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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Come With Questions, Leave With Answers
By Polly Summar
Journal Staff Writer
Ever feel like your life is a stage but no one's directing?
Sunday night's your chance to find some guidance.
A group of local performers called Oracle Theatre is staging “The Living Tarot” at The Pink Church, complete with a magical “guide” to help you better define your question.
Wonder why you can't find a relationship? Or why world peace can't start in your own neighborhood? Tell the guide your concerns and from there, the actors will improvise by “channeling” aspects, or wisdom from the 22 “major arcana” (greater secrets) cards of the Tarot deck.
If you've managed to live in Santa Fe without learning what Tarot cards are ... well, depending on your inclination, they're either a pack of cards that springs from an ancient lineage of mystical wisdom or a 15th-century Italian parlor game.
In the deck are 22 major arcana cards that picture archetypal roles: say, the fool, the magician, the high priestess, the empress, the chariot, the hermit, justice, the hanged man, the star, the moon.
Whatever your belief system, the evening might prove as much fun as Halloween.
Azlan White, one of the actors, recently described a question asked in a previous performance by a man wanting to know if he should quit his job.
“So we blindfolded him, and he climbed onto the back of one of the actors, who was being 'the cliff,' ” said White, an astrologer and tarot card reader. “The audience was cheering. It was really moving, and empowering for him.”
As White said, how many times do you get to literally live out your quandary?
“The Living Tarot” was created about a decade ago by a performer named Ammathyst Rose Carter and her partner, David Rose, from Austin, Texas. The two started a tour of the West Coast Festival circuit in a bus named Lola. White is one of the original members of that troupe.
And how did Carter come up with the idea? “She dreamed it,” said White. “For New Year's Eve in 1998 or '99, they did one with 22 different actors. They learned it didn't work because not all the cards got picked. After that, they realized they only needed three or four actors.”
Meanwhile, White had done an interactive performance piece herself, called “Astrology Between the Lines” here in Santa Fe in 1999, in which she took people through the astrological wheel. “But I wanted to do shamanic theater with a whole troupe,” she said, “theater with a healing intent utilizing the energy of the group.”
And once White said that, voila. “The Living Tarot troupe with their bus landed at my house in 2000, and they took me with them on tour,” she said. Her roommate, an actor, was friends with them, and the troupe had needed a place to stay.
For the current Santa Fe Living Tarot group, actress and Nia dance teacher Danielle Louise Reddick is another of the actors. Reddick came to New Mexico after a four-year run as a company member of the international tour of STOMP, the popular percussive music and dance show. Reddick joined The Living Tarot troupe for part of a 2005 tour and has collaborated with White on the Santa Fe Living Tarot troupe for the past five years.
The Living Tarot also features rhythm master Gregory Gutin and musical director Sunny Smyth. Musical instruments usually include a drummer, a harmonium and an oud. “It's World Music or Middle Eastern music,” said White. The music varies depending on the question. “There might be airplane music or surfer music — the 'hanged man' is sometimes done as a surfer, like 'Hang 10.' ”
Lisa Pelletier, a local graphic designer and psychic who will play “the guide” in Sunday's performance, talked about how she got involved with the group.
“Azlan and Danielle had planned a spring equinox-themed 'Living Tarot' event in March 2008,” said Pelletier, “and they encouraged people to dress up. I wore my 'Juliette' dress from 1972 and painted my face.”
When the night's “guide” didn't show up, Pelletier recalled, “Danielle walked up to me and said, 'Lisa, would you like to be the guide tonight?' ”
Just one performance and Pelletier was hooked. “I was so full of enthusiasm and called Danielle and said, `Let's talk — I want to do more of this.' ”
Pelletier said the guide draws out the questioner. “It's a work of magic,” she said.
In the future, White said, “I would love to keep advancing the cohesiveness of the local group, so we can use bigger and bigger theaters with lighting.” The lighting can make the whole performance even more dramatic, White said. “And I'm interested in teaching this form so there can be living oracles all over.”
“We've had skeptics come,” said White, “and they get transformed.”
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