Tony Award-winning choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler and New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kate Quinn are coming together in the Pillow Lab from November 13-24. Lauded for his choreography of the Broadway production of Hamilton, as well as In the Heights and Bandstand, Blankenbuehler will embark on another historical project alongside historical fiction writer Quinn, author of The Alice Network and The Diamond Eye. In their residency, Blankenbuehler and Quinn will focus on a co-created piece, Never Alone, which will center around the world of codebreakers and submarine crews during World War II. Read on to learn more about Blankenbuehler’s current inspirations and aspirations for the upcoming Pillow Lab residency.
What’s inspiring you right now?
I finished a big production this past summer, and as I often do in the weeks or months following that kind of work, I let myself fall into music. I’ve been putting together playlist after playlist on Spotify! I’ve really been enjoying re-arranged versions of songs; famous rock songs rearranged on cellos, huge songs re-recorded on a single instrument. I love the deconstruction and reconstruction of things. I think it enables me to see the work from the inside in an interesting way. I also just watched “3 Body Problem” which was cool and crazy. And I’m a huge baseball fan, so I’ve been loving my evenings watching the Yankees with my son. It’s a good time to be a Yankees fan. Finally…a big thing that is inspiring me right now is sitting across the table from a respected artist and talking shop as we have coffee. The business of show business keeps me pretty busy, and it often keeps me busy alone, isolated in my office. And so it’s a great thing to be reminded that there are a lot of other artists out there grappling with similar questions and thoughts about storytelling, new productions and the state of our business. We’re not in it alone.
I’m very excited not only to work on the piece, but also to be replenished with the inspiration that only the Pillow can provide.
What do you hope to take away from your time at Jacob’s Pillow?
I have always found my time at the Pillow to be so inspiring and very productive. When I was teaching the Musical Theatre Program back in 2013, I choreographed almost half of the musical Bandstand in my free time. My creativity was on fire! Telling stories with no words is a challenging thing for me, since musicals are usually guided by lyric and text. The piece I will be developing at the Lab tells a very involved and specific story without the assistance of text, and so during my time at the Pillow lab I’m looking forward to carving out storytelling which is both poetic and very descriptive. I find it thrilling when dance vocabulary can function in a gestural way almost like pantomime. This piece lives both in a world of literal action (it’s a piece about a crew of men inside of a World War II submarine) and a world of escape (as they dream about the lives they are hoping to return to). I will be surrounded by a team of amazing dancers, and if my past experience at the Pillow has taught me anything, I think we’re going to get a LOT of the 25-minute ballet choreographed. I’m very excited not only to work on the piece, but also to be replenished with the inspiration that only the Pillow can provide.
Is there something you’re currently reading, watching, or listening to that’s influencing your work?
I just finished watching the limited series “Ripley.” I thought that it was a really compelling piece. The photography and art design were stunning and really inspiring. I love and focus highly on the elements of conflict and tension when I’m building a project. And “Ripley” had so much tension in it. In the intense eye contact. In silence. I especially loved the constant presence of staircases (a Fellini trick) which, to me at least, implied the constant difficulty facing the characters. Plus I love all elements of Italian style!
What’s next for you after your residency at the Pillow Lab?
I’m working on several revivals for the Broadway theatre. If all goes smoothly, I’ll be directing and choreographing new productions of both Nine and Kiss of the Spider Woman over the next 2 seasons. We premiered Nine at the Kennedy Center this past summer, and we had a wonderful time making it. I’m also in the early stages of a new musical called Bone Music which lives in the very exciting counterculture world of teenagers in Russia in the 1950’s, who are willing to do anything to have illegal music.
Inside the Pillow Lab is an intimate film series that captures works in process and behind-the-scenes moments of what it’s like for artists to live, work, and rehearse together in residencies on the Pillow’s retreat-like campus.
