The Intersection of Script, Sound, and Stage

sCriPT, sounD & sTage The inTerseCTion of

an inTerVieW WiTh Dael orlanDersmiTh, linDsay Jones, & you-shin Chen

Written by Lydia Cochran, Literary Emerging Professional Resident

Music pulses through the heart of New Age. It uplifts and feeds each woman’s tune as she tells her story, each isolated in her space but connected to each other in thought. Playwright Dael Orlandersmith, Sound Designer/ Composer Lindsay Jones, and Scenic Designer You-Shin Chen came together to discuss how musical storytelling has been infused into the show’s concept and design.

To begin the conversation, Dael Orlandersmith spoke to her initial inspirations and ideas for New Age. “I wanted to look at aging in general...What does it mean to age? What does it mean ‘to come of age’? And what it means to be female and to be of a certain age.” She has observed how women in the theater and entertainment industry can often become invisible by age 30 or 35. “It’s the last -ism, you know. We talk about racism. We talk about sexism. But we don’t talk about ageism. The assumption is that you’re older, you’re a throw away. If you’re young, you’re stupid.”

In the process of writing, it became important for Orlandersmith to look at the stories of women who contradict age-based stereotypes. “I mean, there’s certain people – I love the fact that Georgia O’Keefe painted literally until the day she died. You look at the work Patti Smith is doing. Yoko Ono is close to ninety, and she’s still working.” One of her primary inspirations for the character of Cass was Jackie O’Shaughnessy, who was discovered by American Apparel and became a model at age 62.

Women like this, female artists and icons of film, literature, and especially music, are referenced and celebrated throughout the play. “Music plays a role in everything that I write...I always wanted to write about women in music, and specifically rock ‘n roll,” explains Orlandersmith. “And so I came up with New Age.”

Sound Designer/Composer Lindsay Jones, then jumps in, emphasizing the plethora of genres that Dael has tapped into for this play. “Dael has this really awesome tapestry of music that sort of weaves its way through the show. And she’s specified all these different artists that have shaped and influenced the people in the show.”

“I’m very plugged into music in general. I hear it a lot of the time no matter what I’m writing,” explains Orlandersmith. “So, music is really a part of my DNA. And I have a thing called synesthesia, which is, I hear a sound and it will connect me to a character.” Synesthesia is a neurological condition where you experience one sense through another. She gives an example: “When people describe the blues. It makes sense to me – it sounds blue to me.”

Inspired by Orlandersmith’s musical storytelling, Jones is developing original compositions for the show. He expresses how his original work is linked to the array of music that Orlandersmith weaves throughout the script: “What I’m interested in doing is using the music of Liberty to sort of connect those influences together.” Liberty is the youngest character in the show, an eighteen-year-old musician searching for her own sound. “So the original music part is how we tie artists from different eras and different influences to be one sort of organic fabric that is the show – taking these different cool things and making them feel like one whole object.”

“I’m pretty excited to see, to hear Lindsay’s magic,” adds Scenic Designer You-Shin Chen. “Dael wrote about the surrounding being void, and I feel like the new music from Lindsay is something to also fill into the room.” In New Age, the four characters exist in their separate spaces, at points in semi-darkness - experiencing life separately, but existing together through time and space. In asking Chen about her original ideas for the set design, she says, “Dael’s writing is really poetic and what these women are saying kind of echo each other, they weave together. So, when I started designing, it’s something poetic and something that could be more abstract in terms of the form and shape.”

Chen continues, “I remember I was looking into paintings and drawings, and of how women come together. And I came across this painting -- it’s with the Muses.” She explains how the set was created such that the characters became reminiscent of three of the Muses, the Greek goddesses of poetic inspiration, representing song, dance, and memory. “So we have this circular pool form with the three older generation women [around it]. Like a fountain, they [become] the statues there, while Liberty, being the youngest, and singing her heart out, like a poet, is trying to find her way. And [she] visits these three women that are ahead of her time.”

