Snow, cold, empanadas, music, and laughter are only a few words to describe my last performance of the semester at INTAR. For me, INTAR was definitely a unique way to end the semester and I am glad that I went to it. It was something that I did not expect but it was also something that allowed me to be exposed to a different type of Arts in New York City. Without this course, I would not have seen other performances and be exposed to such a various and diverse part of New York City.
One thing that I really enjoyed about the INTAR theater was the sequence that the producer put the performances. There was a pattern that involved a certain sequence of emotions. One performance could be filled with frustration, anger, and questioning, while another performance could be used as a comic relief to the viewers. As a member of the audience, I found this sequence better to take in and enjoy these performance. INTAR had a great balance of pieces. The overall performance was not too serious and dry for me to take in. It had enough humor for me to be attentive to all parts of the performance, parts that were serious and calm were succeeded with humor and laughter which made the performances enjoyable.
Now I know I talked about the performances a lot, so it’s probably time to talk about them. At first, I thought that since the performance was only a series of play readings or story readings, I thought that it would lack the connection the actors and audience make in one whole performance. I thought that it would not have as much emotion or impact as actors do in a whole piece. By the end of the performance, I was completely wrong about what to expect. I saw so much emotion put into these pieces in such a short amount of time that I was amazed. What amazed me even more was how much the audience was zoned into the readers in such a short amount of time. For example, one performer that made me notice this was Rock Wilk’s one man performance about a play he wrote in search of his biological mother. He spoke so fast when he reenacted a part of his play that I wondered how could the rest of the audience be connected with him. Yet, I still understood what he was saying and what he went through in the performance and I enjoyed being a part of his performance.
Another performance that struck me was the one who talked about the lady who had a dead baby. What struck me was the anger he put towards his piece when he read it. The way he cursed at Jesus so openly and so angrily surprised me. I did not expect him to be so open about cursing one of the most popular religious figures to this day. I know in the other performances we have seen, we would never expect such a thing. You wouldn’t expect hearing something like that in any performance you go to, but I heard it with shock. Another thing about that piece that struck me was how he wrote it during Thanksgiving. I expected him to say at least several months ago. To write something like that only a couple of weeks ago surprised me as to how creative he was. To write something like that and to execute a well-developed performance for me was truly amazing.
I cannot end this blog without talking about Cristian Amigo. I was waiting for him to come in some how but the more I heard different performances, the more I knew his appearance would be random. He sat in the audience and when I heard his name announced I did not expect him to rise right out of the audience itself. That was something that really got me and another thing was the music. I was surprised that he did not sing much; he would say words once in a while just to make us laugh but besides that it was only instrumental. It was relaxing and soothing; it allowed me to have a time to think about the performances, and put what I liked all together. It was definitely a great way to end INTAR as my last performance of the semester.
