#Afsoon Pajoufar

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A Los Angeles Theatre Review: 'Wish You Were Here'

The West Coast premiere of Sanaz Toossi's 'Wish You Were Here' at South Coast Repertory is a resounding play with its stunning writing, directing, and acting from their incredible ensemble cast.

The West Coast premiere of Sanaz Toossi‘s Wish You Were Here at South Coast Repertory is a resounding play with its stunning writing, its beautiful simplicity & grace from director Mina Morita, and the incredible ensemble cast who have such endearing chemistry with each other. If you are able to make a trek down to Costa Mesa and see a gorgeous play with all Southwest Asians portrayed in sheer…

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The Romanian Revolution (top to bottom):

Graffiti: “At Christmas-time We Had Our Ration Of Freedom” (De Crăciun Ne-Am Luat Rația de Libertate)

Left - Two people embracing as others begin to build a shrine around a wooden cross; Right - A soldier (or rebel?) kisses another soldier as she places carnation in the muzzles of the guns.

Tanks driven by soldiers gear up to attack the People’s Palace.

More tanks arrive, this time with decorated Christmas trees.

A Romanian Hospital

Submitted by Afsoon Pajoufar, Scenic Designer.

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Mica Hastings as Flavia, the teacher who spouts dictator propaganda in her classroom

the cast waiting to begin performance

Charlie Wood as a member of the secret police

Phil Carroll as the Vampire

Yibin (Bill) Wang as Granny

Andrew Omar Crisol as a corrupt angel

Charlie Wood as a compromised priest

a doctor and a ghost embrace, although the actors are many miles apart

the wedding brawl

one of the scene titles

One of reportedly 125 custom-designed Zoom backgrounds used in the Mad Forest production

an example of when the show suddenly went offline, and we were instructed to refresh

Bard’s splendidly glitchy production of “Mad Forest,” Caryl Churchill’s fascinating avant-garde drama about the 1989 Romanian Revolution, is the first live play I’ve seen since the shutdown that attempts a full staging via Zoom. Rather than just reading the stage directions, the twelve actors enact them – a mother slaps her son; friends share a piece of chocolate; a couple hug one another; the members of a wedding party get into a massive group brawl — although each of the actors, all undergraduates at Bard, are performing  remotely from locations across the country where they are sheltering. Presented live and free last night through Theatre for a New Audience in collaboration with Fisher Center at Bard (with two more live performances scheduled for Sunday at 5, and Wednesday at 3), the show was a revelation, and something of a revolution itself, suggesting new paths forward for online theater. This is not to say everything went smoothly; quite the opposite. The interactions were often awkward, the picture grainy, and the transmission twitchy; indeed, several times the picture froze, and, following instructions from TFANA in the chat room off to the right of the screen, I had to refresh my computer just to get the show back underway. But this “Mad Forest” worked – and not despite these imperfections, but in some measure because of them. The reliance on undergraduates feels inspired, because it’s so fitting. The playwright herself, along with original director Mark Wing-Davey, enlisted a group of students from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, to accompany them on a fact-finding mission with students from Romania,  just months after the uprising in December, 1989, which toppled the country’s long-time dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. “Emotions in Bucharest were still raw,” Churchill has written, “and the Romanian students and the other people we met helped us to understand what Romania had been like under Ceaușescu, as well as what happened in December and what was happening while we were there. We learned far more in a short time than anyone could have done alone, and the company’s intense involvement made it possible to write the play.” The London students put on the first production of the play at their school in June, 1990. It was produced in New York by the New York Theatre Workshop in 1991 (with a cast that included future familiar actors Calista Flockhart, Tim Nelson and Jake Weber), which transferred to Manhattan Theatre Club the following year. Named after a forest in Bucharest that was notoriously impenetrable to foreigners, “Mad Forest” is divided into three acts – the stifled, upside-down life in Romania under Ceaușescu; the violent, confusing uprising of December, 1989 which resulted in the dictator’s execution; celebratory, anxious, uncertain life in the weeks afterward. The key to understanding Churchill’s approach – as well as that of Ashley Tata, who directs the current production – may be in a joke that the character Ianoș (Lily Goldman) tells about Ceaușescu, although never mentioning the dictator’s name; she just says “he” (and everybody knows who she means; there is no other “he” during Ceaușescu’s reign.) He dies and goes to Heaven, where God goes to him and says “I hear you think you’re better than me.” “Yes I am.” He asks him who made the earth and the stars and the people and the trees. One by one, he answers “You did.” ‘Then how can you possibly be greater than me?’ And he says, ‘All these things, what did you make them from?’ And God said, ‘Chaos, I made it all out of Chaos.’ ‘There you are,’ he said. ‘I made chaos.’” “Mad Forest” helps us feel what it was like to live under such a man in an impressive range of scenes. In Act I, while the main characters, members of two different families, come into focus, the scenes are slow-moving and often largely silent, as if people are afraid to speak or even to move.  Those who do speak the most are tools of the regime. Flavia Antonescu, a teacher (Mica Hastings), drones on in her classroom about how “this great son of the nation” is “everything in the country that is most durable and harmonious.” In the next scene, her son Radu Antonescu (Tim Halvorsen), while waiting in a long line to buy food, whispers “Down with Ceaușescu.” (What we see on screen are multiple images just of people’s feet on the line, as if even the camera were afraid to show anybody’s face.)  In one chilling scene, a member of the Securitate, the secret police, (Charlie Wood) interrogates electrician Bogdan Vladu (Phil Carroll) because his daughter Lucia (Ali Kane) is planning to marry an American.

