This Time Last Year/Last Year, This Time is a site-specific performance that explores the idea of space-memory and the way in which memory imbues significance to otherwise overlooked spaces.
Mike Kelberman and I created the project by first finding elements on the street that were interesting and quirky, but not necessarily visible to a passer-by. We then wrote out a very simple story of a fictional relationship:
A. Sara and Mike see each other but do not meet.
B. Sara and Mike meet.
C. Sara and Mike meet again.
D. Sara and Mike do not meet.
E. Sara and Mike meet but do not talk.
F. Sara and Mike sees the other but do not care.
Out of this simple story, we decided on two ways in which it could be told–essentially forwards and backwards. These two tours, telling the same story from different prespecitives, would take place simultaneously. Next, we took the sites we had found on our block of Mercer Street and assigned them to the different parts of the story. There was one site that had to match a part of the story, part D. We had found two different Cement Drawings and decided that a missed meeting–the characters had agreed to meet at the “drawing in the cement,” but had gone to different drawings.
In some cases, we chose a site that geographically came next. For example, Mike started on the southwest corner and traveled clockwise and some of the sites were chosen because they were on the way. In a few instances, we changed the order of the story to fit the site locations. I started, for example on the southeast corner at one of the “Cement Drawings,” and so I began my tour with Part D. Below is a script that we wrote for the tours:
Mike
A. The Window. I always liked the windows on that building. That oval one was my favorite.
B. The Orange Paint. She walked me home from the hardware store. By the time I got home, half the can of paint was gone.
She must have noticed it leaking. She didn’t say anything.
C. The Cement Drawing. We agreed to meet at the drawing in the cement at 5:00. She never was punctual… She must have
forgotten.
D. The Basement Door. I was downstairs at the studio when I heard something fall. She had dropped her keys. I grabbed them
and tried to throw them up to her. It took seven tries. Would have been faster if she were a better catch.
E. The Ledge. I was at a party upstairs. The balconey was too crowded so I came down here for a smoke. I ran into her
on the stairwell and she came along outside. We stood here and talked. We talked about that missing
brick. We talked here for a long time.
Sara
B. The Cement Drawing. We agreed to meet at “the drawing the in the cement” at 6:00. I waited half an hour and he never
showed up.
C. The Ledge. I was on my way home when I ran into him on the stairwell. He was leaving a party from upstairs.
I came back outside with him and we stood here. We stood here and talked. We talked about this missing
brick. We talked here for a long time.
D. The Basement Door. On the way home from the grocery store, I took my keys out of my pocket and dropped them down the
grate. I don’t know what is down there, but he was there. He tried to throw them back up at me. It took forever.
It would have just taken a minute if he’d just come upstairs.
E. The Orange Paint. I walked him home from the hardware store. I didn’t tell him his paint can was leaking.
In fact, we didn’t say much on that walk.
F. The Window. That window looks right into my old livingroom. I went to
close the curtain and he was standing right by this tree. He looked lost.
Because a person could only take one tour at a time, she either had to take both tours (which our class presentation didn’t allow time for) or talk with someone who had gone on the other tour. In this way, she might (or might not) discover the reason for the characters’ missed meeting and would definitely get some sense of the other side of the story.
During the discussion after our presentation, two strong ideas came up. The first was, although the tours were presented in a conversational tone, there is still a fourth-wall like barrier between docent and visitor. Marina asked me a question during the tour, which I happily and easily answered, but had I said from the beginning that questions were welcomed, more of the story (improved) would have been created and communicated. Second, it was only because we knew the members of the class would come together afterward that the hidden plot elements were successful. In a more real-world setting, the point was made that that same kind of assured reconvening would need to happen. Splitting up groups of people or couples was one example of how to encourage people from different tours to talk and find out the other side.
