Screenshot from Blessed with Switch
LAPP’s BRIDGE THE GAPS_NEST initiative, in partnership with the city of Santa Monica, has been providing wildfire-impacted artists with residencies of approximately one week at the Miles Memorial Playhouse. Each BtG_NEST residency is tailored to the needs of artists rebuilding their practice after wildfire impact, offering a space that prioritizes recovery over outcomes and allows each artist to define the scope of their own residency.
Asher Hartman used the residency time to rehearse and film Blessed with Switch. Asher is the writer and director on the project, Jasmine Orpilla performed the work and Anna Wittenberg filmed. “We were all enchanted by the theater,” says Asher of the Miles Memorial Playhouse, “We explored the theater’s amazing curtain system using it to create corridors of darkness and play. I think the remarkable moment was understanding how the energetic history of the theater, evident in the very pragmatic innovations on the physical stage, the lighting system, the exits and entrances, seamlessly fit and spoke to the content of our film. The theater and the film were a perfect match.”
Asher is incredibly excited about the film created during the BtG_NEST residency, and how it dovetails into the future of the project. “I’m making it into a 3 channel work for museum and gallery exhibition and will soon edit and begin a search for a home for the work.” Orpilla and Hartman are taking the work as a performance to PICA’s TBA festival, and will also be doing a live performance at a Los Angeles museum next year. The collaborators are also beginning a long term performance and film project that will fold in a large pool of actors and visual artists.
One question has been on all of our minds here at LAPP. What nature of support do fire-impacted artists most need, at this moment some nine months after the fires?
Asher responded, “Many of us lost part or all of our archives. I think we need funding to support representation of either these older works or support for possible future works, in essence rebuilding a presence. It’s disheartening to hear of painters who lost entire series, filmmakers who lost raw data, performers who lost documentation, when our careers and visibility are dependent on this material that in many cases is gone. Helping to rebuild careers or supporting a step up in the future is really needed, I think.”
Asher expressed appreciation for the generous support of the Performance Art Museum in this time and also for Los Angeles Performance Practice and BtG_NEST: “I want to thank you for this grant and for extra support that helped me get through a stressful economic month and to pay the two great artists I worked with on this project… I reallllly want to thank William [Ruiz Morales, LAPP Director of Field Initiatives + Creative Producing], for being so awesome, so accommodating, so informed, so clear about what theater artists need, and so supportive of my endeavor during the residency. I KNOW I couldn’t make this film without this grant, not at all, and thus I am really thrilled to have had the opportunity.”
Asher also expressed enjoyment of the friends made at the residency: “We were surprised at the assertive park squirrels! Wow!”
Asher Hartman is a multidisciplinary artist, author, playwright, and intuitive based in Los Angeles. In his visual theater practice, Hartman blends intuition with research and an intense writing and rehearsal process. His work often explores personal and emotional histories in relation to Western ideologies through a non-linear and experimental approach. He holds a BFA in Theater from UCLA and an MFA in Art from CalArts.
BRIDGE THE GAPS: Wildfire Relief for L.A. Artists is an initiative of Los Angeles Performance Practice. BTG_FUND provides micro-grants to fire-impacted artists and is made possible through the generosity of an anonymous donor with additional support from individual contributors. Donate here. BtG_NEST is a residency program made possible in part with support from Art of Recovery, an initiative of the city of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs. This residency offers subsidized creative space, mentorship, and technical support at the Miles Memorial Playhouse.
