..a gifted image

Maumahara..- The word shapes an American tongue to translate wonder, through a Maori meaning of ‘remember’, setting the palate for awe in a journey of America Rex.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"227","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-medium wp-image-932","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"240","height":"300","alt":""}}]] MAUMAHARA - Jimmy James Kouratoras, artist; image gifted for use by the artist, in this iteration of America Rex.

The play is about to state it's cast for the workshop and culminating event of the staged reading. The opportunity of a journey into 'otherness' has proved an exact fodder for framing this work as I had hoped, by way of an artistic and cultural lens not American, and allowing for another culture to weave their own specific universal take on something epic, in layers of language and storytelling which speak out of a place more than half a world from where I wrote it. The knowledge that there would be a workshop has incrementally dawned on me as something incredible and imminent. It is now almost exactly one year in gestation, ready to stand as fact - gift of a director who serendipitously attended the workshop of Breathing Ash at EST in NY, in October of last year. At the interval of that presentation, I met Dione Joseph; we spoke of what we were watching, and between us acknowledged how much more there was to say in threading fodder that might speak into a variety of cultures and could be something to traverse any stage. Dione came to the surprise 'after party' the beau had sorted, held in an 'old world' NY warren of philosophy, among staggering amounts of books, art, conversation, wine -just at 98th off Broadway- a place of incredible nurturing, and family. In snatches of conversation there, Dione asked about other examples of my work -and I found myself speaking about America Rex, the 4th 'panel' of a quartet of plays, collected under the general concept "..in Caliban's eye..". Each ‘panel’ stands individually (The Orion, Breathing Ash, Reconstruction, and America Rex). With each work I was able to move deeper in my investigation of the complex dynamics of American culture, as each play proved to be part of a massive, interlocking 'Rubix cube' of narrative relationships, tumbling through issues of generational schisms of race, class, caste -politics, religion -media, and contemporary mediums of visual narrative. The journey of writing out these works stretched over 6 years in total; at one point there were only three panels, and I felt I'd said all I wished to investigate. As can happen, a particular character, Ioni, from the 1st panel, The Orion, had more to say - into a corner of opportunity, hinged at the maw of Reconstruction, where freed black slaves suddenly had an 'imperative' in making choices for themselves; for some individuals, there was no "right" or "wrong"- in living with the consequences their choices left for family. In this specific crease, lingers the impact of those who made critical judgment to control their own destinies, unshackled to an American narrative and free to move. Suddenly fluid to be enfolded in the dynamics of other cultures, in foreign countries. Having a life the scope of which was -at the time- impossible to achieve in America, they could even dignify as artists. The tensions of that play roiled into content as Reconstruction, inserting itself just ahead of what was already America Rex. In Rex...  A great border sequesters the last five zones of government. Outside this, in extremis, humanity sifts in exodus until chance pits the vision of a Seer in the dream of a General. The concept of the work was informed during a visit to Australia where I had opportunity to stand in another country's presence of spirituality. A country which thrummed a resonating dynamic relationship between earth -dream -knowledge -journey; I wanted to speak about 'power', that which rose through one's tread of earth, and that which was wrested from thin air - two effects, through which people struggle to stand upright -as both elements own dynamic purpose, and vie to make an innate free will submit, or suspend itself. I came to struggle with being able to articulate a landscape of Aboriginal spirituality, with respect of consciousness, and find some transit for speaking into my own country and culture -in a way where I could express paradigms of sub -consciousness and spirit. I deliberately wanted to frame the method 'outside' of what American culture would expect as specific articulation of its cross currents, resonances, subconscious, and power dynamics of caste, race, and "otherness". I wanted a frame that would offer a way for any culture to speak into impactful conversations of their own, specific cultural dynamics, which could, ultimately apply to a shared denominator of resonance. America Rex is the result of that ambition, and is an experiment in trying to find a way to allow enough room, in a work of theatre, which will be more deeply infused with the cultural narratives of the communities in which it finds artistic hands to inform its application. With this upcoming workshop in New Zealand, made specific for Aotearoa, cultural dynamics of storytelling will be put to task to ply through innumerable currents of unspoken, lifting my bark across open water, into resonant language and context, where we will see if such a supposition of theatre as Rex can thread its storyline.