SOCRATE

NEWS:  March 12, 2020– Socrate update: the event is not cancelled but it is changed, to accommodate safety requirements that prevent the whole cast from assembling. The Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms space will be activated–come by and join us for what will now be a precursor, or trailer, for the full production rescheduled in the Fall.

east village caravanserai (caravanserai)
and
Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms
present

“Socrate,” at Frau Fiber’s Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms (ILGWU), on March 14, 2020. 2 performances: 7pm and 8pm. 322 Elm Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802

ORIGINAL PLAN: “Socrate” is the first production of caravanserai’s 2020 season. Composed in 1919, “Socrate” was commissioned by the Princesse Edmond de Polignac, born Winnaretta Singer, heir to the American Singer Sewing Machine fortune who enjoyed a happy lavender marriage with Prince Edmond while indulging in dilectations and dalliances with the damsels. She used her resources to fund a wide range of causes, notably a salon that supported and entertained the likes of Monet, Colette, Cocteau, Valery, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Her numerous public health projects in Paris included public housing, shelters for people sleeping rough, and hospitals for working people. Collaborating with Marie Curie during WWI, Singer converted private limousines into mobile radiology units to help wounded soldiers at the front. The performances of “Socrate” will celebrate the extraordinary Winnaretta Singer during Women’s History Month. This free event is directed by Marco Schindelmann, with performers from the University of Redlands Opera Workshop. The performance will invite audiences to connect this century old work to contemporary issues.

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE TIME OF COVID19:

By March 14 2020, although State and City shelter-in-place directives were not yet mandatory, we were all learning how to rethink public meetings and performances. Academic institutions were already cancelling student participation in activities and so our updated publicity materials read, “UPDATE: “Socrate”: the event is not cancelled but it is changed, to accommodate safety requirements that prevent the whole cast from assembling. The Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms space will be activated. east village caravanserai (caravanserai) and Institute 4 Labor Generosity Workers & Uniforms will present “Socrate,” at Frau Fiber’s ILGWU, on March 14, 2020. 2 performances: 7pm and 8pm. 322 Elm Avenue, Long Beach, CA”

The performances at IFLGWU followed extensive preparations with the cast of singers at University of Redlands, which included a social practice workshop by Frau Fiber. Two performances, with full cast and orchestra were performed in Redlands, one within the “Gritty Salon” series and the other on the amphitheatre stage—both were informed by the social practice exploration of transnational garment production, an aspect of the work that also illuminated  the final production in Long Beach.

Last minute Covid19 health concerns necessitated a change of plans as student singers were prevented from attending. We substituted a staged reading focused on Winnaretta Singer, the works she commissioned, and her time in Paris, with a particular emphasis on the death and devastation caused by The Spanish Flue. With script, poetry and music, we connected the moments of pandemic across 100 years. During this last Second Saturday Artwalk before the lockdown, an audience gathered and celebrated the life and accomplishments of this extraordinary lesbian icon, just as we were moving into our own uncharted epidemiological terrain. The performances took place against a background of early-modernism, graphic imagery highlighting Winnaretta Singer and the ubiquitous Singer Sewing Machine, one of the formative phenomena of current garment production systems. Some audience members shared the inside space with us and some stood outside, watching through the storefront windows.

“Socrate” successfully met our Mission: east village caravanserai curates and presents dynamic, relevant theatre-based performance fostering dialogue and community.