Act II, by contrast, is a dizzying succession of quick-hit, intercut documentary-like accounts — by a doctor and a student and a driver of a bulldozer and a member of Securitate — about what they saw during the days of the uprising, and what they did or didn’t do. But throughout “Mad Forest,” there are also fanciful scenes  —  between a compromised priest and an even more compromised angel, between a doctor and a dead patient, and between a needy dog and a bored vampire.

The actors, who portray up to seven characters each, certainly meet the demands of their roles, which, given the circumstances, go beyond what’s usually expected. They were each reportedly mailed the props, costumes, earbuds, lighting equipment, and green screens and worked to coordinate their lines of vision to help create the illusion of characters sharing a space.  But this is the director’s show, and it’s trailblazing.

This is not to say I agree with every choice the director makes;  I felt there too much artsy movement and loud music in Act II, which distracted from the details of the accounts, and detracted from their power.

But Tata’s direction, in conjunction with the technical innovations, doesn’t just show what Zoom theater is capable of.  It enhances Churchill’s play in unexpected ways. The grainy dull transmission reproduces the effects of a bad television broadcast — just the sort of TV that we can imagine the Romanians had to put up with. And, in case our imagination doesn’t reach that far back in time and place, there is a note from the director in the program to help it along: “….television and the amateur camcorder fundamentally shaped the message of the Romanian Revolution. State-run, regularly televised addresses provide the platform of choice for dictators, including the Ceausescu. Churchill’s play narrates the revolutionaries’ early action of occupying the television station. They opened the doors so citizens — victims of the regime — could testify against a government whose policies had silenced them for decades. For days ordinary Romanians delivered extemporaneous monologues in a kind of ad hoc truth and reconciliation commission. Technology was foregrounded as a tool to unify and amplify the shared experiences of these individuals…”

Each twitch of Zoom felt deliberate, even when it clearly wasn’t. The accompanying chat room helped make this play. At one point, two of my fellow audience members had this exchange about the need to refresh:

First theatergoer: I’ve left and come back at least 6 times and still have problems

Second theatergoer: I’ve had relationships like that

That response was a joke, but to me it speaks to our relationship as well with “Mad Forest.” Every time I had to refresh, I felt Zoom was a tool that unified and amplified the shared experiences of the community. Two communities — the people in Romania three decades ago, and the many of us stuck home now, relying on screens for our theater.

Mad Forest: A Play from Romania Written by Caryl Churchill Directed by Ashley Tata Scenic Design by Afsoon Pajoufar, costume design by Ásta Bennie Hostetter, lighting design by Abigail Hoke-Brady, compositions and sound Design by Paul Pinto, movement direction by Dan Safer, video design by Eamonn Farrel, production stage manager Vanessa C. Hart Cast: Phil Carroll as Bogdan/Translator/Vampire Andrew Omar Crisol as Grandfather (Bogdan’s)/Angel/Boy Student 2 Lily Goldman as Ianoș/Painter/Old Aunt Tim Halvorsen as Radu/Boy Student 1 Mica Hastings as Flavia/House Painter Azalea Hudson as Grandmother (Bogdan’s)/Scribe/Someone With a Sore Throat Ali Kane as Lucia/Girl Student Gavin McKenzie as Mihai/Doctor/Wayne/Soldier/Patient/Ghost/ Soldier 2 (of Rodica’s Nightmare) Taty Rozetta as Irina/Rodica/Waiter Violet Savage as Florina/Student Doctor Yibin (Bill) Wang as Gabriel/Grandmother (Flavia’s)/Toma/Bulldozer Driver Charlie Wood as Priest/Securitate Officer/Soldier 1 (of Rodica’s Nightmare) Running time: one hour 45 minutes with no intermission. Free online. RSVP to get the link

Mad Forest Review: Caryl Churchill’s play about revolution creates a new one on Zoom Bard’s splendidly glitchy production of “Mad Forest,” Caryl Churchill’s fascinating avant-garde drama about the 1989 Romanian Revolution, is the first live play I’ve seen since the shutdown that attempts a full staging via Zoom.

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Pictured here are the original stage models created for Luma Theater by Afsoon Pajofar, Mad Forest’s set designer. From top to bottom: The gradual lifting of the wall with the word “Da” (“Yes” in Romanian) in Act I for two different scenes; further lifting of the wall in Act II; a final, total lifting of the wall at the end of Act II, wherein actors would cross the path the wall previously blocked as bullets rained downstage.

Here are some highlights from assistant director Angela Woodack’s interview with her:

Angela Woodack (AW): What was your motivation for creating the original set design? How have you changed it to accommodate Mad Forest's movement from Luma Theater to Zoom?

