Four Months at Matrix

Having spent the last four months with Matrix Theatre Company has been an eye-opening experience. Not just into the power of the art form that is theatre, but also the change that a small theatre can effect and the conversations that it can foster within a community. I came here from editing a small newspaper in Eastern Pennsylvania. The only times I encountered theatre were when I came across Shakespeare, Wilde, Chekov, Beckett or Ibsen in classes.

But at Matrix it was beyond just studying text, it was the physicality of the entire experience that was everywhere. Within the first few weeks I had helped to be build the risers for our seating, worked on painting sets for Confessions of Women From East L.A., started working on promotional material for our production of Happy Days, participated in DPS’s kick off parade for the school-year and started running all the social networking.

There was a little bit of everything to be done, but beyond just that, the mission and the people were here for a reason. It wasn’t just a theatre, it was all intentional. We had our mission to “change lives, build community and foster social justice” through the “transformative” power of theatre as an art form. Seeing that ideal come through (Not just as some preprogrammed thing you say to people, but as something that exists in every facet of the theatre) is a powerful concept.

Confessions tackled issues around Latina stereotypes and made the audience ask hard questions like: Is America any better of a place now than it was in 1997 (when the play was written), and how do we deal with racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination across our city and nation? It was a great first play to see at Matrix.

Happy Days continued the asking of hard questions, and we purposefully brought in some different groups to talk to the audiences about their reactions to the play and how to bring the themes home. The play’s protagonist is buried in sand with no escape in sight. The focus is how she deals with her fate and makes it from moment to moment and day to day.

And that is what makes Matrix really interesting. Instead of picking something easy and fun, Matrix's founder Shaun Nethercott wanted to direct this challenging play that is practically a 90-minute monologue. We knew it wouldn’t have the built in audience of something like recent Matrix productions of To Kill A Mockingbird or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but we put the play on anyway because it is something that this community needed. As a journalist, it is moves like this which I see as separating the good from the bad: in theatre, in journalism, in life. Give the people what they need.

Even our Halloween teen-production of Haunted Theatre had the mission firm in hand. We were aiming at bringing some life into a vacant building, while teaching the audience about the power of fear and how to keep your fears in check. It was powerful to be able to take a piece of land that wasn’t in use and bring it back to life. Vacant land just sucks energy from the community around it.

Now we’re headed towards Puppet Scrooge, the local and modern adaptation of the Dickens’ classic tale about being thankful and understanding how important we are to each other, especially around Christmas. Our big puppet production of the year, watching piles of sticks and foam turn into little people is definitely an amazing thing to watch.

In the Spring, we’re tackling immigration, citizenship and how the government can make people disappear without explanation. Vanished is another teen-production, and it should be great to see the issues from the eyes of local youth living in a border city.

We’ll end off the season with Ghost Waters, our huge, multimedia, multi-location day-long event about the lost and buried rivers and streams of the city.

All the while, we’ve had classes going on in a variety of locations and schools. Kids are learning how to act, write plays, make masks and puppets. I love all the stories of kids growing up in the Matrix School of Theatre and then going on to study, write, act, teach and create things on their own.

And, of course, our iconic giant puppets that we use for events and parades are always present. All hugely positive and influential people from history, it is always a breath-taking experience to see them in action.

Not to forget out Inclusive Theatre Initiative, which makes it so that all people can enjoy theatre. American Sign Language interpretations, braille programs, audio descriptions, touch tours, accessibility, parking, etc, are all available.

So that’s my update four months into my 12-month time at Matrix. Hopefully this blog space will have many different authors and we’ll be able to get you all kinds of content into how we do what we do here at Matrix and why we do it. Thanks for your interest in Matrix, and please come see Puppet Scrooge this weekend, it should be a lot of fun.

David P. Anderson
Matrix Theatre Company
Communications Coordinator
danderson@matrixtheatre.org
313-967-0999