| Edward
Elefterion is the artistic director of the Rabbit Hole Ensemble,
a Brooklyn-based theater company presenting shows this summer
at both the Midtown
International Theater Festival and the
New York International Fringe Festival. He wrote and
directed the MITF's presentation of The
Siblings, an adaptation of the fairy tale "Hansel
and Gretel."
What is your show
about?
It is a familiar tale—so many of us know "Hansel
and Gretel," but this is not the story you remember.
The parents abandon the children in the woods, but there's
nothing in the fairy tale to indicate why this would happen.
We put faith into the mix and imagined why
parents would make such a choice. The show is about faith
and what you will do to survive. In our society—and,
I imagine, in others as well—your family are the closest
people you have, the people you can turn to. The play examines
these intimate relationships under certain stresses. So
when it comes down to survival, if only one of us can leave
this room alive, what will you do to be the one that survives?
And what will that cost? And how much does that matter?
That's what this whole journey for the children is about.
What’s next
for you?
In August we have The Transformation of Dr. Jekyll
at the Fringe Festival. For this production, we created
and developed the text entirely during the process of a
six- to seven-week rehearsal period. We're also developing
an adaptation of Nosferatu that we're aiming to
open on Halloween, with a run into November.
What theater
do you see?
I like to make the effort to see student productions, because
they're not trying to do anything more than explore their
own ideas and the ideas of the text. They're trying things
out without the risk inherent in the marketplace. The concerns
about whether something will impress people and about "What
kind of commodity have we made?" take a lot of energy
out of a production. I like to see work where the artists
are exploring what they are interested in, without looking
over their shoulder.
Who or what
are your influences?
Seeing the work of Peter Brook and Jerry Grotowski—on
video; unfortunately, I never saw their work in person—was
influential. I was also influenced by ideas from the classic
Japanese Noh master Zeami and of Jacques Copeau—a
critic of the Comédie Française at the turn
of the 20th century who began a company of his own. They
had already synthesized so many ideas I was arriving at
on my own [that] they helped me to articulate my own concepts
more clearly.
How would you characterize
your approach to creating theater?
Our focus is on strong stories, told simply and theatrically,
without much technology. So much theater seems to try to
compete with film with the usage of technology. We are a
minimalist company, using the actor as central to the experience.
We aim to evoke the audience's along with the actors' imaginations
to create an event together, instead of serving [the audience]
everything. Because we don't use a lot of technology or
sets, our shows move quickly and easily in and out of performance
spaces. All we need is empty space.
Read
Jill Jichetti's review
of The Siblings. Find out more about the Midtown International
Theater's website in our
preview and at www.midtownfestival.org.
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