Afsoon Pajoufar (AP): In the stage version of the design, we decided to create a space that projects the complex political climate of Romania with three bold gestures: before, during, and after revolution. For example, in the first act we had a massive concrete wall-an impenetrable brutal object-which it almost walled off the proscenium. The remaining narrow strip 6 feet from the edge of the stage,  forced the actors to perform in the tiny area against the concrete wall! Through the revolution scene actors penetrate the space and in final act we have a wide open fragmented chaotic space.

The design approach for Zoom was completely different than stage version; it was more like production design for film. Instead of having one stage with actors on it, we had 12 actors in 12 separate studios. We had to design an environment in order to connect them together in these little Zoom windows.  For most of the scenes I used framing techniques, to give the audience a sense of continuous action, making it seem as though this sequence is happening in one location. For example, I created a floor plan of Antonescu's apartment so I can keep track on actors positions to each other.  

AW: Did your regular artistic influences serve as inspiration for these designs? Or were you inspired to seek out new artists to build the dramaturgical background of the set?

AP: Each project for me is an opportunity to read more books, watch more movies and discover new artists. In this case, my focus was on Romanian artists and cinema, which it helped me gain a better understanding of their history, folk culture, and contemporary life. For instance, Ion Barladeanu multilayered collages are satirical and they show influence of capitalism and western pop culture in Romania. His collages were the main inspiration for shaping the third act’s mood. There were several other directors like Cristian Mungiu, Andrei Cohn, and Corneliu Porumboiu; their work has been informative for me.

AW: Has the switch to digital performance required you to learn any new skills you previously did not use in your experience as a set designer?

AP: Practically speaking, this was a fast switch, non of us was anticipating days like these even a month ago! We've tried to adapt to the situation as fast as possible and use available online platforms and technologies in a best way to make the piece happen. I used to be a production designer, and this was such a great opportunity to brush up my experience from film days. Also, since we were dealing with camera, I had to think more like a cinematographer in creating virtual contents.

AW: Have you been part of any revolutions? If so, how did they impact your approach to the world of Mad Forest?

AP: Well, I have lived more than half of my life in Iran where it is impossible to live somehow without being connected to politics, revolutions, and etc. You know…middle east daily vibe! There are several revolutions in our history, but the two most recent are 1979 (which I hadn’t been born) and the Green movement in 2009, which I was involved, but it failed! Participating in everyday protests as a student, seeing your friends got shot and were bleeding in the streets, worried parents for their youths and eventually a failure, theoretically or practically!….They all sound so similar to Mad Forest or any other revolution having these actual experiences helped me to execute the feeling of an oppressed society under a totalitarian regime and post-revolution chaotic moments.

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Everyday life in Romania leading up to the Romanian Revolution (top to bottom):

A picture of Nicolae Ceaucescu presides over a Romanian classroom

Left - Romanian bottles; Right - Matchboxes from Bucharest

Left - Newspapers, c.1986; Right - Romanian children’s reading material

Various students’ desks. 

Submitted by Afsoon Pajoufar, Scenic Designer.

[madforestatbard]

A Letter from Ashley Tata, Director of Mad Forest

Dear Every Body,

There are no new stories.

5th century BCE, Athens. Plague kills 1/3 of the Athenian population. We get Oedipus the King with its references to a plague-besieged Thebes.

17th century, London. Plague kills tens of thousands. Theaters are shut down when weekly deaths exceed 30. We get King Lear, Macbeth.

During a time of physical distancing and social proximity I continue to cherish the community of makers I count as my friends and family. As I write this I am confident that one or many of you reading will make a thing that blows my mind in the months and years ahead. Because I do know the most interesting people.

Some of those people have enabled me to keep making during this time. Our production of Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest was scheduled to open at Bard’s Fisher Center this past week. It has been rapid-response re-conceived for an online platform. We will be ready to stream it at you this coming Friday, April 10th at 7pm est via Vimeo, FB Live and YouTube Livestream.

Afsoon Pajoufar has re-conceived the scenic design, Abby Hoke-Brady the lighting and Ásta Bennie Hostetter the costumes. Paul Pinto has recomposed for heavy gate interruption. Dan Safer has re-choreographed for many small stages. Eamonn Farrell has created a video design that incorporates the realities of this platform with the aesthetic of the production. The company of actors have grown their performance imaginations to cast needs and actions beyond their isolated rooms to their scene partners thousands of miles and many time zones away. And Vanessa C. Hart has managed these stages without a physical stage! Today we begin tech rehearsal where we will be joined by technicians from all departments led by a production team who have adjusted to the circumstances with flexibility and ingenuity. All of this with an immense amount of heart, passion and rigorous craft.

We know many who are sick and some who won’t be with us in the months ahead. Reflecting on this, on my city and on the state of humanity causes me intense moments of grief these days. The financial devastation has caused me and will cause many others to think they won't be able to make anymore. This project is -- I hope -- one of the many testimonies to the power of a community of makers to keep making. Through this time and beyond.

With the deepest love, affection, respect, gratitude and enthusiasm for you all and your loved ones.

Sending health and a big virtual hug during these extraordinary times,

Ashley