Annie Hoeg and Thea Mae Hesler in You Must Change Your Life | Photo by Drew Berry
Okay. I’d like to say I tried with this one, but did I? Could I? Would it matter if I had? Would I even know? And what does it mean to try to connect to a work of art? Listening more intently? Watching more diligently? Blocking out my own thoughts? Letting my mind fully wander? Should I have done more research into the work of Richard Foreman?
I’m onboard for theatre artists to shake up convention. I can appreciate Dada, I guess, but it’s not my jam. The cut-up method (chopping text up and rearranging it) makes sense to me as a process, not an end in itself. The craft for me is in the rearrangement having some discernible purpose. I haven’t seen Foreman’s work, but reading a little about him gives me some clues as to how creator-director Ilana Khanin, with You Must Change Your Life, has crafted something in his spirit. At the end of the day, that purpose and meaning can be my own projection, I can dig that, but I was at a loss here. Continue Reading