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"We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are." - Alan Rickman
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As winter approaches, Occupy can use theater to maintain protest
11:50 PM
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Ashley
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This was forwarded to me from Melissa at The Anthropologists (http://www.theanthropologists.org/). Check out their amazing theatre and join their mailing list so you can receive awesome e-mails that contain passages such as what you will read below. Related reading via You've Cott Mail:
Commentary: As winter approaches, Occupy can use theater to maintain protest
Benjamin Kabialis, The Berkeley Beacon [Emerson College newspaper] 11/10/11
During the Great Depression, a burgeoning population of workers' theater groups stamped on posters and playbills a common and empowering phrase: "Theater is a weapon." Theater welcomed the exuberance of material forged from the passions of deeply personal battles for workers' rights, and workers cultivated theater as a tool to raise class-consciousness. As American theater looks for the spark of revolution and Occupy Wall Street receives criticism for lack of direction, participants in both camps must take hold of this powerful partnership. Why does American theater dissolve while Occupy Wall Street bolsters its ranks? The latter is held together by a shared and deeply personal connection to the cause, while the former has become an institution completely out of touch with reality. Rather than an exploration of humanity, theater has become an exploration of theater. In colleges and universities actors study the craft of acting and playwrights study the writing of plays. The art form has become a sort of members-only party with no guiding principles outside those of economics. In several ways, Broadway's grandiose theaters, movie star performers, and steep ticket prices mirror the 1% of America's Wall Street. The Worker's Laboratory Theater, the Group Theater, and the Labor Stage were only a few of hundreds of troupes during the 1930s that proved theater could thrive without the resources or splendor of Broadway. Throughout the 1930s workers' movement, theater proved strongest when used as a tool for holding protest groups together. With winter approaching and harsh media criticism growing, Occupy Wall Street can use theater as a way of building community and maintaining a sense of passion in their own ranks.
Each year I sift through my collection of photos (I take a lot) and pull out my favorites. I posted 2010's album on facebook. This year I'm throwing them up on here. Special thanks to the people who appear in many of these photos: Project Girl Performance Collective, Co-Op Theatre East, Robert A. K. Gonyo, Ryan Victor Pierce, Dominique Fishback, Karen Vigo, Danielle Walker, Mariah MacCarthy, Michael Rehse, Anna Savant, Hannah Rose Barfoot, Lillian Rodriguez and many many more. I am aiming to get some more paid photo gigs in 2012, so if you like what you see here (or on my site) drop me a line.
Check out my photography website here: http://ashley-marinaccio.com/photographer/
OCTOBER: Peace Builders event at the United Nations where Project Girl performed. project Girls led conference participants in creating a banner where everybody wrote what they were going to do to be the "change" we wish to see in the world. 
JULY: Summer flower.
SEPTEMBER: Fall flowers.
MAY: Written on an abandoned restaurant in the West Village of NYC. I identified with this statement.
JULY: Ryan (who you'll meet in Part 2) took me to the Bronx Zoo on the hottest day of the year. It was 104 degrees and we only got halfway through the zoo until we couldn't take the heat anymore.
JULY: I took a site specific directing class in Central Park with ESPA (highly recommended all around). Here is a still shot from a scene I did with Dominique Fishback and Karen Vigo from Mariah MacCarthy's "Ampersand: Romeo and Juliet", which was one of the hottest shows in the 2011 Fringe Festival. I made a post about it over the summer.
JULY: Another Ampersand shot. 
DECEMBER: Occupy Broadway.
DECEMBER: Occupy Broadway. Danielle Walker performs as she's watched by members of the NYPD. 
NOVEMBER: From Project Girl Performance Collective's fall photo shoot. 
NOVEMBER: Another from Project Girl's fall photo shoot.
NOVEMBER: My all time favorite Project Girl photo.
SEPTEMBER: Central Park.
NOVEMBER: My "other" all time favorite Project Girl shot. I think I say this a lot. This was a good photo day.
AUGUST: Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, NY. 
OCTOBER: Production shot from Muzungu by David Myers at the Fourth Street Theatre.
OCTOBER: Catskills in New York. 
OCTOBER: Pumpkins in the Catskills, New York.
SEPTEMBER: Project Girl photo shoot. 
SEPTEMBER: Project Girls are active 24 hours a day! Here's Part 2:
OCTOBER: Project Girl Performance Collective's photo shoot. Project Girls are active 24 hours a day.
OCTOBER: My personal favorite from the Project Girl photo shoot.
OCTOBER: Yet another Project Girl shot. This was a good day. DUMBO is a great place to shoot. We got a ton of interesting photos. The rain had us sort of bummed out but it didn't stop us from having a good time.
SEPTEMBER: Ryan Victor Pierce. Focused. Hardworking. and Talented. I shot this during a rehearsal for Co-Op Theatre East (COTE) and Mixed Phoenix Theatre Group's production of "Muzungu". This night also happened to be a good photo night (some are better than others). I got some great shots of the actors and production crew but my favorite photos all just happened to be of Ryan. Coincidence? Methinks not. 
SEPTEMBER: Ryan also has a goofy side. See above. 
SEPTEMBER: Robert A. K. Gonyo - my fearless COTE partner in crime. Here he is directing the NY Premiere of "Muzungu" by David Myers. 
AUGUST: Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry
AUGUST: Dominique Fishback. Hands down one of the most brilliant writers and spoken word artists I know. She is a Project Girl and proud to be one of the original collective members. Dominique has been with Project Girl since 2008. She is currently a student at Pace University and getting ready to graduate next year. She will be taking the world by storm. I'll always be proud to say "I took her headshots way back when..." 
AUGUST: More Dominique. We took these in East New York (Dom's hood).
AUGUST: Is she photogenic or what?
AUGUST: Book this girl for print work right now!
AUGUST: Hurricane Irene comes (and goes). I walked through Harlem trying to get some interesting "hurricane" shots and came up with a more iconic image.
AUGUST: That's my street! 
SEPTEMBER: Co-Op Theatre East debuts a performance workshop series at the Looking Glass Theatre free of charge for participants as part of our mission to make theatre training accessible.
AUGUST: Eve of Irene. Two fishermen in Battery Park City attempt to catch fish before the mandatory evacuation of the area due to storm surge. 
OCTOBER: "Muzungu" poster art. This was the "money shot" from COTE and MPTG's production of "Muzungu" by David Myers. This was reproduced on hundreds of posters and thousands of postcards.
FEBRUARY: Co-Op Theatre East's production of Trojan Women Redux at Looking Glass Theatre, adapted and directed by Casey Cleverly. This features another brilliant talent, Lillian Rodriguez. Should I mention she is also Project Girl alum? 
FEBRUARY: Anna and Hannah (as Hecuba and Cassandra). I seem to think I have another photo of them in a similar hold from another COTE show a year back...
FEBRUARY: Anna and Hannah in Trojan Women Redux. One of my favorite elements of this show was the use of the video projections on the broken brick wall screen (you can see it in the back). 
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