When a play's synopsis begins, "Well, there's these three sisters," we immediately think of Chekhov, but the women of the Glimord clan are a long way from the bored, pampered, upper-class Misses Prozorov.
A conversation about SPARK
Written by Caridad Svich.
Directed by Denise Yvette Serna.
January 20 - February 24, 2018
In the Pentagon Theatre at Collaboraction Studios (1579 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
Rachel Bykowski: What is your mission as a director?
Denise Yvette Serna: I aim to create compelling work that captivates and engages. I support artists in celebrating their shared experiences while reflecting on our diverse global community. Theatre is most meaningful when it holds space for intersectional dialogue, and advocates for positive social change. want folks to do the things they love and feel great about doing, and truly see one another.
RB: What attracted you to SPARK?
DYS: Often, when I have seen marginalized populations presented on stage we see the big moments in their lives. oming out, death, divorce, ig victories, finding love... That sort of stuff. And yet our lives consist of many more seemingly unspectacular moments. Mostly unspectacular moments. The little devastations and fleeting joys. SPARK gives these moments in the Glimord sisters' lives dignity and complexity.
RB: What do you think Spark is about?
DYS: SPARK is partly about the ways devotion and sacrifice for the ones we care for can bruise our love for them. When extreme sacrifice is layered into the foundations of a relationship, resentment can creep up in love like vines, and become so entangled ith it you can't tell where the love ends and the resentment begins. I see this tendency often in female identified people and people of color I admire, and there isn't often social support to compensate them for the emotional labor they do for those around them. s the Glimord sisters attempt to articulate this phenomenon in their lives, I hope we, in turn, can start to speak about it in our own lives.
RB: What is your favorite line in the play and why?
DYS: "We all get through what we get through, even if no one’s hangin’ any kind of flag for us." There are a lot of battles female identified people in this world face that go unseen, or worse, ignored. As we take the responsibility to tell one another’s’ stories, we’re hanging those victory flags for one another, and lifting one another up.
RB: Without giving too much away, what are you most excited to see in this production?
DYS: I'm excited for the laughter. For all this story has to say about coming to an understanding about things that have harmed you, there are certainly moments of joy. Laughter has been getting people through tough times and breaking down barriers between them for a long time. There are some lovely moments in the show where we get to laugh with the women on stage, to marvel with them at the world we are moving through - absurd and intimidating though it may be.