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By WALLACE BAINE
Posted: 09/05/2010 01:30:54 AM PDT
It is the first -- and last -- great mystery of human existence: What
happens to us after we die?
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Of the more than 100 billion human beings who have ever inhaled the
Earth's air, not one has ever returned from the afterlife we think,
anyway to tell those of us still breathing what it's like.
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Tandy Beal & Company embraces the mystery of the afterlife in
the new performance piece 'HereAfterHere"
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The world's religious traditions have, of course, long-established
views on life after death, views that millions worldwide accept as
absolute truth. But short of tangible, scientific proof -- a YouTube
video would suffice -- the experience of the Great Beyond, if there is
a Great Beyond, remains as deep a mystery as ever.
In the contemporary world, however, notions of the afterlife are fast
becoming like fingerprints -- everyone has one and they're each
unique. Consequently, the question has become nearly as central to
art as it is to religion.
Click photo to enlarge
Tandy Beal and Jon Scoville are
preparing for their new show. (Dan
Coyro/Sentinel)
1
2
»
That's the view, anyway, of celebrated Santa Cruz dancer and
choreographer Tandy Beal and composer Jon Scoville, whose latest
on-stage collaboration, "HereAfterHere," addresses the question directly. Not that Beal or Scoville have
any earth-shaking answers they're ready to reveal when "HereAfterHere" debuts Sept. 10-12 at the
Crocker Theatre on the Cabrillo College campus. The two artists are more interested in the imaginative
interpretations than in the proof.
"This is the ultimate imaginative leap," said Beal, marking the 40th year of her landmark dance troupe
Tandy Beal & Company. "There is no bigger
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leap and nobody can say you're right or
wrong."
The performance, which Beal and Scoville
have been working on ever since a "beta"
version of the show was staged before a small
Santa Cruz audience three years ago, is a
broad-minded, multimedia embrace of the
wonder engendered by ideas of life after
death.
"The value of it is to take a look at death in a
noncrisis situation," said Beal. "If we can open
this up in a noncrisis time, to talk about it
freely, it can pull us up. There is a gigantic
mystery at play here that we simply cannot
pierce."
The show will offer the kind of gorgeous,
meditative dance and choreography for which
Beal is well-known and a score from Scoville
that evokes mystery and adventure. But "Here"
is also a collage of ideas elicited from the general public. Beal and Scoville spent nine days interviewing
everyday folks on their personal visions of the next world in Santa Cruz and Salt Lake City, where they
spend about half their year. Those interviews have been edited together to create a pastiche of the
diversity of opinion on the subject.
Also part of the on-stage experience is a series of video segments from artists such as Ben Jaffe, Jess
Damsen, Bruce Lee, Ellen Bromberg and Denise Gallant, including selections inspired by the book "View
From the Center of the Universe" from Santa Cruzans Joel Primack and Nancy Abrams.
At each performance, there will be an opportunity for audience members to share their own conceptions
of the hereafter. And, Beal said, audience members will be asked to share their cell phone numbers and,
at a break in the performance, those numbers will be exchanged so that strangers can call one another
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and share their ideas on the subject.
Friday's opening night performance will also be a benefit for Hospice of Santa Cruz County. About 150 of
the best seats in the house will be set aside for those looking to donate to hospice, an organization that
assists patients and their families with end-of-life issues.
As an organization, hospice often deals with questions of death and dying, including the eternal mystery
of life after death.
"When the end of life is close, that's generally when people will touch their toe into the water on these
kinds of questions," said Cathy Conway, hospice director of development.
On Saturday, Sept. 11, Beal and Scoville will host a free afternoon symposium called "Cultural and
Religious Attitudes on the Afterlife," bringing together a variety of traditional viewpoints. Among the
speakers will be philosopher of science Nancy Abrams, Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El, Patrick
Conway of Resurrection Catholic Church and Lama Tharchin of Vajrayana Foundation, who will discuss
the intricate cosmology of Tibetan culture.
Marcus said she will share the various ideas of Olam Haba translated "the world to come" in Jewish
tradition. "The Talmud talks about the six questions that must be asked before you die. And the Bible talks
about gathering with ancestors. But there are many ideas about the world to come."
Nancy Abrams said that our understanding of the universe has increased dramatically in recent decades
and because of these new discoveries, science may soon be in a position to address age-old mysteries.
"Everybody needs to feel part of something large and purposeful and religions are failing us in that, to the
extent that they deny science. I know humans have a cosmic role in the universe."
After Saturday's evening performance, Beal and Scoville will be joined by the Rev. Deborah Johnson of
Inner Light Ministries in Santa Cruz for a post-show discussion, meant to keep the question of the afterlife
alive with the audience, long after the show has ended.
In creating the show, Beal was inspired by books such as "After Death" by Suki Miller and "Heaven" by
Lisa Miller. But, she said, she's just as inspired by the comments of people she meets.
"In the course of our interviews, we met this homeless man," she said. "And he had this incredible story.
He believed that every person has a star that calls their name and their name only constantly, and that we
never hear it until the very moment we die."
Scoville said that he unconsciously used the voices of young children in his score to the show, because
he believed that those close to birth children, or close to death have a strong perspective on what lies
beyond.
"My father was a Presbyterian minister," Scoville said. "And I asked him once, Do you literally believe in
the tangibility of an afterlife?' And he said, The first two and a half minutes after death are going to be the
most exciting moments of my life. Because that will be the moment that everything will be revealed.' "
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IF YOU GO
'HereAfterHere: A Self-Guided
Tour of Eternity'
PRESENTED BY: Tandy Beal & Company
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10 and 11; 3 p.m. Sept. 12
WHERE: The Crocker Theater on the campus of
Cabrillo College
TICKETS: $12 to $35 (set-aside tickets for the
Hospice of Santa Cruz County benefit on Friday are
$50 and include premium seating and a reception
after the performance)
DETAILS: 420-5260, www.tandybeal.com
NOTE: There will be a free symposium titled
'Cultural and Religious Attitudes on the Afterlife'
featuring Lama Tharchin of the Vajrayana
Foundation, Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El,
Patrick Conway of Resurrection Church and
philosopher of science Nancy Abrams. It begins at 3
p.m. Sept. 11 at the Crocker Theater.
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