On Monday, 17 May 2021, at 11am EDT, Stephen Johnson talked with Maria Meindl about her first experiences with Performance--her 'First Gatherings.' That conversation is included below, in full. You can find out more about her life, scholarship and performance practice here: https://gatheringspartnership.com/contributors
Maria was raised in Toronto, in a family of artists, and with a mother who worked in live television. She grew up attending performance of all kinds, but in particular theatrical performance. Her earliest memories of performance: of an actor in a wolf costume surprising her by suddenly appearing in the aisle beside her, at a small children's theatre; of the extraordinary turntable set for the touring production of Oliver! at the O'Keefe Centre; of a live television performance of the children's show Razzle Dazzle, and in particular waving banners with rest of the audience members and shouting the title of the show. She remembers the emotion evoked by performance, and in particular by costume and set and prop. Overall, as you watch this interview, I believe you'll have a sense of the culture of the backstage, available to someone with a more-than-usual access: the backstage of live television for someone with a mother who worked there, and backstage after seeing Oliver!, to meet someone who could turn on the great revolving stage. As Maria talked about growing up in Toronto, attending theatre of all kinds, I personally thought about the culture of theatre-going, and how much of it is learned behaviour. Where do we learn to find free or reduced-price tickets, to volunteer to usher or work in the office in order to attend the theatre, to go to see everything possible, to go repeatedly to see the same production, and to go alone. What we see is important, of course, but how we come to see is an important question. Finally, who teaches us to attend the theatre? Does someone do this 'on purpose'?
A full transcript will be posted later.
A Conversation with Maria Meindl