Roblin Davis

The Audience Laughs at the Clown - The Bouffon Laughs at the Audience

Hey folks. Glad to be home in Juneau as the First Folio is on display at the new State Museum and Theatre in the Rough is in the midst of making Juneau, AK the only city to read the entire First Folio aloud while it's in town! Hazzah. I am returning from two incredible workshops at my new favorite retreat, the Celebration Barn, in Maine. I was fortunate enough to attend thanks to the Juneau Arts and Humanities Individual Artist Grant program.

The Bouffon and the Ecstasy of Mocking with Giovanni Fusetti was a powerful journey into the ancient human energy of parody. An extraordinary pedagogue, Giovanni took us into a deep remembering (to put memories into the body once again) of the joyful passion of mocking our fragile lives. The fantastic creative energy that can be generated by a cohort of artists opening to the heated flow of improvisation was restorative.

Spymonkey's Creating Clown Material with Aitor Basauri was equally challenging and rewarding. Another deep examination of the performer's power to create visions for an audience to dream. Though this work opened more questions for me as to where I go next, paired with the bouffon workshop I have been renewed and coagulated - inspired for the next level of creative work and the next projects!

Celebration Barn
Celebration Barn

On my way

Hey, everyone! Thanks for all the support and assists and conversations. I'm excited to be heading back to Rhode Island for to finish this Sans Everything...that is the title of the show. If any Alaskans will be back East in March, we will be in lovely Providence March 3-6 at AS220 and in Boston at the Charlestown Working Theatre March 10-12. Even though my gps is saying this photo was taken in 'Inner Mongolia', I'm pretty sure it is just the international cloudspace outside the Alaska Airlines window on the way to Seattle.

And thanks to the great State of Alaska for helping pay to get me on this flight and create new performances. I get my own tag line in the program, too: "Roblin Gray Davis is supported, in part, by a grant from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts."

Be well.

Tenakee Springs!

Hooray! About 1/2 of the population of the remote town of Tenakee Springs came to our show July 12th. It was an intimate performance at the community center followed by the warmth and hospitality of good local desserts and conversation.

The small float plane ride out and back from Juneau was as exciting as the community hot springs was soothing.

Big thanks to Chris and Darius Mannino for their generosity, great food and hospitality!

One person's stupor is another person's reverie.

I don't remember exactly how I came across this idea - sometime while ruminating about enlightenment in a museum gallery and the long hours of alone-time guards must experience while working - but I thought it would be a great way to explore a kaleidoscope of shifting perspectives about differences in dreams, hopes and satisfactions, or dissatisfactions, while passing the time on the clock!

Aw, Pawtucket

Here is the space in which we began the whole guardz process - the Pawtucket Armory. There seemed to be an armory above every river drainage in Rhode Island. Some good ol' American history set in stone. Anyhoo, it was a great space to both create ideas within and propose a blank E Floor North - that is the floor in the museum that we have been assigned to guard, if you were wondering. And also where a little or a lot of enlightenment will happen for anyone adventurous enough to discover that gallery of space - or perhaps just get lost and end up there. Doesn't really matter how you get there, just so long as you eventually find it.

And then there was BeerFest - in which we discreetly gathered some great audio of drunken bacchanalia:

Our friendly neighborhood guard

I had a nice cuppa and conversation with our new friend Guard Gary Jones (not a guard anymore!) about Phase I. We interviewed Gary at the beginning of our process of rehearsing Phase I and his generosity in sharing experiences (including the incredible "Polyester Guard-Dog Blues" he wrote while on duty) influenced our perspectives. Great guy, great ideas - worked in both Portland and Seattle for the art museums and now a colleague and neighbor with my bro, W. Scott. Thanks for the conversation, G!

Road Trip!

OK, AK fans, check this out! Makes me feel like home. *Blizzard Warning in Rhode Island. A potential historic winter storm and Blizzard is expected to drop around 2 feet of snow Friday into Saturday.*

In preparation for our upcoming Alaska Tour 2013 (details to be announced soonish), we are daring to drive through blizzard conditions from our smallest friend RI up to Portland, ME to bring our first phase of Enlightenment on E Floor North to the Space Gallery.

(Don't worry - we are actually leaving before the storm to be there for the great blizzard).