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In Words and Song, Yakim Brings Chelm to Life By DAVID TOWNSEND
Imagine: You are at The Juilliard School one morning, lying on the floor of Studio 306, staring up at the ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights, while a voice is commanding you to do simple exercises: Lift your leg, bring both arms above your head, sit up, lay back down, breathe in and out evenly and generously. The voice is not shrill or harsh; the movements are not complicated or jarring. Sounds benign, doesn't it? Well, to speak from experience, those simple exercises can quickly become insurmountable challenges, when done to exhaustion. Simply holding your leg up off the ground can make you weep, beg for mercy, or scream at the top of your lungs. (I personally have done all three, usually in that order.) You have entered Moni's world—what I affectionately call "the Circus of Pain."
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| Moni Yakim (second from right) teaching drama students in the 2002-03 school year. (Photo by Jessica Katz) |
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Walk up to any alumnus of the Drama Division and say the words "Moni Yakim," and the eyes will roll, accompanied by groans. As a founding member of the Drama Division, Moni has graciously punished second- through fourth-year students since 1968. His methods stem from his work with Étienne Decroux, a master of mime; Stella Adler, a master actor and teacher; and, as he was born in Israel, the Israeli army! The result is a teacher who encourages the expansion of your imagination and who enjoys pushing the boundaries of your physical dexterity. Behind every student's groan, there lies a profound gratitude for the valuable lessons that Moni brings to life in his deceivingly simple activities. For all of his wonderful contributions to movement education, Mr. Yakim was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Theater Movement Educators last year.The Juilliard community will have the honor and the pleasure of witnessing Mr. Yakim's work firsthand this month, for the first time in 12 years. The third-year drama class (Group 35) will not only be directed by Moni, but will be featured in a play that he wrote called In the Realm of Chelm. The play is based on a series of Chelm stories, drawn from a body of Jewish folklore about the fictional mountain village of Chelm and the people who inhabit it. The stories, often presented as children's fables, have been published in book form and retold by a number of authors. They are usually funny and always include a lesson of some sort. The general foundation for the stories is: An angel (or two, depending on who's telling the story) is sent down from heaven with two bags of souls to spread all over and populate the globe. "In one bag, all the souls were wise, and in the other they were otherwise" (to quote Mr. Yakim's play). Then the angel either flies too close to a tree, or gets one of the bags stuck on a rock—or, as in In the Realm of Chelm, hits a porcupine's quill—and makes a hole so big that all the souls in that bag land where Chelm is destined to be. Which bag was it—the wise or the "otherwise"? You'll have to see the show to find out!The play deals with very topical issues, such as war, the abuse of power, and crowd culture versus personal accountability. Mr. Yakim originally wrote his play 15 years ago, and has since done some editing and rewriting to suit Group 35. Its tone will be absurdist—not unlike Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi—and very theatrical; as there will be minimal sets, the cast will have to make mountains, trees, and wars with only their bodies. But Mr. Yakim points out that, unlike Ubu Roi, which deals with "greed, cruelty and the total disregard of human feelings, In the Realm of Chelm is gentle, sweet, and the people are unintentionally harmful."
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In the Realm of Chelm
Studio 301
Oct. 20-24
Tickets are not available to the public, but there is very limited space on the stand-by line one hour prior to performances. See
the calendar for more information.
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Moni Yakim does not consider himself a writer, yet he has written 15 plays and produced many more. Recently he collaborated with playwright Dan D'Agostino to conceive a one-man play about Jackson Pollock called simply, Pollock, which had a successful run at the 78th Street Theater Lab last year, with Juilliard alumnus Michael Hayden as the solo performer. Mr. Yakim is also in the process of adapting for the stage a 1984 German movie called The Wannsee Conference, which depicts an actual meeting that took place in 1942 just outside of Berlin, at which 12 high-ranking officials in the Nazi regime made the decision to begin exterminating the Jews.There is a palpable sense of anticipation among the drama students to see Mr. Yakim's teachings brought together into a full-length play. Jessica Collins, a fourth-year drama student, says, ''I'm sure it will be breathtaking. His work gives you such strength and power.'' Scott Simmons, also a fourth-year student, says, "I saw Moni's production of Under Milk Wood [by Dylan Thomas] last year, at Theater 3, and I loved it. They had such a strong ensemble and it looked like they were having a blast. I can't wait to see what Group 35 comes up with." One student, who preferred to remain nameless, said that he was ''shuddering" with anticipation to see Chelm. The student confessed that his condition could also be the lingering effects of Moni's class ...David Townsend is a fourth-year drama student.
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