Project Title: Skatsaree and Other Tales from Native California
Recipient Organization: ShadowLight Productions
Lead Artist: Richard Marriott
Genre and Date Awarded: Performing Arts, April 1997
Premiered: November-December 2000 at SomArts Theater in San Francisco, Arcata Dancenter, Arcata, California; Yreka Community Theater, Yreka, California; and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.

Storytellers Charlie Thom and Clarence Hostler, visual artists Debora Iyall, Brian Tripp, I Made Moja, and Tim Lee Smith, folklorist Deborah Bruce and puppeteers and designers of ShadowLight Productions—directed by artistic director Larry Reed—created two shadow plays for family audiences based on California Native American stories. Skatsaree and Other Tales from California, in part, were developed in response to the celebration of California’s Sesquicentennial. Premiered at several venues in Northern California in late 2000, these tales are part of a longer project, Dreaming California, an exploration of California’s cultural heritage.

The artistic content and artistic partnerships for this piece changed significantly after the grant was awarded. Originally proposed and funded as “Sutter’s Gold,” the Sesquicentennial work was going to explore the social conflicts set in motion by the Gold Rush through the story of Johan Sutter. Collaborators planned to adapt the play from L’Or, a novel by French surrealist poet and author Blaise Cendrars. Richard Marriott, composer and conductor of the Club Foot Orchestra, was to develop and perform an original score for the piece.

However, as they began telling the state’s story, members of ShadowLight Productions felt the need to step back and examine the land and its people prior to European occupation. The first phase of production focused on Native California stories that date back thousands of years. As planned, the plays featured Balinese shadow theater accompanied by live music and live actors. Shadow casters used puppets, masks, and silhouettes to enact the narrative behind a large screen. Richard Marriott, the lead artist supported by the Creative Work Fund grant, did not participate, but collaborated with Shadowlight on a later project, “Encarnacion,” which premiered in 2002.

The collaboration began with a Hupa story from Clarence Hostler that had been passed down to him by his grandmother. ShadowLight writes in the final report, “Hostler’s ancestral fire pit has been dated at 7,000 years, thus this story from the High Dance People is as old as the tribe’s presence in California.” The title story, “Skatsaree” describes a man’s spiritual quest and the lessons the world offers him about responsibility and balance. Project collaborators developed the visual and sound elements for the story over a three-month period. The second piece, “The Salmon Sisters” was developed following the same pattern. It was based on a Karuk story contributed by visual artist and musician Brian Tripp and narrated by Karuk elder Charlie Red Hawk Thom. ShadowLight writes: “It has been our truest collaboration to date amidst a group of exceptionally diverse artists.”

The project introduced a video component to the work of ShadowLight Productions. Several television stations expressed interest in broadcasting the stories, which have great potential as pieces for touring to schools and community centers. Further, the artists were invited to perform the works at the Jim Henson Festival of International Theater in 2002.

Artistic director Larry Reed founded Shadow Play Theater Company in 1972, and ShadowLight Productions was incorporated as a nonprofit in early 1995. The company is an ensemble of creative artists from diverse cultural backgrounds who explore the theatrical use of shadows. Performed behind and in front of a large screen, ShadowLight’s original productions expand the expressive range of traditional shadow theater through contemporary American technology and stagecraft. ShadowLight Productions has received two UNIMA-USA citations for excellence—puppetry’s highest honor—for Wayang Bali (in 1993) and for In Xanadu (in 1994).

LEAD ARTIST

Richard Marriott

Richard Marriott studied with Pauline Oliveros, Dominick Argento, Ali Akbar Kahn, and Masayuki Koga; designed synthesizers with Serge Tchrepnin; and recorded with The Residents before forming San Francisco’s Club Foot Orchestra in 1983 as a vehicle for his compositions. In 1987, he wrote a score for a new soundtrack to the expressionist classic film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", which the Club Foot Orchestra presented live at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The success of this project was repeated with many other silent classics. The Club Foot Orchestra also has composed and recorded the soundtrack for the "Twisted Tails of Felix the Cat,” an animated series for the 1995 season on CBS-TV. In addition, Marriott composes music and is a sound designer for the multimedia market.

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Awards

• Meet the Composer, for collaboration with Della Davidson on “Ten P.M. Dream” (1992).

Dance Scores

• “Ten P.M. Dream,” produced by the Della Davidson Dance Company, Theater Artaud, San Francisco, California (1992)
• “Community,” produced by the Christopher Beck Dance Group (1988).

Opera

• “Happy Hour Becomes Electra,” libretto by Kathleen Cramer, produced by Overtone Theatre, San Francisco (1991 & 1993); produced by Olan Jones, Los Angeles (1995)

Theatre

• Troilus and Cressida, by William Shakespeare, produced by Berkeley Shakespeare Festival (1988)
• Cymbeline, by William Shakespeare, produced by California Shakespeare Festival (1990)
• Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare, produced by California Shakespeare Festival (1992)

Film

• Rising Sun, directed by Philip Kaufman (additional music credit) (1993)
• Silver into Gold,” directed by Lynn Mueller (Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary) (1986)

Soundtracks for Silent Movies (Sole Composer)

• The Cabinet of Dr. Calligari, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival (1987)
• Nosferatu, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, premiered at the BACVA Award ceremony, San Francisco State University (1989)
• Hands of Orlac,” premiered by the Club Foot Orchestra, Castro Theater, San Francisco (1997)

