Azuka’s Spotlight Series Opens with “An Artist’s Workshop” - P.A.W. Print

The Azuka Theatre Collective opened its Spotlight Series with the world premiere of An Artist's Workshop, on May 20. Written and directed by Raelle Myrick-Hodges, the play is the conceptual oeuvre of movement artist Alden Moore.


	Sara Valentine as Friedl Dicker-Brandeis and Miriam Hymen as Fran Seede

Concerning the tale of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, a real life Holocaust victim who taught art classes at Terezin (a concentration camp developed by the Nazis for propaganda purposes), Hodges’ script is partly flashback. In the present, Fran Seede, a fictional African-American film maker, who is practicing her art in the present day, is likewise positioned within a world where conditions are hostile. Creating co-existing narratives, Myrick-Hodges said, "was a difficult task.”

“But [it was] worth the opportunity of create something new,” she added. Myrick-Hodges’ contribution to the Spotlight Series is part of Azuka’s ongoing cultivation of new plays, through the staging of free public readings of works considered for full production by the theatre. The splitting of protagonist identity was developed during this reading process. A staged reading, produced by Azuka, occurred at Plays and Players Theatre on Delancey Street in 2003.

“I wasn't trying to make a parallel between two female artists…” continued Myrick-Hodges. “But I was trying to create an environment, producing-wise, where possibilities could be developed."

Hanging in the lobby of St. Stephen’s Theatre were samples of the art work composed by the children of Terezin. The program contained a history of Terezin, listing the tragic circumstances under which Dicker-Brandeis and her students worked. On stage we see the world of the Jewish prisoners unfold, not just in sorrow. There are moments of lovers, the rebellion of the young boys who have a satiric radio show mocking conditions of the camp, the bonding of the children, and Dicker-Brandeis’ declaration that doing art "gives hope."

Likewise, in Fran's modern world, actors portray the visions the filmmaker presented in her films. While Fran does not find great success, she does find love in a former boyfriend, Cody, who tries to understand her following a period of separation. It is Cody who finally is inspired by her to make a film at the conclusion of the evening.

Sara Valentine who plays Dicker-Brandeis, has appeared in several Philadelphia Productions, as well as performing with theatres in Minneapolis and Milwaukee. Fran is played by Marian Hyman who has been seen on many Philadelphia stages.

The Azuka Theatre Collective was formed out of a meeting of like-minded artists in 1997 during a program at the Arden Theatre. Its first production as Azuka took place in 1999.

Alden Moore, after conceiving, An Artist’s Workshop, said she set her sights on Azuka, a group, which she explained was able to take on the challenge of producing her drama.

"I knew I could not do this alone,” Moore said. “I needed a theatre company that would be brave enough to risk producing an original piece that would combine movement with text, and have a large enough cast to perform the chorus work." In preparation for its full-fledged production this year, there were several, evolving steps that included a staged reading at Plays and Players by Azuka in 2003.

The changing of costumes and the moving of a few minimalist set pieces suggested the alteration between the two worlds about which Myrick-Hodges wrote. A scrim at rear stage and the adroit simulation of the positioning of windows and doors by the lighting director heightened certain moments in the piece. Masks and music were combined to punctuate Moore’s story with a few surreal interludes.

Although Dicker-Brandeis died in Auschwitz, her fate was not revealed in the play, which closed on June 6. However, her insistence of following her husband "to the east," suggests her death. Her legacy of art, letters, and the drawings by her students are what survives of her time at Terezin.

Information and reservations regarding future productions by Azuka and the Spotlight Series can be found by telephoning the Azuka Theatre Collective at (215) 733-0255 or visiting its website at www.azukatheatre.org.