A number of years ago, I'm not sure what year it was exactly, Michael Warren Powell who was the Artistic Director of the LAB Theatre Company announced that he was casting a performance of a play by Nicola L. I had been a member of the LAB since 1988, having been invited to join after my first year working with the Circle Repertory Company as an intern right out of college. As I've written before, Circle Repertory Company was in my opinion the best theater company in New York City. There were others that had been around as long and others that are still around today that perhaps might be considered more financially successful, but there was something about Circle Rep that I have never found anywhere else. We did plays on a regular basis, reading them, workshopping them, performing in the LAB and on the main stage. When I look back now at that time it was incredibly immersive and phenomenally creative, and I am so grateful to have had that experience at the time that I did.
When Michael announced that he was casting the play by Nicola L., I immediately responded and was immediately cast. It was one of those rare one off plays that was part of the tradition of experimental theater, and though that was a specialty and special love of mine, most of the Actors and plays at Circle Rep were what was termed "Back Porch Realism" or "Magical Realism" if they were a bit off the beaten track. Experimental theater for some reason was part of my DNA, and because of that, not only did I enjoy it but I thrived in it. The play was called "The Black Coat Of Transformation" and it consisted of a series of monologues by historical women who were all enveloped in a large black plastic structure that had places for our heads to go through, but that covered us completely otherwise. When we spoke we put a kind of hand held mask over our faces that had the name of our character on it. When we moved we had to move together, and when the piece began, we were lying on the ground under the black plastic "coat" in a way that made it look like it was trash bags lying on the sidewalk. Nicola had a studio in the Meat Packing District, and she also lived at the Chelsea Hotel, and one performance of the piece had been done on the cobblestones of Gansevoort Street. Our performance was indoors at the West Bank Theater, but I saw film footage of the earlier performance, and over the years as I got to know Nicola I saw and performed in several of her pieces that took place both indoors and out doors.
After performing in the "Coat of Transformation" I kept in touch with Nicola. She told me she had another piece she was trying to cast and produce and I started helping her with that project. We met at her studio and also at the Chelsea Hotel. For me it was a time of incredible excitement. She was French and had been part of the Fluxus movement, and her apartment at the Chelsea Hotel had pieces of her artwork and furniture in it. The people who worked with her on her pieces were all European Artists, and everyone was always speaking all kinds of languages, mostly French with others mixed in sometimes too. The piece I helped her cast and produce was called "Banquet Of The Beheaded" and it consisted of a series of monologues by historical figures who had been beheaded in some way. We got to tell our stories while sitting under a table that had been specially made so that only our heads showed through, sitting on plates. The makeup and wigs for that production were phenomenal, and the concept was brilliant. All together the image was both outrageous and beautiful, and individually the monologues and performances brought these people to life in a way that history books are not capable of. As I look back on it now, that was the beginning of my understanding that I loved to be a producer. The show was cast almost entirely with people I knew and they were perfect. Michael Warren Powell directed again, but the cast was so brilliant that there really wasn't much directing that needed to be done. In a beautiful way some of those performers did some of the most striking work I had seen them do up to that time. Nicola cast me herself the first day we met to discuss the piece, and she gave me Charlotte Corday. She also cast another friend of hers, but the rest of the casting she asked for my input on, and I was able to suggest people I knew who I thought were wonderful. We performed at LA Mama ETC, and we were filmed and photographed for all kinds of media. I was interviewed by a European Art magazine and still find photographs of myself as Charlotte Corday and mentions of that play online to this day.
The last time I saw Nicola she was still living at the Chelsea Hotel. I went to visit with her and she apologized because she said she was losing her memory because of a fall, but she still seemed to have the same beautiful creative energy around her and after I arrived and we began talking she got out some of the books where she kept the memories of her pieces and we went through them together, talking about some ideas she had of things she'd like to do again. I kept in touch, but not long after that she moved into an assisted living arrangement, and last year when I looked her up again I discovered that her time on this earth had ended. Over the years that I knew her, in addition to live theater pieces and videos of her performances there were retrospectives of her furniture and installations, and somehow I feel like her energy is still here helping us all to learn about history and to see and learn about ourselves and others as living works of art.
Nicola L.
At The Chelsea Hotel
In New York City
Sharing Memories With Jannie Wolff
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
