<h3><strong><em>Undesirable Elements </em></strong><strong>Holds a Mirror Up to the Community</strong></h3>
By Kelundra Smith
Theater artist <strong>Ping Chong</strong> and Syracuse Stage producing artistic director <strong>Timothy Bon</strong>d are long-time collaborators on Chong’s interview-based, documentary theater series <em>Undesirable Elements</em>(<em>UE</em>), where non-actors tell their stories on stage. Bond has collaborated with Chong on three <em>UE</em> productions— <em>Undesirable Elements/Seattle </em>(The Group Theatre,1995<em>)</em>, <em>Tales from the Salt City </em>(Syracuse Stage,2008) and<em> Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo </em>(Syracuse Stage,2012<em>), </em>a project which he and Chong prepared for by traveling to the Congo in July 2011<em>. </em>To celebrate the series’ 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary, La Mama E.T.C. is hosting an<em> Undesirable Elements</em> Festival and Theater Communications Group is publishing a book,<em> Undesirable Elements</em>, which contains scripts and notes about Chong’s methodology. I sat down with Bond to ask him about the process of developing an<em> UE</em> production and what keeps him coming back to this unique form.
<strong>You have collaborated with Ping Chong on <em>Undesirable Elements</em> projects numerous times. How did you two initially meet?</strong>
Ping Chong did a lecture on collaboration at a conference I attended as a part of my National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Directing Fellowship in 1991.After his talk, I went up to him and told him about the grant and I asked him if he would be willing to be my mentor. He said,“Sure.” So I went up to Yellow Springs, Ohio where he was developing a piece called <em>Elephant Memories</em>. Then I went to La Mama with the company and was his assistant director on <em>Elephant Memories,</em> and in the midst of all that I saw the original <em>Undesirable Elements</em> installation and thought the whole idea was incredible. He’s had a huge impact on my art, my understanding of being an artistic director, of collaboration and of the importance of socio-political consciousness in the theater and the world.
<strong>It has been 17 years since your first<em> Undesirable Elements </em>production with Chong. What is it about <em>Undesirable Elements</em> that keeps you coming back to work with him?</strong>
Well it’s an extraordinary way to connect to community in the cities I’ve been in, first Seattle and now Syracuse. To tell the stories of people who have been underrepresented in the American theater is a part of my mission as an artist, and it is something Ping taps into directly and profoundly.This is a brilliantly conceived project and the form he’s created with <em>Undesirable Elements</em> of interview and seated opera, the way they tell their stories, the way people fill in each other’s stories, become part of each other’s stories, to me is what theater is all about.
<strong>Why do you think his methodology works? </strong>
He’s a curious artist. He’s curious about culture, about people, and he wants to tell their stories. He is disarming in his pursuit of the truth of people’s stories, and he’s very respectful of what they have been through. And he’s fearless. He came into Syracuse and read this town like a book in no time. He knows how to morph into a listener and supporter of where you’re coming from.
<strong>How involved are you in the creative process when you bring Ping in for an UE project?</strong>
I have been an artistic director during these projects, so my job was to set the boundaries around what the nature of the project was going to be and see if that jived with Ping’s interests. In Seattle we wanted to reach new immigrants, so I helped put the call out to various communities and I did some of the initial interviews. Then I just create safe space for them to do their work. The same thing happened in Syracuse with <em>Tales from the Salt City</em>. It was my first season as artistic director and to bring non-actors onto the stage was a big risk.I believed that it was going to help our audience get a better understanding of the diversity of Syracuse and broaden their definition of theater. That’s what Ping Chong does that’s phenomenal.
<strong>You mentioned the impact on audiences. Have you seen the audience have a desire for more of that since you’ve done two shows in Syracuse?</strong>
Yeah. The whole way the Congo project came about is because one of the members of the Congolese community had seen <em>Tales from the Salt City</em>. I also think when we took <em>The Brothers Size </em>to South Africa there was a greater interest from our audience than there would have been before, because of exposure to African immigrants on stage during <em>Tales from the Salt City</em> and <em>Cry for Peace</em>.They are beginning to say this is relevant to my life and my community in Syracuse. It changes an audience, it’s transformational, this work.
Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo<em> written by Ping Chong and Kyle Bass, with Sara Zatz,and presented by Syracuse Stage and Syracuse University, in association with Ping Chong + Company and the Congolese Community of Syracuse, will receive its world premiere at Syracuse Stage with shows September 14, 15, 21, and 22 at 8 p.m., September 22 at 2 p.m. and September 16 and 23 at 2 p.m. The show will transfer to La Mama E.T.C. with shows October 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30pm, and October 21 at 2:30pm.</em>
<strong>About Ping Chong</strong>
Since 1972, Chong, who works as a theatre director, playwright, choreographer, and video and installation artist, has created more than fifty works for the stage, including 25 works in his Undesirable Elements series. He is the recipient of two Obie Awards, two Bessie Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his work has been performed at major museums, festivals, and theatres throughout the Americas.
<strong><em>Undesirable Elements</em></strong>, which is published by Theatre Communications Group, is available online and in bookstores this fall.