projects

The Latvia Project — a piece exploring personal mythology and national identity

The country of Latvia had been an occupied country from the 12th Century until August 21st, 1991. Since its mythological and folkloric beliefs were shaped by its invaders, now there is a push to reconstruct this aspect of a cultural past in the interest of national identity. After learning that all sides of her family resided in Latvia before immigrating to the United States, but no records have survived of their time there, Director Annie Levy finds herself drawn the potential mythology of a new past intertwined with that of Latvia’s emerging future. Combining Latvian folk tales and personal reflection, this theatre piece will explore the notion of a collective past and the mythologies we construct for ourselves in its absence.

The Latvia Project received support from LMCC 2010 Uptown/Downtown  Workshop and Performance Opportunity.

TREE ARMY: The CCC Project — a piece exploring the lives of young men and women who were employed by or otherwise involved with The Civilian Conservation Corps

Combining historical CCC documents, articles, personal letters and journals from the young men involved in what was known as “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” TREE ARMY will explore the process of literally rebuilding a country. Through researching the lives of the men (who they were, why they joined, what they did and where, how they lived and what they left behind) and exploring the popular culture of America circa 1933-1942 (what were the songs, books, pin-ups that fueled their imaginations?).

The piece will investigate what these men and women gained from the experience and what happened when they returned home.

Recalculating Home

A product of multiple childhood moves, the newly laid off Sarah decides to take matters into her own hands.  With two post-bachelor degrees, a freshly baked coffeecake from her Bubbie and the few belongings that she doesn’t sell or freecycle, (her laptop, a vintage viewfinder, the Tao Te Ching,) Sarah trades in her Brooklyn apartment for a used RV, setting off on the ultimate road-trip: to find home.

A contemporary manifestation of the archetypal wanderer, Sarah is a one-woman diaspora, trapped in a perpetual state of stranger in a strange land.  She takes us on her journey, pulling over at old addresses and distorted childhood memories, inviting us into the intimate moments of discovery and loss that are the seeds, sprouts and blossoms of every transformation.

Recalculating Home is a play about the individual perception of reality and the deals we strike with ourselves, exploring the notion of that which we call home: the feeling, the place, the time, the people.  As individuals, how do our personal understandings of home impact our identities, and what happens when we are estranged from “home”?  If our histories are detached from place, then how do our ghosts know where to find us?