Photo Source: Wonderlane, Flickr
There’s always considering how to fit your entire life, plus the couch, in a U-Haul, but a theatrical performance in your new living room probably doesn’t come to mind. But O’Hagan Blades, Charles Gariepy, and Cordelia Istel, the three actors who make up “Rudy’s Meritocracy,” aim to ease the pain of moving by providing a few helping hands and a free viewing of their original production, "THISISMYREALLIFE."
“We had the idea that we wanted to do a performance in an apartment space because it was a really intimate way to bring an audience together into a tiny space,” said Gariepy.
“Rudy’s Meritocracy” helps you move your stuff and in exchange, you support experimental, improv theater by watching them perform their 40-minute play in your new home.
"It’s not like we show up with a truck and you get to sit back," Blades explains. "We help you move. You rent the truck, because we don’t have the money to do that. We show up at the truck and help do it."
"We think of this as us replacing the hands of your exhausted friend pool," adds Cordelia Istel.
Sick of the complications of being a financially challenged 20-something artist - asking people for money to perform, struggling to find meaningful roles, and not having creative control – the trio realized they already had the empty space they needed with all their friends moving all the time. They decided to take matters into their own hands. They worked together to write a play about the limbo life of being a 20-something, struggling actor in New York City.
“Moving is sort of the avenue with which to talk about being transient and in between spaces,” says Gariepy. “We’re actually moving you. We’re using your props, your life to illustrate something about our lives and about the universal moment.”
“We also really loved the utilitarianism of providing a service,” Blades adds. “We’re actually providing a moving service. We’re helping someone’s day go a little bit better.”
The play focuses on the site-specific nature, and the actors incorporate the living space into the performance. “We’re trying to make [your apartment] a part of the show as much as a possible,” said Gariepy.
During one performance, they utilized five doors and crawl spaces into their performance. “THISISMYREALLIFE” incorporates only cardboard boxes, flashlights, already-present lighting, and the occasional extension cord.
“People really love the intimacy we’re trying to create and the socialness of our piece,” Istel says. “We haven’t done it yet without serving drinks and snacks before hand. It integrated theater so seamlessly into everyone’s Saturday night out.”
The play lays out episodic scenes based around the seven stages of moving: Excitement/prosperity, Disillusionment, Compromise, Entrapment, The Freak-Out, The Calm down, and The Celebration.
“I think it’s very difficult for an actor to say, ‘I want to start something,’” Blades says. “People tell you that you’re an actor, you’re a tool, the director’s tool, an instrument.”
“What was challenging when I was looking for paid work as an actor was finding opportunities for meaningful work,” adds Gariepy. “There are only so many roles that are given to 20-somethings where they can express themselves and say anything of value. If we become more flexible in our craft and become holistic performers, it’ll help us out.”
Photo by Wonderlane via Flickr
