Jesse Bliss. (Photo by Devin Williams)
As an at-risk youth survivor, Los Angeles-based theatre artist Jesse Bliss dedicates her life to teaching others how art saves lives. In her latest piece, Tree of Fire, scheduled to have its first staged reading this coming Sunday, December 6 at 7 pm, Jesse tackles a topic very close to her heart--women and prison. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jesse about her work:
Gabriela: Tell me a little about Tree of Fire? What is this piece about and how long have you been working on it?
Jesse: This is the story of a Magnolia tree catching fire in an aged and ominous women’s prison. Three inmates forgotten and left to parish are jolted as their lives are threatened into memories of their past that inform the truth of their souls and the urgent need to expose the inhumanities of the prison to the world. It took me a year and a half to write this play.
G: Your upcoming reading of Tree of Fire is a work in progress correct? This is always a special treat for audience members to see the beginnings of a theatre piece and be part of the process. So what can audiences expect to see this coming Sunday, December 6?
J: Audiences will experience this new play taking its’ first breath. Hearing actors bring these words to life will expose audiences to the trajectory in which our production is heading. In addition to language, music and visual art are significant characters in the play. As we manifest the play in three dimensions as a production, these elements will be even more brightly illuminated.
G: The subject matter you have written about is women and prison, which is a topic I have seen you write about in the past, for example with Between Fingertips. Tell me about your passion for this subject matter.
J: I was affected personally at a young age by the Prison Industrial Complex. The closest person to me at the time ended up incarcerated and shouldn’t have been. Always having developed and taught my own theatre curriculum to at-risk youth, it broke my heart to consider that many of my disadvantaged elementary school students were soon heading to prison. I was an at-risk youth myself and art literally saved my life. So, I felt compelled to try teaching inside juvenile hall. I’ve encountered the most creative, intelligent, and beautiful individuals who have survived the unthinkable. I have seen how the Prison Industrial Complex robs people of their lives and how much money is made because of it and how in turn the public is lied to about these goings on. It’s all swept under the carpet. This population and the history and circumstance that has created mass incarceration, is obscenely misrepresented as is the inner workings of the Prison Industrial Complex. However, I do find this subject matter to be entirely universal: everyone knows what it feels like to be trapped and want to be free.
G: The staged reading takes place at the Lincoln Heights Jail in Los Angeles. Tell me about your choice to have the reading there, as opposed to a traditional theatre space?
J: It came together coincidently, really. I called my Co-Producer Bosco and he was there shooting a special on ghosts at Lincoln Heights Jail, a place I’d never heard of. It was then he told me of the space and we began to discuss the possibility of holding the reading there, even possibly the full production. He took me on a tour of the prison and I knew then I wanted to put the piece on in there. Turns out to my surprise, aspects of the history of Lincoln Heights Jail mirror aspects of Tree of Fire. The prison was shut down for foul play against the inmates. Theatre can be and has been since its’ inception, performed anywhere, anytime. Our earliest stages were nothing more than groups of people listening to one blind poet named Homer going from town to town telling the myths of his people. Like Homer, Tree of Fire is a mobile truth that will travel from city to city sharing the stories of the unseen, unspoken and misunderstand. The reading at Lincoln Heights Jail pays homage to the spirits of those who have already given their lives needlessly to the Prison Industrial Complex. Like their stories, a traditional stage may not be wide and free enough to hold this play.
G: What was the response to this by your actors who will be performing your piece on Sunday? Is this an all-female cast? Have you guys been rehearsing there on-site?
J: As a writer, when treading new ground, not everyone is going to understand what you are trying to say, even your actors. One of the missions of our rehearsal process has been to expose our company of actors to the culture of the incarcerated. Taking them on this journey has not always been easy, but the ultimate joy has been helping them find the truth and humanity of these characters so they can in turn share their truth with the audience. This cast is all female and one male playing multiple roles starring Chastity Dotson, Dawn Greenidge, Lizzie Peet, Hansford Prince, Monica Sanchez and Will Young who will narrate. Singer Fanny Franklin (Orgone) will be opening the reading as a featured performer singing an original song we wrote together. Lincoln Heights Jail is very difficult to access so we’ve been unable to rehearse there. In fact, the actors will experience the venue for the first time the day of the reading.
G: What was the response from the staff at Lincoln Heights Jail?
J: My Co-Producer Bosco Flanagan works with Film LA and has been on many shoots at Lincoln Heights Jail. Because of his connections to the space and staff, we were able to obtain exclusive access to this historic monument. The facility staff was ecstatic to facilitate our use of the jail for this reading.
G: Your piece is produced by your own production company The Roots and Wings Project, which is an internationally produced theatre company. Tell me about this company, and some words of advice for other women out there who are aspiring to start an arts (or other) company of their own.
J: It happened on its’ own, the birth of The Roots and Wings Project. I got locked out of New York when I was visiting my mother in Northern California at the time of 9-11. I’d been working and performing there with an all-female troupe called The Angry Jellow Bubbles and felt devastated of course by the atrocity of what had happened and then by the fact that I couldn’t go back because there was nothing to go back to. So Eva Minemar, the Founder of Angry Bubble Productions , suggested I write a play for her to produce so that my spirit and work could still thrive in New York even though I couldn’t physically be there. Thus was born Roots and Wings the play, a story that also deals with the impact of the Prison Industrial Complex among other things. I flew to New York to watch the play and was then compelled to bring it to San Francisco and did just that. From then on, everything I wrote and produced was under the auspice of The Roots and Wings Project. Now I am blessed to have people working with me that believe in my work and vision. My advice to women wanting to birth their own company or arts endeavor is to never be discouraged by anyone and to trust whole heartedly in whatever vision is inside of you and know you have that vision for a reason even when it seems hard to understand at times. Follow it like fire and stick with it even when times get tough. Standing by your vision is standing by yourself and loving and believing in yourself and what you are meant to do in this world.
G: What do you hope to achieve from the Tree of Fire reading, and where would you like to see this piece presented next?
J: The purpose of this reading is to excite an audience and potential investors into assisting us in producing this play as a full, three dimensional production. I see the next stop on the Tree of Fire train in San Francisco.
.jpg)
Photo by James Carroll.
G: Now tell me about yourself—your background and what has lead you to theatre arts.
J: I came out of the womb an artist! As a child all I did was dance, sing and create skits. I performed them for whoever was around to watch and even charged 25 cents a ticket for my performances at my apartment complex pool deck. But as I grew older and life grew more complex and difficult, art became more than just fun. It became the one and only place I could find solace, relief, a voice, a way to communicate with the world. As a survivor, my way of dealing and healing was found in art. I started a drama club at my elementary school and began to write, direct and act in my own plays at the school. As I became a woman, it was clear there was nothing else that made any sense to me at all other than a career as an actress and writer. There really was no choice.
G: If someone has questions about Tree of Fire, The Roots and Wings Project, or about yourself, where can people reach you?
J: I can be reached at therootsandwingsproject@gmail.com or 323.636.4944.
Tree of Fire artwork by Jesse Cordoza
The Tree of Fire staged reading will be held this coming Sunday, December 6 at 7pm at the Lincoln Heights Jail located at 401 N. Avenue 19, Los Angeles, CA 90031 (near Chinatown). Donations are suggested and you are encouraged to dress warm.
For tickets, RSVP to therootsandwingsproject@gmail.com.
For more information, visit Myspace.com/therootsandwingsproject
Comments