On Friday, 28 May 2021, at 11:30am EDT, Stephen Johnson talked with Mark Turner about his first experiences with Performance--his 'First Gatherings.' That conversation is included below, in full. You can find out more about his life, scholarship and performance practice here.
Mark was born and raised in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, a city with a rich history of performance of all kinds. His earliest and most vivid memories, however, are of excursions to the Arts and Culture Centre, a purpose-built venue at the edge of the Memorial University campus. He remembers the travel required to reach that space, the entrance into it through small, constrained areas leading into a large, open venue--and he remembers gazing with wonder at the house lights. He was taken to this venue to see travelling children's performers--Sharon, Lois and Bram, and Mr. Dress-Up--and he was taken to see the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. As he understands his own experience of performance early in his life, he believes that this space was so memorable to him because it was unique. This was the venue that was located outside of everyday space, that had no other function but performance, that focused on performances from elsewhere--a space signified something like 'success.' All other spaces he remembers were multi-purpose--schools, churches--and they were easily shared by members of the community. In practice, all these other spaces included audiences waiting to mount the stage to perform, and performers waiting to enter the audience to witness others performing. This was 'the norm,' and the Arts and Culture Centre was the exception. This was also true of Mark's experience as a performer. He was trained in the (very inclusive) Suzuki Method in piano and violin from an early age, and from the age of tten, in Royal Conservatory curriculum for trumpet. He has little memory of seeing or being involved in theatrical productions early in his life until, later in high school, he became involved in the Canadian Improv Games, at about the same time he took up the electric guitar as his instrument of choice. He ties these two events together, as a discovery of popular performance, and of local culture. He went on to study music, to form the band King Nancy, to graduate school for performance and film studies, and then to extensive work with the Inuit of Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador), and their music traditions. Mark's narrative speaks to the influence of the space on the way we first experience performance, on the complex relationship between local and imported culture, and on the distinctions taught to us by the places we witness performance.
A full transcript will be posted later.