“You-Shin’s really devised something pretty amazing and unusual,” adds Jones. “There is something you don’t often see in theater, which is a set that has a living component, which is this pool of water. What you have is a really evocative environment that music can sort of live on.” Jones explains how the sound vibrations physically change the set as the water seems to react to the story unfolding onstage. “I’m very, very excited to see how the music will also ebb and flow, very much in the same way as the water.”

Jones also explains how he was personally drawn to Orlandersmith’s use of music. “What inspires me through it is how music plays into finding your identity and establishing who you are. Because, to me, my whole life surrounds music, I identify with that so strongly - that idea that this song is me, that music is me, these different musical influences are all the things that make up who I am.” And the characters would certainly agree.

“I’ve seen how people give birth to themselves or not,” expresses Orlandersmith. “I’ve seen older people who have not reinvented themselves, and they’ve used age as a weapon. And they automatically assume that somebody who is younger is going to make the same mistakes, the same way, that they did.” However, in New Age, this is definitely not the case. Jones agrees; he says that one of the things he was most inspired by in the script was how “they go through the show to sort of coalesce their experiences together – it’s this discovery that they’re all kinda badasses by the end of it. They all find themselves in each other and through their musical storytelling.”

VISITING

MILWAUKEE REP

Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex is located in the Associated Bank River Center downtown at the corner of Wells and Water Streets. The building was formerly the home of the Electric Railway and Light Company. VISITING THE REP The Ticket Office is visible on the left upon entering the Wells Street doors. The Quadracci Powerhouse is located on the Mezzanine and can be accessed via escalator or elevator. Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex is located in the Milwaukee Center downtown at the corner of Wells and Water Streets. The building was formerly the home of the Electric Railway and Light Company. FINANCIAL SUPPORT The Ticket O ce is visible on the left upon entering the Wells Street doors. The Quadracci Powerhouse is located on the rst level.

ENABLES MILWAUKEE REP TO: THE REP VALUES YOUR SUPPORT

Advance the art of theater with productions that inspire individuals and create community dialogue. Provide a richer theater experience by hosting Rep-in-Depth, TalkBacks and creating PlayGuides to better inform our audiences about our productions. Educate over 20,000 students at 200+ schools in the greater Milwaukee area with Rep Immersion Day experiences, student matinees, workshops, tours and by making connections with their school curriculum through classroom programs such as Reading Residencies.

Maintain our commitment to audiences with special needs through our Access Services that Financial support enables The Rep to: ✯ Advance the art of theater with productions that inspire individuals and create community dialogue; ✯ include American Sign Language interpreted Provide a richer theater experience by hosting Rep-in-Depth, TalkBacks, and creating PlayGuides to better inform our audiences about our productions; productions, captioned theater, infrared ✯ listening systems and script synopses to ensure Educate over 21,000 students at 150+ schools in the greater Milwaukee area with Rep Immersion Day that theater at Milwaukee Rep is accessible to all. experiences, student matinees, workshops, tours and by making connections with their school curriculum through classroom programs such as Reading Residencies; ✯ Educate the next generation of theater Maintain our commitment to audiences with special needs through our Access Services that include professionals with our EPR Program which American Sign Language interpreted productions, captioned theater, infrared listening systems and script gives newly degreed artists a chance to hone synopses to ensure that theater at The Rep is accessible to all; ✯ their skills at Milwaukee Rep as they begin to pursue their theatrical careers. We value our supporters and partnerships and hope that you Educate the next generation of theater professionals with our EPR Program which gives newly degreed artists a chance to hone their skills at The Rep as they begin to pursue their theatrical careers. will help us to expand the ways Milwaukee Rep We value our supporters and partnerships and hope that you will help us to expand the ways Milwaukee Rep has a positive impact on theater and on our has a positive impact on theater and on our Milwaukee community. Milwaukee community.

ww Donations can be made on our website at Donations can be made on our website at w.MilwaukeeRep.com or by phone at 414-290-5376. www.MilwaukeeRep.com or by phone at 414-290-5376

THE REP RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM: MILWAUKEE REP RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM: The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation The Richard & Ethel Herzfeld Foundation The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation The Richard & Ethel Herzfeld Foundation The Shubert Foundation