by Xan Scott

The Rogue Festival will be upon us soon! Enjoy another Rogue Festival performer preview article, with more to come between now and the Festival. We also have an article about this year’s Rogue Festival Muse, and once Rogue begins, watch for reviews and video interviews. For more information on the Festival itself check out their website and keep an eye on KRL’s Rogue Festival Event Page.

Xan Scott Productions merges two passions of hers, Actor Created Theatre and a Japanese martial arts type physical theatre training to create School of Fish.

It originally was created in 2012 for the Seattle Fringe Festival where Scott is originally from. Now living just outside the greater New York area, School of Fish is on its way to becoming a platform and workshop for teaching these two beloved art forms Scott has been studying for years.

“I actually have a Masters degree in Actor Created Theatre,” says Scott, “and I am pursuing grant funding to further my training under my Suzuki/Slow Tempo mentors Robyn Hunt and Steve Pearson. So, I am also making a mini documentary of the making of School of Fish. Shane “Scurvy” Spears will be shooting before and after interviews, taping a rehearsal and one of the performances and helping to make a commercial.”

Xan Scott

“I always knew I wanted to create my own shows, but it never felt right sitting in front of a computer and writing in a traditional way. Then, once I started training in the Japanese physical theatre practice, I loved the freedom of being on stage without having the burden of dialogue. Different ways of communicating came to life, and my work became so much deeper. I am realizing now it’s a concrete way to learn/teach presence on stage.”

The Fresno Rogue cast is all women this year, and Scott couldn’t be happier! With the tense current atmosphere and the #MeToo movement, it seems appropriate that we further the dialogue and deconstruct the status and stereotypes amongst a handful of women.

This piece is very meaningful for Scott personally. “I find myself coming up with a different answer every time someone asks me, ‘What is your show about?’ Theatre has been a constant art form where I have experienced truly extraordinary self-discovery, healing, and freedom. As artists and performers we share ourselves, our pain, our joy in order to feel connected and be seen. I think School of Fish is about finding the connection of our feet to the ground, our eyes to the horizon, traveling together regardless of our status, as women.”

“I am really grateful and proud of the actresses for taking a leap of faith and creating this piece together. The Rogue Festival community has been a personal risk-taking platform. Three years ago I was in Marcel Nunis’ play Dancing In the Mist, where I played an 80-year-old woman suffering from dementia that people in Fresno knew. People stopped me in the street and shared their own stories about family members lost to the same fate. I think good theatre creates dialogue and strengthens community. I invite everyone to come and be a part of a revolutionary way of being present on stage and have the courage to look closely at stereotypes within the female centered culture. Don’t miss out!”

School of Fish plays at the Rogue Festival at Severance Cal Arts.

Friday, March 2 at 10 p.m.
Saturday, March 3 at 2 p.m.
Wednesday, March 7 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 at 12:30 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at the door or online.