Night Just Before the Forests
Bernard Marie Koltes (playwright)
Mary Lou Rosato (collaborator)
Jesse Bonnell (performer)

jessebonnell@yahoo.com

Night Just Before the Forests
[La Nuit avant les forets]

Synopsis: Alone on the streets of an unknown city in France, a young Arab man searches for a room. The text is a 23-page monologue where his ideas of socialism, immigration, unions, whores, poverty, sexuality and death become interwoven through a stream of consciousness. The character begins to develop paranoid forms of reality, resulting in delusion of persecution or personal grandeur. This free association of thought and emotion creates a collage of anti-romantic desperation.

This summer I will be touring two shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As a soon to be alumni of The California Institue of the Arts, I find myself with no money and only debt to look forward to. In order for me to progress as an artist in the realm of theater festivals I must ask for a humble contribution from my friends and family. Your pledge will go towards:
1. The production costs of Night Just Before the Forest
2. Airfare to Edinburgh, Scotland
3. Housing
Any amount that you can spare will drastically help.
In return I will love you forever and if wanted, will send you an update of performances.
Thank you so much for your support!

Jesse Bonnell

More information about the show:

Night Just Before the Forests was first performed at the Avignon Festival in 1977. Koltes was writing in response to the immigrant class of European society and their battle to find salvation in the contemporary world. The text is a forceful examination of Jungian theories, which explore urban influence, developing worlds, persona, schizophrenia, the public and globalization.
The play speaks to the sub-cultural revolution against the right-wing politics of the late 1960s’ and 70s’- a movement that runs parallel in today’s international sphere. We are attempting to bring back the fervor of this time period as it speaks most expressively through the actions of a down and out Arabian man living in France. Immigration is on the doorstep of American and European politics and with the war in Iraq finding no end; we arrive at a time and place of stasis, with the vigor to change our international perspective. It is this moment of political alienation, abandonment and loss of self that Koltes is writing about and the reason why this play must live on.
The language used is irresolvable and indefinite; a conversation with no stops, a collage of divided persona. Maps and zones are metaphors that the play dances with. We move from one place to another, through digressive transitions of thought. This mapping of place throughout the play is reflected in the movement. A highly physicalized expressionistic exploration of space; establishes the foundation of reality and from this, we spin a web of homeless desperation. We accomplish transformation by means of the teachings of Grotowski and Expressionistic Theater; an aesthetic evokes a primal/mythological presence.