Taos News

Laughter is the best medicine

BY TAMRA TESTERMAN

FROM THE DARK DAYS Of the 2020 pandemic, the Taos improv group Adobe Bodhi was born. And then, they won a lottery to enter the International Boulder Fringe Festival in August 2021. What makes this feat remarkable is most of the performers have no background in the art of improvisation, or even theater for that matter.

The name for the group is a combination of the organic earth building material and the Bodhi Tree, known as the tree of awakening. It is an homage to the famous Taos adobe and the spiritual inclinations of the group.

Zorthian said Adobe Bodhi is “an improv company that came together during the pandemic to experience levity in a time of fear. The healing properties of laughter during times of crises is a theme for the Adobe Bodhis.”

In the Taos style of inclusionary and eclectic selection, the Adobe Bodhi’s members include: Sabina Jones, known to Taos audiences for her performance poetry; Ken McNamara, local actor and musician; Glenda Gloss, improver extraordinaire; local Taos character Alice Zorthian, theater performer, burlesque dancer and yoga teacher; Jaide Stover, yoga teacher and herbalist; Minerals Deposit, vegan chef, natural builder, poet and farmer; Jillian Grace, local herbalist, singer and ceremony leader; Miles Anderson, musician and farmer; and Jason Pfieffer, known to Taos audiences from his work with Improv Medicine.

Tempo spoke with Zorthian and McNamara, two of three members with theater and improv backgrounds. Both agreed that improv is a natural theatre genre to spring up and out of the depression of a pandemic. It’s all about “spontaneity and you must be here right now, no matter what to perform.” It all seems counterintuitive. In the middle of a disaster of epic proportions, wouldn’t you want to escape into a script or music score?

Zorthian said what emerged for this group in the rehearsal process was a “social commentary that hits home. We created a space to bring up what’s happened, and it becomes a kind of therapy.” Turns out, being grounded firmly in the present may be a road to healing.

To get the group members in fine tune with the skills necessary to perform improv, Minerals Deposit said they “played improv games similar to those on Whose Line Is It Anyway. Skits elaborate through a combination of tension, surprise, relationship, embodiment and plain revelation.

“Often departing from audience contributions, common ground develops as the actors continue to be themselves while blatantly enacting personae and simulacra. Consider how a good laugh might end in tears. Consider how a good cry may resolve into laughter. Approaching this alchemy through the path of humor creates openings in the emotional texture of the psyche through which needful things may enter and exit. What we need is always particular; attentive to the details, we improvise.”

Adobe Bodhi realized within a few weeks they were coming along as a group, improving their chops and polishing their act into what could be a more professional performance troupe. At some point they realized that as a group they wanted to challenge themselves to perform beyond the living room.

The duo said “Being a newly formed troupe, we had only minimal experience performing, but we truly believe in the magic of improv! We also wanted the chance, as always, to bring joy and laughter to humanity.”

They entered the Boulder International Fringe Festival lottery, which logistically is doable and they figured they’d be ready by the end of the summer to put on a show. The notification they’d been selected to perform at the Boulder International Fringe Festival came as a big surprise for the group but they were ready for the challenge.

There are expenses to traveling to Boulder and staying for close to a week. Gas in the tank, food and lodging will need to be covered to make the event doable. There is a final fundraising show Friday (July 30) at 7 p.m. at Unity Church in Taos, 69 Blueberry Hill Road. The performance of Adobe Bodhi is free but donations to offset the expense of the Boulder International Fringe Festival will be rewarded handsomely with playful laughter.

If you’re looking for a summer adventure, ignite the rocket engines for a trip to Boulder in August to support Adobe Bodhi. You can see them perform at The Junkyard Social Club, “Boulder’s adventure playground, coffee house and bar,” press states. “Built for local families, promoting science, the arts, and togetherness” at 2525 Frontier Ave, Unit A, in Boulder.

Performance dates for Adobe Bodhi at The Boulder International Fringe Festival will be announced at the fundraiser.

For more information about the Junkyard Social Club visit their website junkyardsocialclub.org. For more details about the schedule of events at Unity of Taos visit unityoftaos.org.

THEATER

en-us

2021-07-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-29T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://taosnews.pressreader.com/article/282269553433442

Santa Fe New Mexican