Wet Feet/Dry Feet

Jorge Luis Morejon. Wet Feet / Dry Feet.

The Lab Sessions 1 .0. “Nodes & Naughty Codes.” Saturday, May 5th, 2007
http://www.labspacestudio.com/gallery/labSessions/index.php

Performance Artist: Jorge Luis Morejon Toronto.
York University. Accolade West. Room 009. Performance Art: Politics and Aesthetics. March 29, 2007
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Wet Feet / Dry Feet: Artistic Statement

Wet Foot/Dry Foot, a solo performance piece has three main parts, audiovisual, body and ritual. The role of video technology in this piece is to bring the urban scene into the performance space and ritual. The exploration of emotion is present in the ritual-like narrative piece. The images projected on the screen and the artist’s body moving in space, expressed through paper dolls, music, movement, soil and water convey a history of displacement and separation. The performance piece re-enacts the metaphorical past by constructing abstract images of displacement.

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The man in the video represents the urban need for grounding. In contrast, the loin clothed Taino embodies the emotion that results from his immediate immersion in the elements of earth and water. Both characters, the urban man and the Taino are intended to give the impression of being spiritually displaced. The idea of shared displacement allows the artist to explore the forging of a ritualized intimacy with the audience as he evokes the absence and ruptures of time and space through performance art.

Final Chapter

Team members in the making: from left to right, Vanessa Burns, Doug Chapman,

Peter Reynolds, Mona Waserman, Jorge Luis Morejon, and Nick Vitacco (center)

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Jorge Luis Morejon was a member of Final Chapter, a short film which was submitted to the 24 HR Toronto Film Challenge, the Spring of 2007. The 24 HR Toronto Film Challenge takes place once a year, and it invites filmmakers to write, produce and direct a film in twenty four hours. For the filmmakers who participate, the challenge implies overcoming technical obstacles and writing a good story to tell as they integrate the challenge pack shooting guerrilla style. In producer Chantal Leblanc-Everett's own words, "this is by far one of the most industrious festivals in existence." The challenge package for year 2007 was Do It Yourself as the theme, Doc/Mock as a genre, a coloured paint swatch for a prop and "Famous last words" for a line. Fingers Crossed Productions, the team that produced Final Chapter for the festival described their film as a "short-subject documentary , investigating the do-it-yourself alternative to commercial funeral homes and the controversy surrounding author Linda Lewis." The Fingers Crossed team was integrated by director Peter Reynolds, producer and actress Mona Waserman as Linda, actors Vanessa Burns and Doug Chapman as the couple, actor Jorge Luis Morejon as the funeral director, and Nick Vitacco as the corpse. The team was satisfied to witness that, out of 27 films, Final Chapter's humor was welcomed with continuos waves of laughter by the sympathetic festival audience.

Rebambaramba

Rebambaramba and Other Readings

This was Jorge Luis Morejon's second participation in La “Rebambaramba.” This time the event was the stage where Jorge Luis Morejon said goodbye to Miami by participating with a creative emsemble of dancers and actors in a dance piece. He shared the stage with his colleagues Kelly Hamilton, Rosanna Morronne and Nick Perez. La "Rebambaramba" invited also local poets and artists who got together to present their works created for the occasion and inspired by Fahrenheit 451 . The guests artists were, among others, Daína Chaviano, Germán Guerra, Nelly Torres, Jorge Luis Morejón, and Pedro Portal. Date and time - 13 May at 7:30 Following the tradition of the yearly event of The Center for Literary Arts, Miami Dade College at 7:30p.m. Place: Books & Books, Coral Gables. 2006.

Clytemnestra

Actress Rosanna Morrone in her solo Clytemnestra. Camera Obscura

Adapted and directed by Jorge Luis Morejon.

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Superbly performed by actress Rosanna Morrone, Clytemnestra was a solo performance adapted and directed by Jorge Luis Morejon for the Festival de Monologos produced by Havanafama Co., where Ms. Morrone received standing ovations. For its quality and power, Clytemnestra was also selected to be performed at the "Teatro a una Voz: Monologues and More" production of Havanafama. Commissioned by Armando Alfano, Clytemnestra was last performed in Italian at Soya & Pomodoro Restaurant's performance space for an all Italian audience in Miami, Florida, in 2006. Awarded with the audience's bravos, it was last performed the 12 of April, 2008, at Teatro Estudio Havana Fama, as part of the VII Festival Latinoamericano del Monologo, Miami, Florida.

