On January 17th and 18th, we’re unveiling the world premiere of The Space Between to Steppenwolf Theatre’s LookOut series…and let’s just say this is uncharted territory for us. Swirling around the theme of interpersonal dynamics, this gripping piece was initially conceived by composer Lisa R. Coons more than three years ago, and we’ve been workshopping it ever since. One of the most crucial decisions Lisa made, in the very early stages, was to collaborate with director Mark DeChiazza, whose extraordinary work you’ve encountered at eighth blackbird and Kronos Quartet shows, amongst many others.
Mark is an ideal collaborator – one who manages to slip between leadership and listening seamlessly. The Space Between is really a co-composition, so we wanted to give you a little peek into Mark’s process…and perhaps show you why he is so heavily in demand in our corner of the musical universe and beyond.
Enjoy, and for the love of Peter, Paul, and Mary – do not miss your chance to experience this alternate, strange world.
Director Mark DeChiazza introducing the primary visual design element of The Space Between: latex sheets that transform throughout the show. (photo by Daniel Kullman for Bitter Jester Studios)
Doyle Armbrust: Because you work with artists of different disciplines, is part of your job as a director to "discover your instrument," so to speak? To interact with the performers and find out how to most effectively use their bodies in space, based on what they bring to the table?
Mark DeChiazza: Absolutely, and the fewer assumptions about “the instrument” one starts with, I think the better. I also feel staging and movement should not be decorative, but rather necessary—either grown out of a musical gesture or adding a separate conceptually important dimension or even impediment to it. So I need to understand what that gesture is and what it takes for performers to execute it.
DA: At what point in your development process do you start considering how something will look or play to the audience?
MD: Immediately, but not all the time. Right from the first rehearsal I’m looking at the performers, listening to the sounds—seeing what is there and imagining how I can bring these givens toward a group of concepts. So I’m trying to be an audience, really.
At a certain point I must stop observing and start making choices, and I try to move things in a direction, but after that I need to switch back to look again—and to really try to see what is there with fresh eyes. I’m not thinking “would my audience like this or that?” but I’m trying to be very aware of how things are reading or not reading, and to know the difference between what is in front of me and what is in my head.
DA: With such a long timeline for the development of The Space Between, the piece has really grown and morphed with us. What has been the most unexpected difference between your early conception of the piece and the piece as it lives now?
MD: The identity of the work has evolved to feel more organic over time. I am less aware of the design of the staging as it increasingly reads like a natural system of interaction between the performers. That shift is also apparent in the way Spektral performs the interwoven music and movement of the piece; you’ve gained ease and authority with a once-foreign vocabulary that allowed it to seep below the skin, and now the four of you as individuals emerge, and seem much more like yourselves, albeit in this alternate, strange world we’re evoking.
The elastic panels and bands of the stage environment are a significant element that came into focus for me later in development. I’d always known there would be some sort of material the musicians would move to configure the stage—but I think the alien quality of the elastic material, and the way it brings attention to the system of collapse and tension, obstruction and access, order and disorder—is something new and exciting.
DA: One of my favorite things about working with you is that you always seem to be seeking what is true, or what is natural about a moment or a gesture. Do you remember when you began thinking in this way (say, vs. nailing a move, hitting a mark, or doing it "right" as we often think of in the traditional sense)?
MD: I think that change in approach came gradually as I gained experience and confidence to presume less and listen more, but it reflects something essential about my interests and aesthetic. In truth, performance is all artifice.
Still, paradoxically, we’ve all experienced how all of the craft and arrangement and contrivance that composes a performance can just melt away and become invisible, confronting us with something powerful that feels incredibly real and pointed and true. It might not resemble the real world or ordinary life, but it communicates honestly. Discovering and creating these moments in performance, for me, is the ultimate thrill, and every element in a composition has something to tell about it wants to be or doesn’t want to be.
DA: It's been transformative, working with you and considering the way I move in space on stage. I can't wait to get it in front of an audience with you!
MD: Working with the four of you and Lisa has been a unique and wonderful experience for me. I admire the way Spektral works—part of the group’s excellence includes real curiosity and willingness to explore. That takes a lot of courage—which you all have—and makes a critical difference in the process of making a work like The Space Between, that moved into regions that required us to build our understanding and expertise from scratch. Your artistry is multi-dimensional, and that is inspiring. It’s been exciting to collaborate with you.