Highlights from the “Voices From Chornobyl” anniversary reading at the Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood, April 26, 2009. Shot and edited by Lysandra Petersson. Featuring the talents of:
Vasily Shimansky..…..Bradford Beacom
Anna Sushko…….Enci
Grigory……..Aaron Lyons / Brian M. Cole
Sergei Gurin……..Shawn MacAulay / Tyrone Giordano*
A Solitary Human Voice………Kristin Mochnick / Catherine MacKinnon
Katya Shimansky……Kappa Victoria Wood / Evelina Gaina
Writer and Director: Cindy Marie Jenkins
Inspired by the book Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich
Published by Galina Dursthoff, Inc.
A fascinating conversation when Joanna O. who volunteered to translate the play into Polish, asked me about this line:
ANNA
The first fear came out of the blue, over water—
Joanna asked:
what blue? the mood? or literally? sometimes these lines come all of the sudden, out of context, that i feel slightly confused
and my answer:
sure, it can be confusing, they come out of context so that it feels like these different characters all experienced the confusion at the same time. sometimes they understand it, sometimes they don’t, but they are all feeling the same kind of limbo.
in the case of “blue” , however, it can translate to “out of nowhere” — out of the blue is an expression shortened from “out of the clear blue sky” meaning that it came suddenly. is there another expression in polish that has a stronger meaning than just came suddenly? it doesn’t have to translate literally in this case.
This interpretation came up with our Deaf West co-production, too, especially since ASL uses fewer words than we do and the repetition that I use as a device in the play doesn’t work the same way in ASL.
I remember that we had an entire conversation about a line that the Nurse says to a woman whose husband is about to die from acute radiation poisoning: “You are sitting next to a reactor.” To a hearing audience, that means (in the context of the play) ‘You might as well just sit next to the Chernobyl reactor as sit next to your husband; he is just as radioactive and contagious.”
For the ASL audience, our Voice said the line as is but Catherine, our deaf actress, signed “He is very contagious.”
That kept reminding me of a line I heard in Eastern Europe: “All wars are due to bad translation.”
That’s really what made me want to learn ASL. Once I mentioned that to my cast, half of them immediately signed up, along with Amy Hendrickson, the understudy, and two of our audience members! Caitie Hannon, my assistant director for the whole festival, hooked us up with Sonya Wilson, who is a fabulous instructor in ASL. We learn deaf culture as well as signing. It is more fun and eye-opening and TIRING than most things I have tried so far.
I also learned another valuable lesson: when collaborating so that your project can reach a deaf audience, add closed captioning into everything. It seems obvious, but it isn’t something we think about because WE don’t have to. By simply adding closed captioning, you can reach even more people, and hopefully earn their respect as well. Enci, who is heavily involved with Chornobyl but who also is filming a short film this summer (Rebel Without a Car Productions), has insisted on the closed captioning for not only her film, but also for the documentaries leading up to the filming.
Just fascinating new ways of looking at the world.
From the UMass Amherst Spring 2008 Magazine for Alumni & Friends
“I’ve played an 80-year-old, the romantic lead, the best friend, the good guy, the villain . . . I can do all that, but in film it’s about looks first, then acting.”
Aaron Lyons ’99 Actor Aaron Lyons has been an office temp, a landscaper, and a cook; he has worked as a massage therapist, cared for children, and tended elephants. Elephants? “I was raised in the circus,” he admits. “Ringling Brothers. Both my parents worked there.”
Lyons has also directed plays and led acting workshops. His record as a working actor is impressive—parts in some 76 plays since 1989—but he estimates, “Sixty percent of the work I do is to make ends meet, mostly backstage gigs.”
There’s a bright side to that work, aside from the paychecks. “If a character works at a coffee shop or on a horse ranch, I can say, ‘Okay, I’ve done that, I know how that works.’ It’s one less thing I need to research,” says Lyons. “The foundation of any character I portray, though, comes from my need to know why people do what they do. Exploring the reasons is what I love most.”
For Lyons, an acting career was never a question. “It was the first thing I did that didn’t bore me. It’s something that you can constantly be improving on. When I worked in an office?”—his voice and an eyebrow go up—“there was one way to do things. But acting … there are hundreds of ways.”
