Hey y’all,

Sunday was a day of artful rest: we mostly hung out and enjoyed some great work by great people.

Would you like some noise with your meal?

…gas leak? 

We started the day with Noise Brunch, an underground music event taking place in a repurposed soundstage called Jam Handy. This event was perfect in Rory’s opinion: you’re there listening to noise…which is hard to describe. Wikipedia defines it as “a category of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context”. It’s basically any kind of ambient sound that expresses what the artist is going for — yes . The first set we heard was quite screeching (probably on purpose), but the subsequent ones we saw were quite pleasant and calm, at least enough to have a conversation over — the perfect setting for a potluck.

We got to talk to some cool people while we were there. We ran into the guys from Casino who told us about the event. Kevin, a 57 year old, cigarette-smoking punk rocker who’s been in Detroit on and off since the 70’s. “I came here for the music scene” he said “and I just keep coming back.” He went on to say “Detroit will be the model for the new world. When life totally changes in the coming years, Detroit will survive because that’s what we do.”

A guitar player of the band Las Vegas Hospital had this to say “I’m from LA, and Detroit is perfect for anyone from LA — it wipes the bullshit off you real quick…people here really want to know who you are but they don’t want to hear you brag.”

I lost my hand, you seen it?

After that, we went over to Wayne State University to see a rehearsal of Behanding in Spokane by Martin McDonagh produced by the Underground Theatre at the Studio, a student company funded by the university. The company came into being to give theatre majors more opportunities than those provided in their four-year program; so acting majors can stage manage, designers can act, etc.

The Orange Castle – Wayne State’s 1st building

We entered a very chill rehearsal room: the director, Egla Kishta (who we met at Slipstream’s Hamlet; she played Ophelia) met us and walked us up, the actors were hanging out when we got there, and they were happy to entertain our questions for several minutes before starting a warm-up — which we even got to participate in!!

Before the warmup we got a read on these students’ take on Detroit: it’s a good place to get an equity card before moving elsewhere if the senior showcase in New York yields no results; and people usually move to the Big Apple no matter what. After more probing we learned that the faculty at Wayne State encourages their students to leave Detroit — in fact, they steer them away from working in the area, even during the summer. Students interested in getting involved in Detroit’s scene have to take it upon themselves.

This was the last time all of them would be together for about a month because their lead actor who plays Carmichael is traveling to Russia to study at the Moscow Art Theater. The whole cast and crew that we met were either getting their BA in theater or minoring in it at Wayne State.

Actor’s hand getting wrapped: he was using it — but his character is supposedly handless. 

We were lucky to see the rehearsal; it gave us the opportunity to observe how this particular student body works, and where they work: afterwards they showed us some of the theaters on campus. We don’t know whether we could rent the spaces, since we are not affiliated with the school; but we liked the spaces, they offer a lot of possibilities.

The most pertinent thing, though was that they averaged 25 audience members per performance during their last season; sometimes they sold out; sometimes they played for just a few people. This means that on average they filled between ⅓ and ¼ of their house, given it’s a 96 seat house — pretty comparable to the audiences sizes we’ve seen elsewhere in the city. Of course this is a student theater, which has its pros and cons.

Pros: you have the friends and acquaintances of those in the production coming; you have teachers coming; you have patrons of the school coming.

Cons: people might come regardless of the quality of the production (although I’m sure they were wonderful); they are not dependent on ticket sales for existence — con for us because it doesn’t reflect our intended situation.

Thus this is not a clear indication of what we would face in putting on a play here.

But it did give us a great chance to talk to more people about the work all feel passionate about.

“A magic carpet ride with your lamb, sir?”

We had the pleasure of getting lunch with director Egla Kishta after the rehearsal. She suggested a very authentic Bangladeshi restaurant called Aladdin’s (“most white people go to the back where they get tablecloths, quiet and higher prices; let’s sit in the front”).

We learned that her family moved from Albania when she was 6 or 7 and she grew up in the Detroit metro area (she said she learned English first and translated for them). Her father came to the country with military experience and went to work for $5 an hour in the factories. Her parents now run their own trucking company. Egla is the first in her immediate family to get a college education (she graduated last year from Wayne State with a degree in sociology, minor in theatre).

Egla’s family came and endured the economic downturn. In fact, it wasn’t fully by choice: they left their place in Chicago with nowhere else to go except a place they found in the Detroit area. So that’s where they settled and have stayed ever since.

What was that about? They evidently did well for themselves with the trucking company, but did they stay to pursue those opportunities?

We’ve heard a lot of Detroiters speak about the mindset of our parents’ or our parents’ parents’ generation: work for a company for 40 years, retire on pension. Did this play into Egla’s parents’ mindset? Or were they simply looking for a place to settle after living through a communist regime that led to civil wars?

No matter what, this mindset is still very present in the city. According to Kirk: “we go to bed early on the weekdays — Detroit is a workingman’s city.” I wonder how much this mindset affects the general consciousness of the city, and whether it affects the people of our generation.

Fascinating.

We finished out the day with the new sci-fi movie Ex Machina (Ryan made sure not to bring his camera this time) , which was pretty enjoyable; very heady but fun. The coolest part, though, was the theater’s seating: they had recliners! An AMC theater, too, not a private or independent house.

Would this be a good addition to our place? It’ll be a test of how engaging the show is.

Thanks and all the best,

R&R

PS — Thanks to those who have commented on the blog. To those who have not and may want to: please do. We’d love to hear what you’re are thinking, whether it’s a restaurant suggestion or a comment on the research; we welcome discussions on every subject. Don’t be shy!