Help Hinder Halt

I am currently working with Stefanie and Susan Oetgen in creating  a new work called The Chemistry of Lime Trees. We're starting with the story of Admira and Bosko - two people who were lovers in Sarajevo and killed during the war in the 1990s. He as a Serb and she was a Muslim and they were shot by a sniper as they attempted to cross the border from one side (Muslim) to the other (Serb). We are using this story and moment in history to explore a number of subjects.

Susan was intrigued about the role of the sniper in this story - what did he know about them, how did he do his job, who was he, how does it feel to kill someone from such a distance. Susan had recently met a former sniper from the U.S. Marines and was able to discuss his experience. Through him Susan learned that in the US Marines, snipers did a fair amount of research before they go out on a mission and are able to articulate possible events (weather, terrain, etc..) that might help, hinder or halt their mission. We've decided to use these three words - Help, Hinder & Halt - as starting points to generate material for the work. Below is some excerpts from a rehearsal in which Stefanie and I are using these words in the context of Admira and Bosko - thinking about that first kiss, or first time they had sex, or just developing a physical relationship with one another and how there were starts and stops and re-allignments going on. This video is excerpts from an improv we did - the final section may or may not be improvised.

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