Sheet forts, fringe festivals and bingo as art | Five Questions with Erika Wilhite of the Artist’s Laboratory Theatre

Erika Wilhite is the artistic director of the Artist’s Laboratory Theatre, Fayetteville newest theater troupe.

The ALT emerged during a down economy, bringing  together a number of the city’s artistic talents.

The troupe puts emphasis on process and bringing the audience into that creativity. The non-linear play “Bombs, Babes and Bingo” consists of scenes as structural building blocks which are determined randomly each night of the performance.

In other words, it’s pretty experimental stuff.

The troupe plans to take “Bombs, Babes and Bingo” to New Orleans’ Fringe Festival later this month.

As a fundraiser for that trip, the ALT will perform “The Sheet Fort Experience: We Are In It Together” at 8 p.m. Friday at the Matt Miller Studio, 21 W. Mountain St. (next to Jammin’ Java). Tickets are $20 and can be reserved at www.artlabtheatre.com.

The “Sheet Fort Experience” includes a staged reading of Charles Mee’s “Time to Burn,” a play that The ALT is considering producing next year. The performance will take place in a giant sheet fort designed and constructed by local artist Mike Davis, and is the first in a series of staged readings which will take place in this type of intimate setting.

Erika was nice enough to answer our Five Questions about ALT, New Orleans and her own acting past.

How did the Artist Laboratory Theatre emerge?

Facebook. I reconnected with a friend from undergrad and noticed one day his status update said, “So, who wants to start a theatre company?”

I did. So we did. We were both in between gigs – the economy has been tough on everyone, and many theatre artists are struggling to make a living, often abandoning their real work for survival work so they can feed themselves.

Theatres are folding everywhere, and my friend had recently experienced this in Portland, Ore., where he lives and works as a scenic designer. And I had moved from Orlando seven months earlier, and found myself in a terrific city with a rich arts culture, but unfortunately there is not much professional acting work here.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some terrific companies here doing excellent work – but there isn’t a market here for actors. We had relocated to Fayetteville because my husband is a MFA candidate in the Creative Writing program at the University of Arkansas.Once I moved here, I became enchanted with my new environment and the people in it. So we decided to create a company in spite of the economic climate – for the sake of doing theatre.

I have always wanted to be a part of an ensemble, a core group of artists that train and create theatre together on a regular basis. I suppose we are calling it experimental theatre, but only because we create the time and space for exploration. We work for longer periods in the dark. I like the metaphor of night vision.

We start with the lights out and slowly our vision adjusts, and we gradually see more and more until we can see clearly, and then we invite you, our audience, in to see with us, together at the same time. This takes place in the performance lab, which is a major component of the company, and then, ultimately, the production, which is created from the lab.

When I moved to Fayetteville, I absolutely fell in love with the artists here. I believe that as individual artists, we choose a specific discipline over another, not because one is supreme or more effective than the other, but because we are personally inclined to a certain way of expressing ourselves.

I find I have more in common with visual artists than I do with actors sometimes.

The longer I do this, the more I understand that art is art. We speak the same language, only with different accents, per se. I might as well be a sculptor, but I am a theatre artist because of my love of the communion of performance. Artists put themselves out there, as they say. We take a lot of personal risk when we make a thing. As a performer, I don’t mind that you watch while I do that.

In fact, I prefer that you do.

We created a model of working last summer, which will continue to evolve, I am sure, but the lab was an extremely satisfying experience to me as an artist.

We raised a little money, convinced someone to give us a temporary lease in a shop front, and worked all summer in a lab for the August production of “Bombs, Babes, and Bingo.”

Part of my tiny budget included airfare for out-of-town artists who donated their time and work to help me start this thing, so we worked with some pretty exciting artists who brought their unique vision and to the project.

What’s the concept behind “Bombs, Babes and Bingo”?

My friend, Merri Biechler, wrote the play. She was told that the play was un-producible because of its structure, which is random.

“Bombs, Babes and Bingo” is a play that deals with a war, the fallibility of memory, the division of family and the struggle of a scientist’s quest to make sense of his life and work.

Bookended by two fixed scenes, a series of ten more is determined randomly in a game of bingo and is played out differently every performance, mirroring the dissolution of a bomb scientist’s mind. Neither the audience nor the cast know the order until the moment the bingo ball number is called out. Which makes for a very exciting experience!

Tell us about the show this Friday?

Courtesy of Ellen Gregory

The Sheet Fort Experience is collaboration with artist Mike Davis Gutierrez.

It is a fundraiser to help us get to New Orleans for the festival, but more importantly, it is the very first time we create this environment for our audiences, the sheet fort, in which we are performing a staged reading of a play by Charles Mee, “Time To Burn.”

This reading will kick off the first of a series of readings, which take place in a giant sheet fort, like the ones you made as a kid- only bigger, better lit and with more seating options, grown up drinks, racy language and adult situations. We are keen on creating an intimate atmosphere for the reading, so that we are all in it together, which is what it is all about.

Our community is probably accustomed to readings at new play festivals, which include a talk back, often because they the playwright is using the feedback to further develop their script – but we want feedback about why we, as your local experimental theatre company, should choose a particular play for production.

We are interested in creating a dialogue with our audiences about the plays under consideration, in hopes that our choices of productions are meaningful and relevant to our community. We want to bring our work closer to their audience, and I suspect the sheet fort will accomplish this.

How did you personally get into theater, Erika?

At eight, I was cast as the understudy for every single character in “Belling Cat.” I remember my mom was offended and wanted me to drop out because I didn’t get a real role, but the director made me understand that I had the most important part. I had a huge responsibility. Well, I learned every single part, and when the blue jay got sick, I stepped up. I learned firsthand the thrill and risk of theatre. And then of course, the payoff. Getting the thing done is so satisfying.

Do you know New Orleans? Any stops that are a must while down there?

My husband proposed to me in New Orleans! That city is magical. But I really haven’t thought about anything else but how to get the show from Fayetteville to New Orleans. I suppose we will see lots of exciting theatre. Fringe is awesome, because it’s usually the more unconventional stuff you see. And right now New Orleans itself is creating some exciting and important work as a theatre community, mostly in response to Katrina. I feel privileged to perform there, actually. This is pretty big deal for me!

Christopher Spencer

Christopher Spencer, 36, is the publisher and owner of Ozarks Unbound and the food news site, The Fayetteville Food File. He is the chair of the Fayetteville Creative Economy Action Group and the social media chair of the Northwest Arkansas Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He's also the founder of WordCamp Fayetteville. You can always contact him at cspencer@ozarksunbound.com

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

Trackbacks