Director dreams of performing arts 'laboratory'

SANDPOINT — Acting has moved center stage in the local arts scene, as stage plays, independent film projects and a new wave of original scripts provide more chances for people to ply that craft.

One actor/director in the area has placed his emphasis on the learning side of the profession, even going so far as to recruit international actors to travel here to conduct workshops on what it means to be on stage.

On a recent, wintry morning, Jesus Quintero sat huddled over coffee with three of his colleagues from, quite literally, all over the world. They were gathered to discuss a concept that Quintero called his dream — that of establishing an international center for the performing arts in Sandpoint.

“You guys are the first, official, international meeting,” he told the group.

Seated around him were Ophelie Maxo, Alejandro Rodriguez and Lloyd Bricken, all of whom have been on tour in New York as part of their own acting studies in a school that has the distinction of being an evolutionary offshoot of the famed Stanislavski acting technique. Their branch of this grand, old theatre tree was developed by Jerzy Grotowski and, later, Thomas Richards, who shifted the spotlight away from stage presentation and encouraged artists to explore their own humanity in a setting that has come to be known as the American Laboratory Theatre.

“It’s not a theatre company like you would think of in the U.S.,” said Quintero, artistic director for American Laboratory Theatre. “They don’t do shows — they do research.”

In Rodriguez’ case, the road to this laboratory approach came while working in Italy, where he met actors who were spending more time exploring themselves than they were getting into character.

“I worked in many performances, but something in me was lacking,” he said. “I met these artists who were working with the human, not the actor. Their work was not leading to a performance.”

But what happens to the actor-audience dynamic in this new construct? Isn’t that duality the underpinning principle of performance?

Bricken leaned in to field the question.

“In some sense, we’re questioning these relationships,” he said. “Does the relationship of performer and audience really exist? Are we really different from one another? Our performance pieces are ways of exploring this dynamic.”

For Maxo, the introduction to this school of acting came when she attended a workshop performance to see what the buzz was about.

“The performance ended and something happened,” she said. “There was a big bubble of silence.”

After stepping into the laboratory environment, the artist experienced the same reaction.

“But now I was the actor,” she said. “And I had the same sensation — there was a big bubble of silence.”

No applause? No obvious show of appreciation from the audience? What, then, was going on?

“Actually, I think the answer is not important,” said Maxo. “It’s the question mark that’s important.

“That big question mark,” she continued, drawing the symbol in the air with a pointed finger, “gives me a lot of road to travel as an artist.”

According to the three visiting actors, this style of theatre is designed to create, not a sense of separateness between stage and auditorium, but an awakening, as a unified group, in the present moment.

“And what is the present moment?” Maxo asked. “It is question after question after question — in a line.”

“It happens when the moment is true, believable,” Quintero said. “There’s a connection to the honesty of the work.”

It’s an artistic connection that the director would like to bring to Sandpoint on a permanent basis, working with other international colleagues to conduct future workshops.

“This will happen,” he said. “I wouldn’t be able to say that without the support of Sandpoint Onstage.”

Quintero currently is directing that group’s production of Maxwell Anderson’s psychological thriller, “The Bad Seed,” which is sponsored by The Readery in downtown Sandpoint and scheduled for performance on April 25-26 and May 2-3, location to be announced.

From auditions right into rehearsals, the director applied elements of the laboratory theatre school to this production.

“What I try to do is see the person through the mask and create an environment where people can be themselves.” said Quintero.

That style, according to Sandpoint Onstage executive producer Teresa Pesce, has clicked with the area’s expanding population of theatre people. The positive response, she added, bodes well for the prospects of forming an international center for the performing arts in Sandpoint.

“I watched Jesus teach a class and there was a magic between him and the actors in this community,” Pesce said. “This is a growth step for local actors. It’s an adventure. And they are excited.”

For more information on the upcoming performance of “The Bad Seed,” visit: www.sandpointonstage.com

To learn more about the American Laboratory Theatre, visit: www.americanlaboratorytheatre.com