Last fall, in the theater piece Voices from Chornobyl, Lyons played Arkady Fillin, a survivor of the nuclear plant explosion and meltdown in the Ukraine 21 years ago. As Fillin, Lyons described the aftermath: “We were handed shovels. We buried houses, wells, trees. We buried earth. We buried the forest.”
“The stakes were immediately high,” Lyons says of the part, “partly because of the subject matter, but also because it’s a biographical role. And there’s the question of how to respect the seriousness but also the storytelling aspect of the piece.”
But before you can play the part, you have to get the part. Lyons knows the drill. “You have to be businesslike about it, go to auditions all the time. And you can’t let rejection get to you.”
For the past year and a half, he’s been going after film work in Los Angeles, where he lives. Moving from the stage to the screen requires an agent, a manager, and a different mindset.
“Onstage I’ve played an 80-year-old, the romantic lead, the best friend, the good guy, the villain… I can do all that, but in film it’s about looks first, then acting,” Lyons explains. “If they want someone who’s a foot taller and has blue eyes, I won’t get the part, no matter what my experience is.”
The hazel-eyed actor figures his best shot at film or TV work is bad-guy roles. “If I relax my face,” he says, letting his mouth sag and pulling his eyebrows down, “I look angry.” (He does.) “When I do that, people look at me and say, ‘Aaron’s pissed,’ even if I’m not; I’m just thinking.”
To help his chances, Lyons is doing his homework, talking to directors and going on sets. One example: “I had a bit part in West Wing. After I was done, I asked if I could hang around and watch.”
Says Lyons, “Film is an intimate medium. You’re much more exposed. With theater you’re more aware of your surroundings, your shoelace being untied, the lighting, can you be heard? If you screw up onstage, you have to fix it right there. In film, it’s a lot about you and your scene partner. When you’re making a film, they tell you, ‘Don’t be so big.’ It’s more focused work.”
Last fall, a friend’s wedding brought him back to the East Coast, and he came to campus to talk to theater students. Before the workshop he was asked, What will you say to these aspiring actors?
“You’re screwed!” he said with a big laugh. “Get out now! Learn computers; we’re all going to be replaced by cartoons!” When the time came, though, he showed how much he believes in his vocation, staying an extra hour or so to answer questions. Even if acting doesn’t always put food on the table, he says, “No other job can feed me like acting does.”
On the morning of the 9th, Aaron and I went over to Cindy’s house to record the script on tape (voice.) Then we went to the shooting location at the B-Space in Atwater Village where we were going to spend two weekends shooting.
We started with a couple easier set ups and I was script supervising and using the clapper for the takes. I was really intimidated with the script supervising element at first because I have never done this before but it was quite interesting and I slowly relaxed into the role. (I prefer acting in front of the camera though.) I had to watch for continuity, I had to write down camera details, and I also had to pay attention and write down what the director was saying. It was a short day and we finished it with some great shots.
On Sunday, February 10th, I was in some of scenes so Corey took over the script supervising role during my takes. We also had a fantastic Make-Up artist, Bill Myer, who helped with anything in between his make-up work. Everybody pitched in. Everybody lent a hand with something other then their assigned job. And during takes we made up a couple Chernobyl songs that I wish we could have recorded. “Chernobyl the Musical!” Ha! Our fantastic actors know how to make light of the situation. In between the depressing, sad, and heartbreaking scenes we sing songs. I love working on this play!
On Saturday, February 16th I had to go to a production meeting in the morning for a short film I’m shooting, so I could not get to set until 3 pm. Shawn jumped into the script supervisor role and he ended up doing it all day long. To make myself still useful for the day I took my reliable Canon D10 with me to the B-Space and I took pictures of the crew, cast and the set.
When I was in front of the camera acting, Bill took some photos of me, which I’m quite thankful for. Usually when I take pictures, there are never pictures of me.
We finished shooting the last scene at around 9 pm. The entire shoot went very fast. This was an incredibly well organized set. We had scripts, story board, and scene schedules all over the place. We had snacks and lunch break. We had a fantastic director, who was one of the most laid back directors I’ve ever worked with (Christine Louise Berry is another one.) And the crew was very professional.
I think these two weekends on the set were the most relaxing weekends for me in a long time. I love being on set! That is where I can relax from all the hustle and all the daily stress. I miss it already. But thankfully I’ll be working on another project this coming weekend. Woohoo!
