportunity for us to re-visit AMERYKA, with the support that comes with a production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. We are so excited to be able to share the piece with a bigger audience.

Will there be any tweaks from your 2016 production to your upcoming Kirk Douglas one?

We're always working to make the piece better, so, of course. This production gives us the opportunity to look at it anew. We've been sharpening story and characters, and connecting more dots. And, of course, because of the amazing support of CTG, we will be able to expand the production values!

Any particular audience reaction from your production at Shakespeare Festival of Los Angeles surprised you or threw you for a loop?

We were excited that the show connected with so many different people. We had a really diverse audience in every area, and the piece resonated in so many different ways with people. That was the most surprising thing!

Was there a specific incident that sparked your creation and six years of development of AMERYKA?

I have a catalogue of Polish posters of Western movies (Western Amerykanski: Polish Poster Art and the Western, edited by Kevin Mulroy). I went to Poland in 2009, and when I got home, I was looking through that catalogue and saw a picture of a very important 1989 Solidarity election poster. It features a black and white photograph of Gary Cooper as Sheriff Will Kane from the 1957 film High Noon. Kane wears the red Solidarity logo above his Sheriff's star, and instead of a gun, he's holding an election ballot. There's a large Solidarity logo across the top, and, at the bottom, the words: "At high noon, June 4, 1989." When I saw it, I was struck by questions of how this supremely iconic (and old) American image could hold such power for the people of Poland, and what this could mean about the relationship of Poland with the U.S. That was the spark that ignited our project.

As the writer of AMERYKA, do you ever 'finalize' your script? Or do you allow improv or new adjustments with new productions?

The script is never finished. There's no script when we begin--just mounds of research. Together as an ensemble, we devise the piece. The actors contribute a lot to the creation. There is a lot of improvisation--though not really in the way most people think about improv. It's very organic, and involves a lot of non-verbal, physical explorations. I bring in text - sometimes found text, sometimes things I write - and we explore different ways of creating scenarios with the text, depending on what it is (it could be a poem, a government document, an interview transcript, a speech, a scene that I create). The actors contribute to every aspect of the production.

Could you walk us through the various steps CMPG goes through in developing a production?

We are interested in doing what can only be done in the theatre, to explode the poetic and intellectual potential of the medium. Therefore, our process supports the questioning, digging, experimentation, risk-taking and evaluation, which (hopefully) help us discover the most compelling ways of telling the story, and the rigor required to perform it. The "writing" of the piece entails much more than text on a page. We develop the work on our feet, through ensemble collaboration, over several years. This allows us to sketch layers of ideas, which gain complexity and depth through multiple workshops. The process builds on the unique abilities and experiences of each participant, empowering the collective as much as the individual. Each workshop phase is roughly five weeks, and includes a presentation of the work-in-progress. Each phase of development consists of the following steps:

1) RESEARCH of source material is the foundation upon which the piece is built. This encompasses collective learning, discussion and imagining about the subject and the creative possibilities for the piece, and is on-going throughout the process. I provide the research material, all meant for us to steep ourselves as completely as possible in the subject through reading, film/video screening, listening to music, looking at images, guest speakers, occasional field trips, etc. People are expected to have read the material and be prepared to discuss it. It's a very open forum. People say what was interesting/astonishing/boring, etc. to them. There's a lot of brainstorming about what material might be particularly useful for the piece. We share ideas about different characters, images and scenarios that might be in the piece, as well as, theatrical possibilities. We meet at my house (usually two, three times a week), and it's pretty social. We have food. We laugh a lot, and generally get the juices flowing. The ensemble gets deeply invested in the piece through this process, and it's quite an education for all of us. I continue to give more research throughout the workshop period. The material is the basis for the piece, much of what ends up on stage comes directly out of the research, so it's extremely important.