Soundtracks for Silent Movies (Artistic Director, Collaborative Scores)

• Metropolis, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Castro Theatre, San Francisco (1991)
• Sherlock Jr., performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Castro Theatre, San Francisco (1992)
• Pandora’s Box, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Castro Theater, San Francisco (1995)

Selected Performances

• Nosferatu, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, New Music America, Brooklyn Academy of Music (1989)
• Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Metropolis performed by the Club Foot Orchestra at the “Exhibit of Degenerate Art: the fate of the avant-garde in Germany 1933-1945,” Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (1991)
• Pandora’s Box, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, The Walter Reade Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York (1995)
• Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Sherlock Jr. performed by the Club Foot Orchestra at the Walter Reade Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York (1996)

Recordings

• Wild Beasts, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Ralph Records (1986)
• Kidnapped, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Ralph Records (1987)

Soundtracks on CD and Laserdisc

• Metropolis, performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Heyday Records (1991)
• Sherlock, Jr., performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Rastascan Records (1993)
• Sherlock, Jr., performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, Kino Films (1995)

OTHER COLLABORATING ARTISTS

Larry Reed

Larry Reed, artistic director of ShadowLight Productions, is a theater artist and film director with a strong interest in inter-cultural communication. At Yale University he majored in French, specializing in French theater. Subsequently, in the Peace Corps, he worked as theater director for the Costa Rican University and National Theaters. In 1971 he earned his MFA in filmmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. Since 1972, he has been studying and performing Balinese mask and puppet theater. After intensive study with master artists in Bali, in 1972 he formed the Shadow Play Theater Company. The Company brought Balinese theater to university campuses and festivals in the United States, Canada, and Europe. In 1995 he founded ShadowLight Productions, a nonprofit organizations. His translations have appeared in Asia Theater Journal and the University of Hawaii press.

Resume Highlights

• In 1986 at the Institute International de la Marionette in France, he led a six-week workshop on Balinese Wayang for professional puppeteers. He also was commissioned to create a shadow play of the Conquest of Mexico for the New Music America Festival.
• In 1988, in Jakarta, Indonesia, he was the first Balinese shadow theater representative at the Indonesian National Shadow Theater Festival, making him one of the few Westerners ever invited to perform at the festival.
• In 1989 he was an artist-in-residence at the San Francisco Exploratorium, working with light and shadow.
• In 1990 he created a shadow setting and figures for the Santa Fe Opera and Los Angeles Opera productions of Orfeo, with Marilyn Horne in the title role. He was the projection designer for Body Cak, a Balinese co-production with Keith Terry and I Wayan Dibya.
• In 1991 he designed shadow effects for the Mark Taper Forum/ITP production of Freedom Song. He designed and directed Dream Shadows, a radical setting of Javanese Gamelan and dance at the Headlands Center for the Arts and the Cal Art Contemporary Music Festival.
• In 1993, he began developing In Xanadu, a large-scale shadow piece for actors and puppets, at Theater Artaud and at Puppetry ’93, both in San Francisco. He received a Citation for Excellence from UNIMA (the International Puppeteers Organization) for his work with Balinese Shadow theater.
• In 1994, he presented In Xanadu at New York’s Public Theater as part of the International Festival for Puppet Theater and in San Francisco at the Cowell Theater. The work was selected for a Citation for Excellence from UNIMA, nominated for a theatrical design award by the American Theater Wing, and it attracted the attention of the prestigious Spoleto Festival, U.S.A.
• In 1995, he received a National Endowment for the Arts special projects grant to produce The Wild Party, based on the jazz age poem by Joseph Moncure March with original music by Bruce Forman. The Wild Party premiered in San Francisco at Theater Artaud and was featured at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Puppetry Conference. He also directed Sidha Karya, a collaboration with Gamelon Sekar Jaya.
• In 1996, he designed shadow effects for the American Conservatory Theater production of Shakespeare’s Tempest. He performed two free presentations of Wayang Bali in South Park, San Francisco. At the Walter Spies Festival in Ubud, Indonesia, he created a performance of Mayadenawa, which involved an entire neighborhood. Throughout October, ShadowLight presented The Wild Party at SomArts Theater as part of the citywide celebration of Bohemian culture.

Charlie Thom

• Karuk Elder, singer, and storyteller Charlie Thom is a full-blooded Karuk Indian from Northern California. He was brought up in the traditional cultural setting and Native way of life by his grandparents and tribal elders. He is cofounder of Earth Circle Association, a Native American educational nonprofit, and has dedicated his life to preserving and promoting the ancient culture.

Clarence Hostler

• Storyteller and narrator Clarence Hostler is a Hupa-Yoruk-Karuk ceremonial dancer, singer, and artist. Hostler mentored the project, contributing stories, ideas, and cultural understanding. He dedicates much of his time and energy to the sacred aspects of traditional culture.

Debora Iyall

• Debora Iyall is a member of the Cowlitz nation of Washington State. She is internationally known as the lyricist/vocalist of the ‘80s band Romeo Void. A visual artist, she founded Ink Clan, an intertribal printmaking project.

I Made Joja

• I Made Moja is a prominent Balinese artist with a background in traditional ink and watercolor painting. His work has been shown internationally and featured in numerous books on Balinese art.

LINKS

www.iyall.com.