{"id":891,"date":"2020-07-20T23:59:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T23:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imaginedtheatres.com\/?post_type=theatre&p=891"},"modified":"2020-07-13T14:26:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T14:26:08","slug":"pneuma-queer-telling","status":"publish","type":"theatre","link":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/pneuma-queer-telling\/","title":{"rendered":"Pneuma: Queer Telling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twilight, at the Edge of the World, Earth, 2138<\/strong><\/p>\n

A gigantic tree, with exposed roots crisscrossing, penetrating, and mixing with the cave\u2019s stony skin, becomes the tree-cave\u2019s hybrid torso and head, the tree\u2019s over-sized crown its leafy hair.<\/p>\n

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Scene I:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Caught Breaths<\/strong><\/p>\n

Labored whirrs, sputtering spasmodically like coughs provoked by old phlegm, echo inside the cave.<\/p>\n

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Scene II: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Storied Breaths<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the rocky clearing squats a small gathering of people. An elderly matriarch with an elongated hornpipe curving all the way to the ground faces a semi-circle of children who range from teens to toddlers. The elder starts chanting and clapping, rocking her body rhythmically in gentle circles while she passes her hornpipe counterclockwise to the children.<\/p>\n

The oldest child blows the hornpipe once and speaks, \u201cThis is my time to talk to the Rocks, our Breathing Rocks, lest they forget who they are.\u201d She tells how her parents took her to see the twin rocks for the first time and how she placed her palms on the rocks to feel their warmth and rhythmic movements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt happy to meet the Rocks and drew an elk on their skins,\u201d said the second oldest child after ze took the turn to blow the hornpipe twice. \u201cThey are our living ancestors and protectors; they are the lungs for our home tree-cave; they are our talismans. They hold our wills and consciousness; they keep us remembering.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I had a fever that would not go away, my father took me to see Ah Ma.\u201d The elder nods her head and joins the child in the scene. \u201cAh Ma took me to the Rocks. She raised me up and put me in the chasm-chamber in between the rocks. It was warm, and I loved being squeezed by the breathing rocks. I stayed there for a long time, listening to the rocks humming, like a lullaby. I felt much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The children continue their story relays. In turn, each blows the hornpipe and carves into it with a flat stone to mark their places. Their blowing and marking increases in number as the hornpipe passes through each younger storyteller. Words with wings soar amongst the chants and orations, marvels and whispers, and little songs here and there. A great assemblage of flora and fauna appears in thin air \u2014 from hummingbirds to snakes; giraffes to whales; beetles, bees, bats, and butterflies; from tulips and lavender to rosemary and mushrooms; from lemons, mangoes, to bamboos and banyan trees; from assorted pebbles to a special marble \u2014 a wondrous natural universe, seen through these children\u2019s eyes, is tattooed on the surfaces of the Breathing Rocks.<\/p>\n

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Scene III:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Renewed Breaths<\/strong><\/p>\n

The setting sun paints the sky with variegated clouds, which merge with the autumnal alpine landscape and extend their colorful splendor to the far-west horizon. The hornpipe \u2014 now renewed with multiple rounds of fresh markings \u2014 circles back to Ah Ma, who receives it with a smile and a bow. She begins playing a tender melody with the hornpipe. Teenagers drum on their bodies and the ground with twigs, pinecones, stems, and gravel, while the toddlers who cannot yet practice their stories with words begin to crawl, swing, stomp, clap, and dance to the tune of the hornpipe.<\/p>\n

Ah Ma marks her own presence on the hornpipe with the flat stone. She then leads the children to the cave, where the children\u2019s parents wait with lanterns, torches, candles, neon necklaces, and self-illuminating wristbands. The adults clear away the tendrils and vines that partially block the cave\u2019s mouth. They pause in front of the immense Breathing Rocks. The children help their parents cleanse the dusts, debris, and fungi off the rocks, as if they were brushing the tree-cave\u2019s twin molars, exfoliating their breasts, or detoxing its humongous lungs. Refreshed and energized, the rocks are ready to receive the newly adorned hornpipe, which Ah Ma gently places into their chasm-chamber.<\/p>\n

None of the people inside the tree-cave hold their breaths \u2014 this is, after all, an exercise for flowing breaths \u2014 while they wait for the Breathing Rocks to wake up, speak up, or cough up. Perhaps sonorously, or merely audibly, or, to some, imperceptibly, the Rocks inhale and exhale, expanding their girths, broadening their volumes, or flexing their fibrous mineral-muscles. And then they take a very deep breath.<\/p>\n

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The End: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hopefully Never! Or, One Second before \u201cNever Say Never!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

An impression of Ah Ma with the Breathing Rocks inside the tree-cave, captured by spirit photography.\u00a0<\/span>Image by\u00a0<\/span>Rita Stern Milch.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dangling in mid-air like a thrust-out tongue, an oval-shaped rocky surface extends from the mouth of a cave to form a rough-hewn apron stage in the middle of a mountain. ","protected":false},"menu_order":0,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres\/891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/theatres"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/theatre"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.imaginedtheatres.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}