2) LABORATORY transforms the research material into a theatrical event. I think of my role as writing the foundation of the piece through exercises for the actors. This evolution entails extensive physical and vocal training to build strength, endurance, agility, precision and ensemble unity. Early exercises and improvisations are very abstract - there are no assigned roles, no script, very little text. It's meant to activate the muscles and nerves; to process all that research through muscles, nerves and intuition; to find our way into the particular psychological and physical conditions of the piece. Later work involves development of specific characters and situations, and the creation of both non-verbal and text-based sequences. I bring in found text which we analyze, deconstruct and reconstruct into scenes or sequences. I also bring in scenes and speeches that I write, and then it's shaped (or jettisoned!) through collaboration with the actors. The piece is created as an organic whole, as designers participate in the workshops, and design elements are built into the piece and continuously refined.

3) PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS of work-in-progress are the culmination of each workshop phase. Presentations are fully staged with design and technical elements. Sharing the work is an important extension of our ensemble process. We perform at different sites to engage with different communities. We learn a lot about what we're trying to do from the response we get.

4) EVALUATION of the work-in-progress and feedback. This is really on-going. Often we'll harken back to some feedback from several workshops ago. It might hit us in a new way after several months or years, and we might find a solution that had eluded us previously. As with all creative processes, it's a constant shifting back and forth between creation and evaluation.

Who has final say in creative decisions - Nancy Keystone the playwright? Or Nancy Keystone the director? Surely, Nancy Keystone the scenic designer must defer to both director and playwright, right?

I'm a scenic designer only for my own work. The design is created as part of the whole conceptualization of the piece. The writer and director take turns making decisions. It's always about how to tell a story in the most clear, compelling, and theatrical way.

What was the first theatrical career you pursued? (writing, directing, scenic design)

I wanted to be an actor for most of my younger life, until I started directing in college.

Is that when the tiny embryo of what was to become Critical Mass Performance Group started germinating in your brain?

In college, I was inspired to create an ensemble based on European models (Jerzy Grotowski, Ariane Mnouchkine/Theatre du Soleil, Peter Brook). I consider the beginning of the company to be an independent production of Brecht's BAAL, at UCLA during my senior year. In the early days, we focused on re-interpretations of classic plays and non-traditional performance spaces. My intentions with the ensemble have been consistent over the years: long-term, collaborative development of work - new/devised, and adaptations and re-interpretations of classic texts--with an ensemble of actors and designers.

What criteria do you look for in selecting a piece for yourself and/or CMPG to take on?

Relevance, and theatrical possibility. Does the piece add to the cultural conversation? Does it have compelling questions at its core? Can it sustain our interest for a period of time? These sorts of things.

How would you describe the state of the L.A. theatre community today as compared to 1985 when you started CMPG?

It's bigger, more diverse, and has made a bit more of a mark on the national consciousness. Still the same challenges, however - space, funding, recognition, audience attendance.

What is in the near future for Nancy Keystone the playwright/director?

I'm in the process of developing a new piece in collaboration with Cornerstone Theater Company and Critical Mass Performance Group, and the community of Jordan Downs Housing Project in Watts. It's about the theme of change.

I'm also working on two new pieces with Critical Mass--one is an adaptation of both IPHIGENIA IN AULIS and IPHIGENIA IN TAURUS. The other, I'm not ready to talk about yet!

And for Nancy Keystone the scenic designer?

I'll be the designer of the works I'm doing with CMPG.

With what feelings would you like the Kirk Douglas audience to leave with after AMERYKA's curtain call?

I hope people have questions about the history we've been taught, as well as, about the mythologies of the United States. I'd like it if people felt inspired to learn more, and to use their power as citizens to search for the truth. To participate more in our democracy. To resist forces of oppression and injustice. I'd also like it if people felt like they were entertained and had a good time!

Thank you again, Nancy. I'm most anxious to visit your AMERYKA!

Thank you so much! And great questions!

For ticket availability and schedule through April 29, 2018; log onto www.CenterTheatreGroup.org

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