• August 14, 2012

    Strangeness, cultural exchange and cultural identity

    By Published On: August 14th, 2012

    Today is our fourth day together as 8 collaborators and after yesterday's NFL experience it feels like we're really starting to unpick and unravel the complexities of our notion of 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. The notion of America as a story and Americans as storytellers keeps returning and ownership over that story is what

  • August 13, 2012

    Oakland Raiders 0 Dallas Cowboys 3

    By Published On: August 13th, 2012

    Today we tailgated at an NFL football game. For those of you reading this in England, tailgating is hanging out in the carpark (parking lot) of the football stadium before the game and eating food next to your car/truck. This is us tailgating out the back of Andrea's truck:     Before we left we

  • August 13, 2012

    Task

    By Published On: August 13th, 2012

    Since I'd been putting off washing my truck for about 4 years and had it with me yesterday, I decided my American activity would be to go get it washed. The car wash ended up being in one of those "one-stop-shopping" sorta places, so I figured the most American thing I could do is spend

  • August 12, 2012

    Voice artifact from Estate sale

    By Published On: August 12th, 2012

    Sometimes people die unexpectedly and the leave behind a house full of things from their past.  Estate sales are public markets. and many people can override ethical questions about reclaiming the property of the dead by the incredible cheap deals they can get from their personal objects. Estate sales are rampant throughout America, because America

  • August 12, 2012

    An American Experience.

    By Published On: August 12th, 2012

    As a child there were many experiences that followed traditional American norms that I participated in without question. On occasions I was taken to fast food restaurants for dinner, and bargain stores for school supplies. Spending and consuming is an American experience for many, and often people value bargains and illusions over the actually quality

  • August 12, 2012

    Notes from day 1 and 2

    By Published On: August 12th, 2012

    So we've done 2 days together. 10 hours in total. On day one we talked, a lot. We spoke about America, how we felt about it, what it was, where it was, what other people thought it was. Here's some notes we made:   Then we made a list of tasks we might do over

  • August 10, 2012

    We Heart Cars

    By Published On: August 10th, 2012

    Something I know, but don't think about until reading/watching something like this, is our ridiculous obsession with cars in this country. We love our cars. We name our cars. We sweet talk our cars. My mom would pat the dashboard of our ailing Dodge van as it struggled up a hill and say "Come on

  • August 9, 2012

    Ladies to the Rescue behind the scenes photos

    By Published On: August 9th, 2012

  • August 8, 2012

    Gentle Ben

    By Published On: August 8th, 2012

    The first time I came to California I told my best friend where I was going and he said “careful Stenhouse, it’s a different country”. I’d always thought of America as a lie I had been told as a child that I’d since disbelieved. Like Santa Claus. As a kid I loved the TV Show

  • August 5, 2012

    Rehearsal Free Writes

    By Published On: August 5th, 2012

    For next week's performances of "Sunk in Sleep," cast members were asked to write freely (for at least 15-30 minutes) using subject matter and phrase material as impetus. The following are two examples of what bubbled up.   Roche Janken: “oceans. you—adrift for days on these oceans, waiting for help, waiting for the sight of a

  • August 3, 2012

    Stuck With You

    By Published On: August 3rd, 2012

    Nada me han enseñado los años, siempre caigo en los mismos errores otra vez a brindar con extraños y a llorar por los mismos dolores. -Jose Alfredo Jimenez Ten years in burlesque has provided me with an intimate knowledge of the political and emotional consequences of performing with/against the fictions structuring Mexican/Chicana female subjectivity.  Burlesque is touted

  • July 30, 2012

    Sunk in Sleep: Summer Special Sneak Peak

    By Published On: July 30th, 2012

    http://youtu.be/6m9YZKIsURQ