Don’t call this ‘victim theater’

Suzie Harrison

She’s been called “A spellbinding performer,” by the Village Voice,

and has received rave reviews across the country. Starting tonight,

after a five-year hiatus from the stage, Aimee Greenberg will be

premiering her newest work “Dona Sangre,” a solo theatrical and

multimedia performance, at BC Space, 235 Forest Ave.

The former Laguna Beach resident prefers not to be called a

performance artist.

“I have issues with the term ‘performance artist,’” Greenberg

said. “It started as an extension of painting and sculpture; the word

became an extra limb that grew out of the need to express beyond the

visual by using the body and voice.

“What has happened over the years -- it’s become the forum for the

soapbox, social theater and social issues,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg said there is a place for that; it’s important, but does

not describe her.

“I was trained in theater at the New York Conservatory for the

Arts,” Greenberg said. “I learned the classics and modern, and then I

developed my own work, more toward experimental, avant-garde or

alternative. But I have the foundation in theater.”

Wynn Handman has been her most influential teacher. Handman, a

protege of Sanford Meisner, co-founded and has been the artistic

director of the American Place Theatre in New York for more than 40

years.

“He told me something I never forgot -- ‘Ballast yourself in

reality, then take off,’” Greenberg said. “It always makes sense to

me. I took off and completely deconstructed the typical three-act

form in theater and created a visual, visceral, expressionistic

theater.”

Greenberg’s objection to much of performance art is that

practitioners aren’t trained in performing and developing a

character.

“They get up and talk about their issues. I call it ‘Victim

Theatre,’” Greenberg said. “I’m getting tired of it; it feels very

Hollywood to me. It’s become more important who you are than the

story you’re telling.”

She used “Dona Sangre” as an example to illustrate her point.

“I am doing a piece about Latin themes, sing traditional Spanish

songs in it and speak a little Spanish in it,” Greenberg said. “But

I’m not Spanish -- I’m a white Jewish girl from New York.”

Instead, Greenberg prefers to call herself a hybrid theatrical

merged-media performance artist, explaining that she is not doing

traditional theater or pure performance art.

“After doing the whole New York thing, off Broadway and off-off

Broadway, TV and film, I left New York and went to Seattle,”

Greenberg said.

Greenberg said she really wanted to be in a small theater

community and was all about doing theater.

“I did a lot of work in Seattle, was an artist-in-residence and

traveled all over the state,” she said. “I started to do some

interesting work -- my own work started there.”

Her first original works “The Cosmic Accident,” “I Like to Watch,”

and “Carne Vale” were conceptualized and performed there.

Her work has also been influenced by her time in Japan on an Asian

Cultural Council Fellowship. She studied and performed Noh, Butoh and

Kabuki and will use masks in Dona Sangre. Greenberg has also

performed nationally and in Europe and Russia. After being diagnosed

with breast cancer, her life changed, but still she relied on the

arts to heal. She wrote a book, “Changing the Face of Breast Cancer.”

“It teaches how to use expressive arts therapy toward healing,”

Greenberg said. “It’s a healing modality and technique I used at

South Coast Medical Center. I call it the handbook for mental health

and expressive arts practitioners and therapists. I’m also a

registered drama therapist.”

She has used her arts recovery program in many states, helping a

cross-section of the population from battered women to the homeless,

teens and survivors of the infamous Los Angeles riots.

“In ‘90, I moved to LA and started my own theater company called

HEIJERA productions, an Indian term meaning for the road,” Greenberg

said.

Her productions, “Dreams of Flight,” “No Codes,” “Phases of the

Loon” and “Dark Moon Lilith,” have been critically acclaimed.

Greenberg’s last performance, in 2000, “Through the Water Lily,”

was an exploration of relationships -- and her husband Tom Call was

part of the performance.

“Life got in the way, so I took a break,” Greenberg said.

She focused on her family, including two daughters, Lily, 7, and

Avalon, 4, as well as writing and other projects.

“‘Dona Sangre’ is based on a novel with a working title. I started

writing the book and started the process a few years ago,” Greenberg

said. “The idea germinated in Mexico. I realized I wanted to perform

again and transformed the basic seeds of the story into a

performance.”

It was an interesting process, distilling the work from the

literary to the visual and physical.

“It’s literary and very poetic, an epic poem set in 20th century

Baja,” Greenberg said.

“Dona Sangre” is partly a play on race and culture with a twist.

Laguna Art Museum’s chief curator, Tyler Stallings, presented two

world premiere performances of Greenberg’s work in 1997 and 1999 at Huntington Beach Art Center, his previous employer. Stallings

described Greenberg as one of the most cutting-edge performance

artists in the area.

“The commitment she has to her vision is truly admirable,

especially in today’s cultural climate,” Stallings said. “She has a

unique vision for exploring the role of women in society that reaches

back to ancient mythology and then swings forward to the present.”

“Dona Sangre” will be performed at 8 tonight, Saturday and again

on May 20 and 21 at BC Space, 235 Forest Ave, second floor. Tickets

are $20. For information or tickets, call (949) 246-1698 or go to

https://www.aimee greenberg.com.