By Cinara Marquis
As a theater artist and musician, SUNY Plattsburgh lecturer of english and theater, Julia Devine, said that she has always loved directing pieces that have little to no text.
“Sometimes when language is introduced, we can leave that magical place that exists between dream and reality,” Devine wrote in an email. “Our culture has so much noise and content now, that wordless pieces can have more impact. I don’t think ‘The Water Station’ would be as powerful if it had words.”
Devine’s latest production is “The Water Station” by Ōta Shōgo, a play without words about the journey of migrants as they search for sustenance, safety, stability, connection, love or meaning. On their travels, they all encounter the same broken tap leaking with water. Though their history is unknown to the audience, each traveler has a reason for their journey and passes through the same space: the water station, a space of refuge, of cleanliness, of hydration and of prayer.
“We can connect more deeply with the characters without words getting in the way,” Devine wrote about the speechless play. “Words sometimes fall short of conveying our experiences. Hopefully, the audience can witness the show in a more profound way with the lack of language. The performers’ movements along with the video projections and music give us the story without breaking the spell.”
The Japanese playwright, Shōgo, was the pioneer of the Theater of Silence, theater based on the human silence as a space.
“The desire to stage living silence is the desire to act out the unparaphrasable realm of experience,” Shōgo wrote in a note in “The Water Station” script.
“The Water Station” premiered in Tokyo in 1981. That production’s set and movement were documented and published in 1990. The SUNY Plattsburgh Theater Department references the playscript but created its own original version.
Throughout the rehearsal process, performers in “The Water Station” have created their own unique characters and stories referencing climate disasters, the migrant crisis, refugees, war, shipwrecks, runaways, pilgrimages and waste.
The cast and crew highlight diverse members of the campus and community, including youth, faculty and international students.
Arisa Izumi, an international student from Japan, shared her story.
“I’m inspired to create my character from my great-grandmother. She has told me what life was like after the bombs in Japan,” Izumi said.
In “The Water Station” Izumi moves like a wave. Crashing from one side to another, she is performing as an individual affected with ataxia, a symptom of neurological damage that causes an abnormal gait characterized by irregular movement. Many suffered from the symptom, which was often accompanied with anxiety after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Each migrant has their own unique story, reflected in their movement and relationship to other migrants or objects, from shoes to bodies to bread, and most notably — water.
“The Water Station” blends theater with other arts, too. It will feature live and original electronic music during the show, and a projection of Lasser’s “Ice Ships Weep” film will coat the walls of the performance space.
“The Water Station” is the first department collaboration with the Theater Department and the Plattsburgh State Art Museum. The fall exhibition “Climate’s Shipwreck Ballad” by Robin Lasser and “Transmutation Traces” by Marguerite Perret compliments the performance’s parallel themes of water, change, and journeys.
“It’s been amazing to work with the artists and utilize their exhibit as an inspiration for our piece of environmental theater,” Devine wrote. “They work very well as companion pieces.”
“The fusion of films, architecture and cast of characters transform this place into a memorial or a temple embracing migrants on a journey towards social and environmental change,” Lasser said.
Assistant professor in the communications department, Lauren Zito was excited about the blending of technologies, arts and spaces. “We’ll be bringing in old and new technology, the past and present, different points of view and vantage points into a non-traditional theatrical environment, happening real time and digitally,” Zito said. “Immersing the audience inside this world of dwindling resources and rising waste — both seen and unseen.”
Student designers and first-year seminar students along with associate professor of theater Erika Guay have made set pieces out of reclaimed trash, thrifted items and hundreds of shoes donated by the campus and community members.
Devine is also collaborating with contemporary choreographer and dancer Jessica Bouharevich and her dance troupe CARAVAN6 for the shipwreck sequence of the performance.
“The choreography was developed as an insight to what a conversation amongst a group of shipwrecks might look like,” Bouharevich said. “Through movement, we portray a range of emotions that explore the journey towards healing.”
“This collaboration is a dream come true for me. Art and theater collide, making magic together. A wordless love letter in the time of climate change,” Lasser said.
“I have loved working on this piece. I can’t stop thinking about it outside of rehearsals,” Devine said. “I have amazing collaborators… It’s a great example of sharing our resources. We are all pilgrims on this journey of life. The challenges and conflicts we face get easier when we help each other and honor our places.”
“The Water Station” will be performed Oct. 3 to Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Nina Winkel Sculpture Court in the Plattsburgh State Art Museum. Tickets are $8 for general admission and $3 for students and can be purchased on Cardinal Link.
The first performance on Oct. 3 will feature a small reception and talkback with artist Robin Lasser and the cast and crew of “The Water Station.”
The gallery for “Climate’s Shipwreck Ballad,” by Robin Lasser and “Transmutation Traces,” by Marguerite Perret will be open before the show starting at 6:15 p.m. and remain open after the performance until 8:30 p.m.
