Refuge-Malja

Portland playwright Bess Welden’s play currently at Portland Stage, Refuge-Malja, is full of haunting visuals and time-shifting moments. It’s non-linear and complex, a multi-cultural story that unfolds in both dreams and flashback. We meet Jamie, a Jewish-American freelance photojournalist, who has encountered a young Syrian refugee on a beach in Lesbos. When I read the script last winter, I wondered how Portland Stage would handle the many changes of place and times, as well as the Wolf, a figure seen by Jamie since she was a child. There was a wealth of material to distill for the poster. I attempted to interpret the story in a variety of ways.

Jamie’s camera is a tool for her as well as a metaphor for the focus of the play. She’s not on a Greek island vacation, but documenting the refugee crisis which continues to unfold there.

The Wolf is perhaps her grandfather, killed in the Holocaust, and his silent presence is witness to Jamie’s dilemma.

The olive tree is also important, where a voiceless mother means home for Ibrahim, a Palestinian reporter and poet, who Jamie was involved with years before.

This sketch puts Waleed, the young refugee, in the center of Jamie’s lens, and the play.

The camera becomes a frame for language, in which Waleed takes photos so Jamie and Waleed can learn each other’s words for the images taken. Shoe, ball, face.

I tried a composition without human figures.

And one with a hybrid figure, using the Arabic as a prominent graphic element.

Jamie, Wolf, Waleed, and the olive tree combine here.

This sketch shows Waleed’s face floating in the olive tree.

Portland Stage chose the 4th idea, and I proceeded with color. Color proved tricky on this one. Illustrating the whole season in a unified color scheme was important, yet each play required a certain balance of contrast and climate. I liked the color mixing of blues, oranges, and reds here.

But the placement of all the necessary text became too busy.

Every now and then, I start over. I decided to really simplify the color.

Director of Communications, Marketing, and Engagement Eileen Phelan had asked for both color and B/W versions of each poster. I kept the crisp line drawing separate, and emphasized the circular lens in black, rather than the whole camera.

In the final illustration, merged digitally, the color allows the text to pop out.

Prior to Wednesday night’s performance, we attended a talk by Jodi Hilton, an international photo journalist and sister-in-law of the playwright. Jodi’s coverage of the refugee crisis unfolding in Greece in 2015 provided inspiration for Bess’ first script, which was further developed in last year’s Little Festival of the Unexpected.

Jodi shared stunning photographs from her assignments in the Middle East, while adding details of the story behind the shots.

Afterwards, Bess facilitated a round of questions from the audience, such as “does one get permission from the subjects to be photographed?” Jodi said it depends upon the situation. Some people will avoid cameras, while others are willing. Jodi seeks to stay in touch with those she photographs, but the often wayward trail that refugees must travel can prevent that. Jodi’s photographs and stories really set an emotional tone for the viewing of the play immediately after.

David Hilton, Jodi Hilton, and Bess Welden at Portland Stage’s discussion.

Can you tell my color scheme for the season?

Our Peaks Island neighbors, Anne Sibley O’Brien and O. B. O’Brien, attended with us.

Annie’s latest picture book, I’m New Here, is about immigrant children finding a new community. O.B. works in disaster relief, and will soon be off to Saipan, a U. S. island reeling from the recent Super Typhoon Yutu.

The opening set was spare; a pile of life preservers lay beneath a projected photograph of the beach where the story begins.

The stagecraft was spectacular, with the olive tree floating down in one scene, the wolf’s eyes projected in another, a flock of shoes suspended in mid-air in yet another. There’s a lot going on, back and forth in dream and reality, and even the ending is ambiguous. The Arabic spoken is not always translated, yet it was fascinating to hear. Three local boys take turns playing the role of Waleed, and that night Hussein Al-Mshakheel, (nephew of the script’s translator, Ali Al-Mshakheel) performed beautifully.

Director Kareem Fahmy had much to work with and I applaud Portland Stage for bringing such an ambitious weaving of cross-cultural dynamics to life. Bess Welden has created a rare and memorable take on the crisis of displacement from an intimate point of view.

Migration is a constant for animals and humans in all of history. What’s happening on the world stage now demands our attention and our hearts. Just down the street, this says it all in the window of SPACE Gallery.

Refuge Malja will be on stage through November 18. Please go! You’ll find yourself talking about it long afterwards.