A MULTI-MEDIA PROJECT BY MAIA STAM
NARRATIVE AND CHARACTER
The community longs for rain.
The “narrative” of the piece is simple, but deliberate. My hope in the creation of this piece is that each audience member will have a slightly different interpretation of the piece and its symbolism, but recognize the basic elements of the piece. The piece opens on a community desperate for rain. Dead birds fall from the sky, and the community is filled with confusion and fear. Then, the rainmaker enters and takes the dead birds away, leaving the community confused, but tantalized by the idea of a strange savior. Having claimed the community’s attention, the rainmaker suggests that he can bring rain if the community raises their voices to the sky together, coaxing the rain from the clouds. The plan fails, and the rainmaker is driven away. The community returns to its former state, renewed by its communal effort to overcome the empty promises of the rainmaker. One community member, “the follower,” however, is so deeply effected by the rainmaker’s presence and departure that she cannot rejoin the community. Without the support of her peers, she suffers and collapses to the ground.
Again, the rainmaker enters surreptitiously, and leaves swiftly after healing the follower. The two then re-enter together, sprinkling glittering “seeds” on the dry ground. The follower passes the seeds to her peers, and some accept them and follow her, while other reject them. Those who reject the seeds become rigid in their movement and lose contact with one another. The followers scatter their seeds together and wait patiently for their magical effects to take place. After a short time, rain comes, and the followers revel in the rain. Still unconvinced of the magic at work, the non-believers refuse to acknowledge their fellow community members. After dancing joyously in the rain, the followers fall down, exhausted. The non-believers, still stiff and firm in their position, return to their original place of desperation and need
.Though the piece is based in thematic material from “Stalker,” its loose narrative and characters are original. Through improvisation and reflection, my cast was encouraged to create their own unique characters within the “community.” Throughout the process, I read quotes from “Stalker” and other related materials to my cast to invoke the sense of each section and allow the cast to create characters based in the themes of the piece. The cast formed a natural community by working together on the piece for a full year, and natural characters came out from the dancer’s individual styles and interpretations of the theme.
I knew when I cast only one male in cast of thirteen dancers that the male character would stand out, and I looked for ways to make this character deliberately different from the rest of the community. My solution was to make him the catalyst for changes in the community. Following “Stalker’s” narrative, the male character became a human equivalent to the mysterious room - ominous and potentially dangerous, but with the potential for supernatural power. I call this character the “rain-maker,” as his leadership over he community hinges upon his claims to be able to bring rain. As I developed this character, I found that his effect on the community could be made most clear through solo and duet material. Having the focus on individual characters and their interactions allowed me to make more clear and concise statements than I could with the whole cast dancing together. A single female character, dubbed “the follower,” became the instigator of change within the community. The rainmaker’s presence affects the follower first, whose devotion to the rainmaker inspires other followers after her.
The rainmaker interacts with the community members.