July 9th Salon Recap: Secrets and Memories
Three presenters rocked the First Person Salon last night at the Gershman Y, bringing us a night filled with stories of intimate memories and intriguing secrets. Couldn’t make it? Here’s what you missed:
“I’d been waiting my entire life to be seen by my father.”
Writer ELISABETH ERICKSON shared an excerpt from a work in progress entitled “Losing Daddy”, and talked about the process of writing memoir. Erickson’s themes of family dysfunction resonated with many audience members, and raised compelling questions about the nature of memoir writing. Is it possible to honor your family while also exposing their flaws in writing? Can storytelling be an act of healing?
“I hate Times Square!”
New media artist RACHEL FUJITA offered a visual representation of memory in her presentation of lovehateNYC. The interactive project plots Fujita’s personal experiences across a map of Manhattan. The result is a cartographical memoir; neighborhoods are color coded to represent feelings of love and hate, and panoramic time lapse photographs serve as documents of twenty New York-specific memories. For more of Fuijita’s first person look at New York, visit lovehateNYC.
“I can eat an entire wheel of brie in one hour”.
The second half of the night brought theatrical ensemble TONGUE & GROOVE to the stage, with their unique brand of reality-based long form improv. The group of actors collected anonymous secrets from the audience, and brought them to life in a spontaneous theatrical piece. At turns hilarious and touching, the result was the Salon’s first- ever completely improvised documentary!
Thanks to everyone who came out last night, and to the presenters who made the night so entertaining!
Mark your calendar for the next Salon: Wednesday, August 13that the Gershman Y.
