Theater has a multitude of purposes: to create environments of education, entertainment, amazement, amusement, provocation, inspiration and perhaps, most importantly- to make connection.
“Mendocino Stories: Instructions for Living in a Broken World” is a rare amalgam of everything that is theater. A co-creation by Mendocino College students with instructors Dan Hoyle, Lucas Verbrugghe and Reid Edelman, the performance marks the culmination of the college’s theatre director Edelman’s 25 years of full-time college instruction and a long-in-coming reunion of Hoyle, Verbrugghe and Edelman- not as two students and an instructor, but as equal partners, creating a one-of-a-kind educational and performance experience.
For the past three years, students in the college’s journalistic theatre course utilized an interview experience created by Hoyle, he’s dubbed “The Journalism of Hanging Out.” Students “hung out” with members of the community- many of whom were complete strangers to the interviewers, and recorded their story. The stories were edited and from there, Edelman and Verbrugghe applied their theatrical magic to the interviews, creating over a dozen vignettes for the stage and bringing these real characters to life. Over 30 students contributed interviews and wrote for the project; some became one of the play’s 16 actors, inhabiting the life and voice of one or more of our community members.
“It is particularly meaningful to be collaborating with Dan and Lucas on this show,” says Edelman. “I first met them early in my career with I was their high school theatre teacher in San Francisco in the late 1990’s. To come full circle with these two theatre artists with whom I share so much history, and for whom I have such admiration and respect means a lot to me.”
“I grew up in San Francisco, but as a kid, I spent summers in Ukiah doing performing arts summer camp at SPACE,” Verbrugghe explains. “That was my earliest introduction to acting and singing. It sent me on a path to pursue a career in the performing arts. In high school, Reid was my drama teacher, and Dan was a year ahead of me at school. The first play I ever did- like, a play written for adults- was directed by Reid. He was a great teacher. I played a rakish Welshman, and I remember going really deep into my character- the dialect and the backstory. Reid also directed Dan and I in a production of Black Elk Speaks, which was a very ambitious show for high school students. The production created a catalyst for some really important conversations among the students and faculty.”
After high school, Verbrugghe received his MFA from NYU and became a highly reviewed actor, working in both film and on the stage. “Every now and again, I come back here to work on creative projects,” he notes. “Those projects have always been special because they allowed us to take risks we couldn’t take in a bigger city. The fact that Reid became the head of the program here at the college, and that he invited Dan and I to co-teach the Journalism of Hanging Out class has been an unexpected gift and a truly amazing learning experience.”
Like Verbrugghe, Dan Hoyle created an award-winning career that has spanned multiple countries, universities and stages. He has authored numerous solo shows utilizing aspects of his journalistic prowess, receiving accolades for his performances from the New York Times, the New Yorker and publications from around the world. Hoyle also makes pilgrimages to Mendocino County.
“This place that draws seekers and curious people, and that’s me too. I’m a city boy, but I’ve been coming up to Northern California my whole life. I’ve camped and swam all over. We have family friends that live throughout the county, and I always meet interesting people. It’s a slice of rural America unlike any other. I’ve also started to understand more of the history- how different it is from the rest of California, and that’s made me want to know more.”
According to Hoyle, the Journalism of Hanging Out combines formal interviews with participant-witness work. “It’s rooted in deep listening, respect, humility, transparency, and joyous collaboration. The practice seeks to hear people’s stories and lived experiences on their terms, on their turf.”
Ideally, continues Hoyle, students talk with people multiple times, accompanying them through part of their day, trying to get a full impression of their life.
“With this process, I’ve been crafting monologues and stories largely based on people I haven’t met. The students/actors did the interviews, and often did the first cut of a monologue. I listened to audio, read full transcripts, and tried to craft monologues and scenes from those, with feedback from the students and people who did the interviews.”
“I was introduced to the Journalism of Hanging Out through watching Dan’s shows over the years,” says Verbrugghe. “I have always been completely in awe of the way Dan is able to create characters that have such wonderfully unique quirks, while also honoring their deep humanness. I leave a Dan Hoyle show feeling completely humbled by the magnitude of human existence- and also in awe of our ability to take care of each other. I think that comes from Dan’s values within the foundations of the Journalism of Hanging Out- empathy, curiosity, and a strong belief that we are all in community with each other — whether we are talking to someone in Ukiah or Nigeria.”
