For the TEAM

From our overseas vantage point, there's an image of America many of us share. It's one of polarisation; a nation fundamentally divided in terms of political belief, social outlook and discursive character. In 2006, the New York-based Theatre For The Emerging American Moment presented this vision of America to the Fringe Festival, picking up a Fringe First award in the process. “By that point everyone was nauseous from five years of George Bush,” explains Rachel Chavkin, a founding member of the TEAM. “Particularly In The Heartland was very fundamentalist in it's analysis of fundamentalism in America. It was very consciously designed as a Christmas gift to an audience that had gone through a scarring process that had been going on for a number of years.”

Sat amidst the post-performance throng in The Traverse, it's easy to get lost in the exposition Chavkin presents. She, along with performers Jill Frutkin and Libby King, talk with a fluency and a verve that show through in their offering to this year's Fringe. Architecting is a project that surpasses the company's previous works both in the scope of its ambition, and in the range of its ideas.
“If Particularly In The Heartland was a Christmas gift to the audience, then Architecting feels more like an antique photo album of a lot of different histories and pasts. If Particularly In The Heartland was about one side and another, Architecting is about lots of different touch-points in our American identity.”

In a mind-bending, epoch-hopping narrative that moves from post-Katrina New Orleans to the southern United States in the post-Civil War era, a cast of characters from all corners of American cultural mythology convalesce into an intensely physical and charismatic play. The expressed aim? To turn the American dream inside-out, exposing what it genuinely means to be living in the United States in the 21st Century. It's heady stuff.

“Maintaining clarity and focus of purpose on this project has been very difficult. There are, in theory, at least four chapters and about nine strings of thematic ideas. As we seek to balance the focus on each of those and figure out what's important, you end up having to kill or freeze many babies over the course of the process because our process is so long. We have refrigerators and refrigerators of dead babies.”

After a shared grimace at this turn of phrase, we move on to the subject of Davey Anderson, and his role in the infant-freezing process. Operating under the auspices of the National Theatre of Scotland, the celebrated dramaturgist has lent his theatrical experience to the project over the course of its two-year development process. The TEAM do not mince their words in their appraisal of Anderson's contribution.

“Our company is very loud; we interrupt each other constantly in rehearsals, and Davey, as a solo playwright, was a graceful and quiet presence. None of us actually come from a writing background, so having a voice of storytelling in the room was, and continues to be, something that's hugely important.” A profitable collaboration then?

“Collaborating with the National Theatre of Scotland workshop machinery has been unlike anything that we've encountered before in the United States. To say that there is no federal subsidy for the arts in the United States doesn't really begin to capture how vast the differences are in terms of the facilities and the tasks on every front that allow you to focus on your work as an artist,” explains Chavkin.

Why is it, then, that American artists dominate much of the cultural landscape when there's so little public funding? The response is instantaneous: “Maybe that's because we can't afford to waste any time.”

It's certainly possible to see this sense of urgency manifested in the performances and direction of Architecting. The TEAM's production possesses a huge degree of physical vitality, which leaves audiences frequently feeling as if they've played some part in the show themselves.

“One thing we always say is that it's not a TEAM show unless you're sweating and falling apart at the seams by the end. It's a really big part of what we do, both for the audience, and also for ourselves. One of the main threads of the show is this idea of the collapse of the civilisation in which you were raised, and so the idea of sweat and struggle becomes a very literal part of that.”

Another robust metaphor. The characters in Architecting all experience this seismic sense of re-orientation in one way or another as their respective worlds are shattered by events outside of their control. Presidential scion Henry Adams struggles to determine his moral and political compass following the Civil War, and fictional architect Carrie Campbell drifts through a modern, desolate New Orleans, unsure of whether to look backwards or forwards, and of how to take the next step. This rich tapestry of cultural and historical lore demonstrates a theatre group with their fingers firmly on the pulse of the American condition. I attempt to direct their gaze ahead, rather than behind. When do the TEAM think the next grand re-evaluation will take place? Will it be this November?"

“To even think about making a genuine statement of hope in our country is a very difficult thing to do. There's hope in Obama, but at the same time, there's fear that the shining knight will prove a mirage, or that he won't get elected. It's not surprising that our presidential candidates are black and white, and that Obama himself is shades of grey. That's the beautiful thing about him as a figure for this sentiment.”

“Hopefully people are interested in what we're doing with Architecting because we're not ex-patriots. We are hopeful for America, despite a daily confrontation with the hypocrisy and wrongdoings that make up our history, and our present.” Interested people most certainly are. I tell them that a friend of mine recently referred to the TEAM as 'the best theatre group in the northern hemisphere'. With comments such as this in mind, do they feel the weight of expectation?

“Now I do!" says Chavkin. "Although I can honestly say that the performers on-stage during Architecting will prove, in hindsight, to be amongst the top performers of our generation. That's easy to say.”