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Critique: Theatre In One Voice Of Four Voices in Camera Obscura of Miami (translated excerpt)

Carlos Pittella TeatroMundial.com, Miami

"The spectacle “Teatro a una voz” had a variety of styles and forms which made it entertaining, but most of all attractive. There were presented four monologues with dignity and within the frame the space tries to offer. The first one was “Clytemnestra”, a segment of the Greek tragedy “Electra”, by Sophocles, interpreted by the Italian Rossana Morrone. The scene is the entrance of Clytemnestra, the widow of Agamemnon, who comes to confront Electra, her daughter. The knot of the monologue relies on the uncertainty of the mother due the torturous and horrific dream caused by the murder of her own husband. Electra manifests that it must be a very special sacrifice, and her answer is what fills up the monologue.

The actress' work is magnificent, and I clarify, it was in Italian. Yes, magnificent, giving a demonstration of what can be done with the body on stage, deserving of admiration. No doubt, it is noticeable the directorial work to which Morrone put herself through, because Jorge Luis Morejón, an accomplished modern dancer, influenced tremendously the aesthetic development of the spectacle through the actress whom definitely exhibited the totality of the montage. Her body expression is the main element that accompanies what we call a good voice, a blessing given to a “prima donna” as well as a dramatic actress, hence, to a person with the talent to command the sounds and know that with them she will communicate with force the smallest details, modulations and tones. That bundle of aesthetic manifestations, in this case, was called Rosanna Morrone. And a peculiar detail, the divisions in the textual units, those marking the differences in intention are signaled with a transition, and it is here (work and idea of Morejón, I suppose) that it was coupled by the use of a veil, which indicated and enforced the inner expression directed at the expectator. In summary, Rossana Morrone showed dignity and efficacy in her work, a pride of her director because according to my own reading of what I saw , it is indeed what Sophocles wanted to manifest in his "Electra, and if the after world exists, the great Greek man should have felt happy with this presentation of his play."

http://www.teatroenmiami.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4240

Rabinal Achi

Rabinal Achi, adapted and directed by Jorge Luis Morejon. Publicity picture.

Actors: Rosanna Morrone, Daniel Lugo, Nick Perez, Martin Mayen

Rabinal Achí, Precolombian Theater
by Luis de la Paz, Diario de Las Américas (translation)

The only space for alternative theater in the city, Camera Obscura, is going into ancient forms of expression, through a fresh look, and full of cultural nuances to Rabinal Achí, a pre-Colombian drama, which goes back to the Mayans, more specifically towards those established on the territory of Guatemala.

Jorge Luis Morejon and Thelos Theater Group took the text that has come to our days, to offer a comprehensive show, which includes extensive dialogues through monologues, dance rituals, the use of masks, costumes in accordance with the time represented, in addition to the a successful musical arrangement of Alexandro Danko Sieth, which integrates the elements specific to the region, such as flutes and drums. The unification of these components, has resulted in a successful proposal.

The drama of Rabinal Achí is comparable, from the point of view of its significance, to the Popol-Vuh and the Chilam-Balam, which are part of the pre-Hispanic customs transmitted through word of mouth, until after colonization when early versions were made in writing. The tour started with Bartolo Sis' literary text in 1850 and then to abate Charles Etienne Brasseur of Bourbourg, collecting directly from the tragedy of Quiche, Rabinal Achí was published in Paris in 1862, a later versions in Spanish arrived.

The story notes that the warrior Cavek Queche spied for 260 days and 260 nights on the strength of Rabinal, to kidnap and bring in the Lord of Rabinal. Subsequently, the warrior Rabinal Achí rescued his lord and captured the enemy warrior. At this point begins the work proposed by Morejon, when Rabinal Achí comes with the prisoner and begins to establish an angry dialogue where the two contenders hurl allegations at each other, highlighting the fights and adventures of each, until the final outcome, when the the prisoner is executed.

