on the cover / By Hank Sims

Glasnost

A tradition at the Dell’Arte school dictates that the second-year students welcome the incoming class with a performance. So when their turn to entertain rolled around, this year’s class, who had various levels of musical talent, dreamed up the Glasnost band. It stuck. They started playing impromptu gigs around town, including one at the Arcata Farmers’ Market. They spent a day busking guerilla-style in San Francisco, and made enough to pay for their travel expenses.

So when it came time to submit ideas for a holiday show, they proposed to structure one around the band. Dell’Arte went with the idea, and this year’s holiday show director, Joan Schirle, has been working with them to develop the band’s history and internal dynamics.

It turned out that the story of the band would have resonance beyond what the students could have imagined when they first devised it a year ago. Suddenly, financial insecurity is at the back of everyone’s mind (if not the front). The ragtag camp the band sets up when they come to town isn’t just the image of a gypsy camp — it’s the image of America’s Great Depression.

But the show that the actors and crew have devised is full of abundance. Even the endless, buffoonish bickering that tears apart the orderly proceedings from time to time seems like a gift. And though the family is poor, they give more than they receive. (“We’re a street band,” says actor Liza Bielby, a native of Marquette, Mich., emphatically. Their shows are free.)

The show comes to a head around a monologue delivered by the beloved grandmother of the family (who is played by the youngest actor, Norah Sadava). She tells the story of a time the family had no food, and the event that allowed them to have a (meager) holiday feast. It’s the spirit of the show, and of the season, this year especially: Food. Miracles. Family. Hijinx ensue, and close the show, but the quiet moment lingers.

When next semester starts, the students will be working in small groups with community groups, such as the Raven Project, a nonprofit that serves homeless teenagers. They’ll develop theater pieces to help these groups with their work. After that, they’ll be off on their own again. Deepal Doshi plans to return to his native Bombay, there to continue the political theater work he had done before he came to Dell’Arte. Ida Fugli will return to Norway, and she’ll be bringing her classmate Jamie Van Camp along with her. They want to start a physical theater program in one of that country’s magnet schools for the arts. Other students say they’re not sure what their next step will be. But they all have fire in their eyes.

Go see the show. Take your kids. You won’t be sorry.

*Glasnost Family Holiday plays around Humboldt County for the next two weeks. Call 668-5663, ext. 5 for details and schedule, or visit www.dellarte.com. Pick up free tickets at Pierson’s Building Center, Wildberries Marketplace, Coast Central Credit Union or at the Dell’Arte box office.*

1 2 SHARE