水の駅 Mizu no Eki
(The Water Station)
by 太田省吾 Ota Shogo
(trans. Mari Boyd)
Collaborations of Merritt Summer Festival 2021
What happens when we examine the quiet and mundane?
Ota's 水の駅 Mizu no Eki (The Water Station) uses a combination of slow tempo, quietude, and theatre of divestiture to show a fragmented civilization. Travellers enter the space, avail themselves of water from the broken water spigot or investigate the heap of junk and exit. Without words, the audience acts as voyeurs: forced to determine the stories of each of the travellers and see ourselves reflected back. Originally inspired by Ota's repatriation back to Japan from China as a child following the second World War, Ota and his collaborators created a piece of theatre that is at once awe-inspiring, disgusting, terrifying, and heartbreaking; invoking both a sense of curiosity for how the world works and a looming fear of the unknown.
Our conceptual wasteland reflects the paradigm of the current world: Climate crises spurred on by rampant capitalism and pollution produce wildfires and thick smog; water is soon to become a commodity; refugees travel long distances to avoid conflict on nearly every continent; and heaps of trash inhabit nearly every corner of the globe. This is our reality, now and for the foreseeable future.
Each of the groups of travellers in the play are from different places, at different points in their journeys. How does our humanity manifest itself as we move through this landscape of our own? A world destroyed by our own hands. Now is the time for a true moment of quietude, of reflection; the sound of constant, trickling water; and bodies moving through space and time.
Director, Kyle Stoffers (he/him)
ABOUT the play and COLLABORATIONS OF MERRITT
水の駅 Mizu no Eki (The Water Station) is a play without words by 太田省吾 Ota Shogo. During the course of the play we see 18 travellers traversing the stage in a movement technique known as “slow tempo.” They interact with the scene and other travellers on a wasteland featuring a dripping water spigot and a heap of junk left behind by others.
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Collaborations of Merritt is a designer and director collaboration festival which celebrates the work of creative teams in the performing arts. All work in these dream collaborations are to feature plays, musicals and operas by BIPOC, Women & LBGTQIA Writers and Composers. The teams will work through the process of design and directing a dream theater or opera project of their choosing leading up to a first rehearsal. Projects will culminate in a video “first rehearsal” presentation that includes research, renderings, models, and directorial concepts, that will be shared on the festival website. Artists and artistic leaders will be invited to engage with the work, including a panel of artistic directors from throughout the Midwest, and each team will get personal feedback from two artistic directors via zoom.
For more information on the Festival visit: The Michael Merritt Awards - Collaborations of Merritt
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Director | Kyle Stoffers (he/him), kylestoffers.com, kyle.stoffers@gmail.com
Scenic Designer | Hayden Penn (he/him), haydenpenn.com, hpenndesign@gmail.com
Costume Designer | Ben Argenta Kress (he/him), benargentakress.com, benargentakress@gmail.com