Using arena theatre as a resource and without any sets, as props a cane, and a mesh mask, Jorge Luis Morejon put into operation a successful dramatic structure that is smooth and precise, despite being a repetitive text with little scenic movement.

The interpretive work of Martin Mayen and Nick Perez as warriors is well accomplished. The first is very expressive, with a strong voice and fury to the surface. In the other hand, Perez has to perform, nearly all his participation, crawling on the floor covered by a mesh. Still, he reaches height in his interpretation. The play is an act of an hour and a half long without a break. During the "intermediate" part of it, it is almost incidental when the actors move from Spanish language (the language it starts with at the beginning), to English. Although the transition flows naturally, I do not see the reasons for the play to be bilingual, meaning that one par is in one language and then the other.

The other two characters Chief Five Rain, interpreted by Daniel Lugo and Lady (Rossanna Morrone), work side by side, blending in the making, which has a high moment when all four players moving slowly, almost ceremonially, complemented each other by producing an increasing lamenting sound, which marks the end of the work.

Rabinal Achí is an integral and necessary work in our multi-ethnic city. It is a wise move to offer the public this truly unique work, which hardly will return to the stage.

Rabinal Achí , Cultural Space Camera Obscura, 1165 SW 6 Street.. Rabinal Achí, Espacio Cultural Camera Obscura, 1165 SW 6 Street. Friday and Saturday 8:30 pm and Sunday2:00 pm. Suggested Donation:$ 20.00

Go Tour

Advertisement card for the GoTour show in New York, 2004,

where Thelos Theatre Group Participated with Three Greek Women.

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Thelos of Miami will perform in NY with its spectacle 'Three Greek Women'(translation)
By Ernesto Hernadez
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"What do yo expect from this festival in New York?
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The festival has been created to give support to the independent artists community in the United States, from there it derives that, in artistic terms, the festival will serve as a platform to expose our work to the New York audience. Practically, it will put us on the map the festival is trying to create and that includes independent arts communities from all over the country. I also expect precisely all that the festival offers, that it will help us to to take control of our vision through sharing information with other participants and organize our own tours. The information includes the places, presenters and resources to which potentially we will have access to through our work in this festival. I hope that Thelos will bring high the name of our city. Yuya Dola, our direction assistant, will be in charge of the group during the festival. I hope for them to have a good time, to have fun, and for Three Greek Women to have the same success that it has had in Miami."
http://www.teatroenmiami.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2684

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Thelos in the Big Apple

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Thelos went to New York with Three Greek Women. This was Thelos’ first production and its first invitation to perform outside of Miami and outside of Camera Obscura. "T2K, nyc notebook" announced Three Greek Women, among other pieces, in the “Road Show," the Field's Gotour mini-fest at ps 122, July 5, 2005.
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Three Greek Women (excerpt) Thelos Theater Group (THEATER - Miami, FL):
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"Three Greek Women works from the classic Greek texts of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, intertwining the stories of Clytemnestra, Antigone and Medea to create a new story."
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On its front page T2K explains how the “selection of the 14 acts representing GoTour's first anniversary celebration was equally democratic: "they selected one another. In January, GoTour invited members to define on a personal level -- in 500 words or less -- what it means to be an independent artist.”
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T2K quotes Jorge Luis Morejon:
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"For some of us," writes Thelos' Jorge Luis Morejon, "the format of independent work is a real necessity and the only way possible to be genuine, real and artistically uncompromising."

http://www.theater2k.com/Notebook070505_Roadshow.htm

Readings Without Censorship

“Lecturas sin Censura,”(Readings Without Censorship) was a lecture given by founder of the Biliotecas Independientes de Cuba, Ramón Colás with presentations by Berta Mexidor, Jorge Luís Morejón, and Roberto Lozano hosted by the Cuban and Cuban-American Studies Center at the University of Miami, the Human Rights Foundation in Cuba, and Las Bibliotecas Independientes de Cuba, (Independent Libraries of Cuba) at Casa Bacardí, Coral Gables, Florida, Wednesday, April 28th, 2004.