Foreign Exchange Theater

Demetri Vacratsis likes to tell stories. Stories about people who don’t
otherwise have a voice in mainstream theater. Stories that explore such
far-ranging subjects as terrorists, transvestites and the blinding
addictions that carry some of us through life. “We’re not trying to
provoke. We’re trying to tell a story that is relevant in today’s
society. For some people, their stories are never told.”

Vacratsis is the co-founder of the Breathe Art Theatre Project’s Open
Borders Initiative. The 34 year-old Windsor native started the company
with Courtney Dempsey Burkett and Valerie Bonasso with the goal of
bringing together the Windsor and Detroit theater communities by
presenting contemporary, socially conscious productions that deal with
the common human denominators of modern life. “Part of our mission is
to produce contemporary work on both sides of the border, or as our
respective mayors would say, a ‘two nation destination’. This provides
a unique point of view,” says Burkett.

“It actually started in May 2004. She and I had been in New York
together, although not knowing it at the time,” says Vacratsis, “We
thought it would be interesting to create a company that shared actors
and shared initiatives that express a fresh perspective.”

Burkett and Vacratsis brainstormed the idea and then founded the
company with Bonasso. The result was a company that performs
contemporary shows on both sides of the border using new and
established artists. “The Canadians like to harass the Michiganders,
and vice versa. We are so close and yet we are far apart on some
things, and we bring it all together in the work,” says Burkett.
“Family is important. I’m in Detroit because I love Detroit and I love
theater.”


Theater with a conscious

More often than not, the productions reveal aspects of culture or human
behavior that are unsettling in their honesty and present a side of
life that is unexplored in popular theater. “To be able to expose
people to these largely untold stories through the theater is very
gratifying,” says Burkett.

Last year was the company’s first season, performing two shows in
Windsor and one in Detroit. This year the cross-border artistic
partners have expanded from three to ten. Most of these artistic
partners are graduates of local theater programs such as the Hilberry
at Wayne State and the University of Windsor.

The name for the company, Breathe Art, came from an experience
Vacratsis had while working at a place called Not A Theater Company in
New York. A woman who worked there with him had seemingly boundless
energy and when asked how she could accomplish so much, she answered,
“Well, I breathe art.” Although Vacratsis thought it pretentious at the
time, the name stuck. He believes it captures the organic, free flowing
nature of the company and what they are trying to accomplish through
the work. “It’s not every day that you get a group of late 20s and
early 30s artists who work so well together.  It’s a labor of
love. It’s a second career for us all. Most of the artists work in the
casinos, the Hilberry Theatre or other venues.”

The group performs “contemporary works and only contemporary works.
Vacratsis says. “In the times we live in so much is going on
politically, socially and culturally that we can take it all in and
express it to an audience who might otherwise not be exposed to them.”

The works of the Breathe Art Theater Project’s Open Borders Initiative
explore the questions we ask ourselves in quiet moments of unflinching
consciousness and the uncomfortable notion of exposing ourselves to
something new and trying to make sense of the thoughts and feelings the
experience elicits. “This is a concept of social theater.” Last
season’s Dead Eye Boy is such a story. A very intense piece about
addiction and its consequences that provides a glimpse into a life—and
a culture that is foreign to most people.

Evolving its repertoire by an ‘Inch’


This season, the company presents Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed
by Valerie Bonasso featuring Detroit actors Kevin Young and Katie
Galazka. The show already played in Windsor, and has its Detroit run through March 28 at downtown’s 1515
Broadway Theatre.

 The story centers on Hedwig, whose only way of escaping from East
Berlin is to undergo a sex change and assume his mother’s identity.
Unfortunately the operation goes wrong and he is left with an “angry
inch”. Escaping to America, he forms a rock band whilst seeking a soul
mate that will help him fulfill his destiny.

“Last year we examined the hostage crisis in Beirut,” says Vacratsis,
“This year we decided to deal with a more social perspective. Hedwig
and the Angry Inch focuses on the sanctity of marriage, gay rights and
gay marriage.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a “production about individualism, and the
choices that we make in service of who we are. It’s something that you
can relate to whether you’re gay or straight, black or white—it’s about
being who you are. It’s also a great rock and roll show.”

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Hedwig and the Angry Inch is presented in four performances a week at
1515 Broadway Theatre downtown, across from the Detroit Opera House, through March 26. Performances are at 8 p.m.
Fridays, 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Saturdays, and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are
$20 general admission, $12 for students, reservations are recommended.
Call the Hedwig Hotline at (519) 980-0607, the theater at 313-965-1515,
or email BreatheArtTheatreProject@yahoo.com.

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Photos:



Hedwig Rehersal at 1515 Broadway



Courtney Burkett and Demetri Vacratsis



1515 Broadway



Kevin Young as Hedwig

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All Photographs Copyright Dave Krieger