SSIS Ashland 2019

Like “Between Two Knees” and “The Mother Road,” our fourth play, “Hairspray,” addressed various types of prejudice.  This musical production, however, felt lighter.

Some of our group utilized a bit of their own hairspray to get into the mood.

Shaw:

“I liked how at the end of the show everyone came together and got to dance regardless of their skin, personality, looks, or disability.  I liked how they had a girl in the wheelchair and other people who had disabilities. Also, it was really well produced: the lighting, the music, and the staging.”

Krystal:

“I really enjoyed how they addressed segregation through the idea that T.V. it not just black or white; it is both.  I like how they had one of the most attractive males attracted to a women that was less attractive. I like how they had an interracial couple.  I like how they were really supportive of anyone who had a disability. And, hunky Link Larkin had a nice curl on the tip of his hair.”

Quinn:

“”Hairspray’ was kind of like a cushion compared ‘Between Two Knees’ and ‘Mother Road.'”

The second play we watched on Sunday and the third of our trip, “Mother Road,” inspired by John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, continued in the vein of “Between Two Knees,” challenging our understanding of American history and our assumptions around race.

Lael:

“The play turned the meaning of race upside down.  Race was no longer about the color of our pigment but about our shared stories and experiences.  It is about our roots, how we come together as humans at the most unexpected times in the most expected places.”

Nico:

“After coming off ‘Between to Knees,’ I was not very excited to see ‘The Mother Road’ because I did not think any Ashland play could top it.  But I should not have compared them. ‘The Mother Road’ pulled people from different backgrounds into a makeshift family and took them back home, home to where they could all reside collectively.  Before the play, I thought that family was just biological.”

Quinn:

“‘The Mother Road’ brought so many very different people together from different cultures, and at the same time, they were all almost the same.  Even with their differences, they were all striving to preserve their family roots. Each of these families had suffered, and this is what brought them together.”

Zalee:

“I really enjoyed how we got to be there with the characters and partake in their journey, both emotional and physical.  I felt like I really got to know them. I liked how each character represented their own culture and those cultures’ prejudices.  However, through difficult situations, through their shared experiences, the characters came together and realized that they are not that different from each other.”

In between plays and rafting, we have enjoyed hanging out in Ashland and playing in Lithia Park.  The game store, book stores, chocolate shop, and coffee shop have been big hits.  The park trails and playgrounds provided a beautiful venue to release some energy.  The lithia water met with mix reviews.

      

 

 

The Ashland Commons, our abode for our stay, has provided us with a place to sleep, eat, play games, and journal all with in a short walk from downtown Ashland.

      

Monday, May 20

Today we took a break form the Shakespeare Festival and spent an incredible day on the Rogue River with our amazing guides from Indigo Creek Outfitters.  Although many of us started the float with some trepidation, by the end of the float, we were left wanting more.

While much of the float was relatively placid and allowed for some nature viewing, water fights, and swimming, the following class 4 rapid left all wishing we could go through it again.

 

Sunday, May 20, was a double play day with “Between Two Knees” in the afternoon and “Mother Road” in the evening.  We found both of these play most powerful and provocative, exposing and challenging some of our deeply held beliefs.

Zalee:

“I loved the play. It was funny. But afterword, reflecting upon it, I felt like crying for laughing at such situations. It kind of disturbed me at how easily I could laugh at something so painful.”

Elli:

“I was left wondering. What would have happened if none of it (The Wounded Knee Massacre, Indian Boarding Schools, WWII, Vietnam, and the Occupation of Wounded Knee) had happened. It is the kind of play that left me feeling I need to see it again.”

Gianna:

“I was left wondering if white people had never done all that stuff, what would life be like. The play left me in an existential crisis. White people are responsible for this, but I don’t want to feel responsible for it. But should I?”

AJ:

“The play addressed many issues around identity, such as being white and coming from a certain background, in a raw and truthful way. The play helped me better understand my culture. Why this affected me this way is because of the type of white I come from. I faced the truth in a way that was rather alarming to me, through disarming humor.”

(More to come on “The Mother Road”)

Saturday, May 18

We saw our first of five plays today, Shakespeare’s As You Like It.  As can be the case with Shakespeare, the language can be a challenge.  However, the acting transcended this barrier.

Talulah:

“I really liked how there were a lot of different stories that came together in the end in a way that I thought was really cool and interesting. The language was pretty confusing, but in a way it just made the acting feel way more important.”

Krystal:

“I was very confused by the language they were speaking, but, towards the intermission, I felt like my brain was starting to get more into the depth of things.  The acting was very amazing, and overall I very much enjoyed this play.”

Kiyomi:

“I found the language difficult to understand, but it added a depth to the play because it made me work harder to understand. It forced the audience to listen more attentively to the emotion of the actors and watch the actors movements more carefully.”

Rudy:

“It was a little bit hard to understand because it was in old English, but it was funny because the actors faces. The actors put a lot of emotion into their acting.”

Seamus:

“I liked the play.  It moved very fast.  However, because of the old Shakespearean language, I felt it was a little hard to understand, but it felt like you could really tell when there was comedy and when there was serious moments as well.”

After gathering at the Anacortes ferry terminal, we commenced our 540 mile road trip to Ashland, OR where the Shakespeare Festival and the Rogue River await our arrival.

Thirteen intrepid youth settle in for the long drive, and . . .

   

they arrived in Ashland, OR some ten hours later in good spirits excited for Shakespeare’s As You Like It, our first of five plays.