Courtin’ the Spark: Inspirations from Joni Mitchell is the course production for our summer adult performance ensemble class. It’s a theatrical exploration of the music of Joni Mitchell, iconic composer, painter, and storyteller whose work influenced and informed our culture from the 1970’s to the present day. Directed by Clint Thornton and Bryan Mercer, who created the successful performance events The Unexpected Showcase, The Letts Fest, and Into the Works: The Dynamics of Stephen Sondheim, this performance class exposes students to the rich, expansive scope of Mitchell’s melodies, harmony and lyrics, while allowing participants to discover new depths of their own talent and cultural reference. Artists will learn new techniques in conveying meaning through the musical line, as well as accessing truth and authenticity in lyrics as they pertain to the artist’s own life experience and the cultural dynamic in which they find themselves.
We had a chance to talk with one of the creators, Bryan Mercer, for a quick interview on this new work:
Q. Why Joni Mitchell?
A. From the age of 14 I had her on 8-track. She was a voice I grew up with thinking I understood all the lyrics at the time. My, how they’ve changed. I was always attracted to the poetry, the insight and very unusual musical phrasing, not quite jazz, not quite folk. We, (Clint and I), wanted to choose a composer that was NOT a theatre composer and Joni has certainly withstood the test of time.
Q. What makes this piece unique from others you have directed in the past?
A. Last year was a Sondheim workshop which attracted a very different group of students, actors and musicians who were already out there auditioning, performing and working. The Joni Mitchell project has attracted people of more variety and interests. Sondheim writes for others, Joni writes for herself. We’re looking at the music of Joni with great respect without trying to create a museum piece or imitation of her. But how do you theatricalize her music? How do you make it your own in a theatre setting using groups, duets, trios, rounds. Clint has created a coffee house setting based on her start as a performer, from there, each performer has layered on a persona, archetype, character or general characteristic to further inform the choices of interpretation and therefore movement. The poetry of each song creates its own unique landscape of meaning and interaction. Then we just find what’s true.
Q. What do you hope students and audiences will take away from this performance?
A. A renewed appreciation of her poetry, the stunning creativity of melody and musical line as well as triggering those memories from where we first heard these tunes. It’s a dream in which we think we know what it means but are not quite sure. Her music can carry such mixed emotions. Her happiest sounding music can bring up some very dense pain and a new exploration of that territory is needed to further create and to heal.
Performances begin tonight! June 21, 7:30p; June 22, 7:30p; June 23, 7:30p; June 24, 2:30p; June 28, 7:30p; June 29, 7:30p; June 30, 7:30p; July 1, 2:30pm
Click here for tickets
Watch a sneak peek of Bryan and the cast of Courtin the Spark from a recent rehearsal:
Alliance Theatre Blog 