“It feels like this is really the class’s play. I’ve just been a steward and shaper of the material. The students did all the story gathering. Reid created such a vibrant community, and we had a lot of really smart writers and thinkers and listeners in our classes. And then Lucas- he just dove in headlong as a director and has been our fearless leader. It’s been a joy to watch him work as a director and leader. He was meant to do this work and take on this role,” says Hoyle.
When seeing the play, some of the audience may not have any clue about whose story they are watching. Others may recognize specific individuals. Regardless, the audience is watching stories about real people, real lives, real problems, real joys and real experiences- tragic, synchronous, hilarious, awe-inspiring, familiar, strange.
“One of the biggest challenges is that we are doing the play for the people it is about,” says Verbrugghe. “There is a great responsibility to make sure we are getting their stories right and doing them justice. In the process of making this play, I now know all these people who live in this county because I’ve spent the last six months hearing their stories, marveling at how they have navigated their life and being curious about how it must feel to move through the world in their shoes.”
The stage is bare. For each individual monologue, a unique set is wheeled or set up on stage.
“It was challenging to take the recordings of conversations and make them theatrical. We had to craft them quite a bit,” Verbrugghe explains. “Each conversation went through a rigorous editing process. Each monologue and scene was crafted to provide a glimpse into someone’s life in just a few minutes- to make what happened in real life feel true on stage. It took time, a lot of tinkering and listening to the original recordings over and over, calling people back and asking follow-up questions.”
One of the most important ethical aspects of this type of journalism is respecting and honoring the storyteller.
“Performing someone else’s story is a great responsibility, and the stakes are very high to get it right. It requires relentless exploration and a huge amount of empathy to find the thing that makes someone tick. It was very important that we capture their essence.”
Not every story is easy to hear, but they are the stories of our county- an immigrant falling in love for the first time. A hippie whose LSD-filled journey leads her to becoming an attorney. A drug addict in recovery who now helps other addicts. A young man who lost his mother. A veteran recounting his experiences on the front lines in Iraq. Gang members. Old-timers. Young people playing “Magic: The Gathering.” A poll worker.
“This performance requires you to step out of your comfort zone, leave your beliefs at the door, and just listen to another perspective and be curious about it. It reminds us that our problems are not the only show in town. And that people are resilient,” Verbrugghe continues.
“I always hope this work will encourage a way of being in the world that is more curious, more open, more empathetic. Connecting with people and seeing each other and understanding each other’s uniqueness is one of the great joys of being a human,” Hoyle concludes.
“It’s hard to talk about this work without sounding like I’m proselytizing. I think it has the ability to heal communities and bring us together in profound ways. If there is anyone with a lot of money that wants to fund an organization that makes the world a better place, they should start a Center for the Journalism of Hanging Out,” Verbrugghe smiles.
“I love sharing my love for theatre. I love Shakespeare, musical theatre and pretty much all forms of theatrical performance,” says Edelman. “But as a teacher, I feel very strongly about creating original work, grounded in our local community. I’ve produced our local festival of new plays for 18 years, and have a strong commitment to storytelling and locally based narrative theatre. I’ve produced and supported many projects of this type, to bring stories and theatre to our stages that reflect the lives and experiences of our community. Theatre, after-all is all about community. The simple act of sharing an experience in a room as we come together to experience this ancient art form in the presence of our friends and neighbors is the essence of what we do as theatre artists.
“While I teach the art of theater, what I really teach goes beyond the craft of making plays. Theatre teaches mutual respect, personal responsibility, collaborative creativity and so much more. As theatre artists and educators, above all else, we are teachers of empathy. And the work we are doing in Mendocino Stories is all about fostering empathy and understanding in our community and in our world. And that is something that could not be more important in our current world.”
Mendocino Stories runs on March 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 and 23. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. except for Sunday, March 23, which begins at 2 p.m. Tickets are available (cash only) at the Mendocino Book Company and the Center Theatre Box Office (also cash only). For online tickets visit www.artsmendocino.org.
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