Keystone Magazine Learning the Keystone Way 2015-2016 EN | Page 49

T
his play is my love
letter to men. It is my
praise and dance of
gratitude to the strug-
gles you endure to be
in relationships with
us. Men are beautifully simple
and women are elegantly com-
plex. This makes it challenging
to be together sometimes. This
story is one man’s journey to find
his other half as she continues to
move in ways most elusive. Most
love stories focus on the woman’s
journey, but this one is for the
men, about the men, because of
the men.
Elements was originally written
to be a companion piece to four
circus-based shows, each rooted
in a different element: earth, air,
fire, and water. But this story did
not come to me as liquidly as its
predecessor. An artist can work
diligently, but creativity will not
be dictated by time and human
demands. And so it sat, incom-
plete, for two years. I struggled. I
could not find the road to a com-
pleted text, but rather, fragment-
ed scenes and snippets. Creativ-
ity like love comes not when it is
bidden, but rather, in the heavy
night, unburdened by the scru-
tiny of day. And so I slept. And
creativity and love rendezvoused
into one perfectly conceived
scene. I woke up at 3:30 am, saw
the play in its entirety and began
to write it down furiously. By
breakfast, it was complete – two
years and one night later.
I wanted the world premier of
this play to be at Keystone’s Per-
forming Arts Center. I felt very
strongly that the first full-length
production in our new perform-
ing arts center should belong to
this theatre and no other. It too
teacher talks
should be on its maiden voy-
age. This was a deciding factor in
choosing to produce Elements.
What could be more fitting than
a new play for a new theatre? A
premier and a world premiere.
This story is told through the me-
dium of Physical Theatre in which
text becomes secondary to the
dialogue of the body. It is a physi-
cal narrative. Each scene is struc-
tured around a specific form of a
particular element. The quality of
movement in each scene is subtly
informed by its elemental form.
Air for example takes the soft
quality of zephyr and the more
dynamic structure of tornado. You
may wonder, if you were born in
this hemisphere, why metal and
wood are not directly addressed
as elements in this play. In other
philosophies, they are considered
to be part of Earth, (although I did
sneak metal in). When I moved
here I marveled that Air was not
considered an essential element
in Eastern philosophy. If it were,
perhaps its purity would be more
carefully guarded. This piece con-
cerns itself primarily with the Fifth
element: Love.
This play is dedicated to loves
lost, the love on its way, and all
the men who have loved me,
raised me, and shaped my bowl.
I thank you. Of particular note
are my beloved Uncles Brad and
Keith, two of the sweetest men I
know, who instilled in me the val-
ue of kindness; my brother Theo
whom I admire and adore above
all else; my best friend George
who is a king among men; and
most especially, to the first man
in my life, my father and fellow
artist, Ted Keller who has taught
me that love and artists come in
many forms.
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