IS THERE ANYTHING that you don't yet know about "Monkey on My Back," the mask-puppet-stilt performance piece playing this weekend at the ARTS at Marks Garage? Alternative addictions
By Scott Vogel
svogel@starbulletin.comWell, there's this: The theater troupe's show about addiction in its many forms has apparently spawned an addiction of its own -- to Marks Garage.
"I was thinking last night, we had 35 people downtown on a Monday," said Ben Moffatt, one of the founding members of the company (Monkey and the Waterfall) putting on this production in association with Tim Bostock. "What a great thing for the downtown area. I think what we're seeing in Chinatown right now is this really delightful transition stage where it still has a lot of the old character and there are still a lot of fun, safe things to do. It reminds some of Asia and Europe, where the arts and commerce are not so separate. It's exciting for the artists to feel like they're a part of everyday life."
Heightening this effect, at least in the present case, is the show's staging, which reverses the usual audience-stage relationship one normally finds at the Garage. The patrons now face the street, a choice -- by director Yukie Shiroma -- that allows for more fluidity between the artificial mask world and the gritty Nuuanu-Pauahi world it reflects. "If an ambulance goes by or a pedestrian goes by and looks in the window, they're part of the show."
When: 8 and 10 p.m., tonight and tomorrow "MONKEY ON MY BACK"
Where: The ARTS at Mark's Garage, 1159 Nuuanu Ave.
Cost: $12-$18
Call: 528-0506
One thing's for sure: You can't charge the Monkey folk with escapism, and that's completely appropriate, given the subject matter. The troupe that felt it was becoming stereotyped as a children's theater has magically morphed into an adult concern, staging a drama about the obsessions -- some terrifying, others harmless -- that permeate all of our lives.
"There's a lot of metaphor, so you're not going to see somebody sticking a needle in their arm, but you'll see someone with that same intensity relating to an object," continues Moffatt. "Some of them are pretty clear: This woman is addicted to changing her body image, or this person is addicted to cleanliness. But we stretched into the dream state or the surreal to depict these states of mind."
AND THE RESULT is an experience that viewers will likely find macabre, haunting and perhaps disturbing. But don't think "Monkey's" addicted to just one or two moods. As is fitting for a piece spotlighting the ways in which we spiral out of control, no single emotional state predominates. "It's got a lot of rich flavors. The show moves from poignancy and desperation to whimsical very fast. Addiction's also a funny thing and a pleasurable thing."
And speaking of spotlights, the dearth of a lighting system at Marks Garage has led to some interesting creative problems as well, most of them solved by the company's designer, Michael Harada. Lights have been mounted on the end of 7-foot-long PVC poles, technicians swinging them into the appropriate playing area, adjusting dimmers mounted on the poles' handles. "It's kind of like this zoom-in frame, almost a cinematic technique."
The downside of Marks Garage, at least at present, is the lack of sophisticated stage equipment; the upside is the creativity that it inspires in theater artists (necessity having been the mother of theatrical invention since the days of ancient Greek drama). And there's another intriguing and tantalizing element of the Little Parking Garage That Could: its growing reputation as a place for experimentation and works in progress. If Honolulu's alternative theater scene is to take root in a serious way, this little patch of Chinatown real estate, one imagines, will be the linchpin.
"Marks wants to be this place for artists to explore new works, and the place has the flexibility to allow artists to spend some time in the space and develop material, and there's no other place in town like that, other than a college."
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