Could you first introduce yourself to the reader?
My name is Taigé Lauren. I am a Seattle-based poet and performance artist, a lover of language and oranges and walking down alleys. I usually prefer to be the one asking questions...
How would you describe your show?
Searchers is a one-woman original performance piece that contains spoken word, rock ’n roll, and theatre. It is about a woman who sets off to start a new life and questions what that means - to start over. She travels across America - East to West - in search of answers, travels back in time and outside of time. Along the way she confronts strangers, the spirits of the land, the geography of the country, the nation’s history and the open road.
Why do you want to perform at Edinburgh Festival Fringe?
I came to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time in 2017 and was so energized by the work that I was seeing - some of the best and most interesting and thoughtful performances I had ever seen. I thought right away that I had to be a part of that. I can be pretty generative but as an independent artist, it can be hard to finish things. So, in August of last year, I gave myself a deadline - told myself I’d build a show to tour to the Fringe and beyond within the year. Here I am!
What differentiates the Fringe from other festivals?
I have performed at festivals before but never with my own work. So that makes this year at the Fringe feel monumentally different from any other festival shows I've been a part of. But the Fringe is, first off, HUGE. There are so many shows and venues and people packed into the city - I’ve never experienced another festival of that kind of scale. I don't know if I've experienced anything of that kind of scale. I also think that’s what makes the Fringe so special - anything can happen, there is so much to absorb. It’s very inspiring.
What first motivated you to enter the industry? Who were your inspirations?
I’ve been writing poetry all my life. I went to university for it (I know, I know, a poetry education is absurd, but love makes you do crazy things). Halfway through school, I took an acting class to help me with my dialogue writing and I really opened up as an artist - I saw a boundless potential for where my writing could go and what my body and voice could do in space. It felt like what I had been looking for - a vehicle through which I could apply my questions and ideas and the stories floating up in my head - was finally right in front of me.
Inspirations along the way have been many. But the big ones that come to mind in terms of inspiration for this show are Emily Dickinson, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Walt Whitman. They were pillars for me. And still are.
If you didn’t have your current job, what would you probably be doing?
Eek! I’ve got nothing else. This is it for me. Though I often dream of taking a summer off to work on a fishing boat or do some really hard physical labour - just to see what I’d learn and how I’d change or grow. I do love cleaning. And I’m pretty curious about people's living spaces and personal lives. So, come to think of it, maybe if I could clean houses, that could be a perfect fit. Honestly, I’d read people’s journals and open their drawers... so maybe that’s actually a terrible fit. Depends how you look at it. I guess you won’t be inviting me to your house now.
If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?
Oh, this is it. I’m doing it. Full throttle.
But if you’re telling me, “Taigé, we are fully funding you and guaranteeing you security in making a career change,” then I would be a musician. Surprise. I’d stay in the arts.
Or go back to school for philosophy. My interests lie in the fields where the big money is, clearly...
What is your earliest childhood art memory?
My mom was a very young mother. She had this really child-like sensibility, knew how to spark our imaginations and make the world a really magical place, in the midst of some real hard stuff. I remember she would play with me after school and she’d be totally in our little made up world with me. You know, super dropped in. And she’d decorate the whole house to be a play space - sheets draping from the ceilings and stuffed animals everywhere and beads hanging in doorways and all that. So, because of her commitment to play, I’m going to blame this on her and she’s going to love that… I remember I wanted to make a treasure hunt for her and build a world like she did. So, I drew my treasure map with markers on all the walls and structures in the house. Dotted lines and x’s and this whole elaborate key, with colours and symbols. I think I managed a floor-to-ceiling palm tree. Memory could be distorting that though. Oh, she was not thrilled. We laugh about it now. But it was not funny then.
Do you ever feel any pressure to be a social commentator, or constantly update material to respond to events?
If I felt pressure to be a social commentator, I'd be a journalist - and as you can see from the previous question, that is not where my interests lie.
But seriously, I believe Art should be complex and full of paradox, like being humans are. If I lose sight of that, I'm just a zealot on a soapbox. And I grew out of my religious phase years ago. I'm not suited for it...
Glibness aside, being human, to me, is a responsibility. And I do feel a pressure. Pressure to become more aware, kinder, and cleaner as time goes on. With that as the focus, I'm constantly learning, deepening as a person, becoming more finely attuned to the world around me. I have no doubt that the things that are wrong in the world, the things that move me, the things that hurt, they’ll show up in the work I do. I trust that.
Look at that! I might still be religious, after all.
Equally, do you think there has been a shift in public sentiment that has affected your work?
Well this show is certainly politically relevant to the now. But I didn’t set out to make it so. I just set out to ask some of my questions that I have about the country I live in. But because I’m an occupant of the land, a citizen of the nation, a participant in society, yeah, all of those things affected the work heavily.
The unrest that is bubbling to the surface after the election of our current President, this is heavy stuff, and the things I am observing and feeling surrounding that are all in this work.
Describe the last year in 5 words or less?
Standing upside down.
If you could work with anybody, from any point in history, who would you pick and why?
Are you kidding me - Patti Smith. I don’t even need to work with her I just want to be a little fly on the wall. That woman is so smart and so full and her heart is so big. What a badass. Really don’t get me started on that woman. I could just follow her around and watch her work. That learning, that would be work enough for me. That would fill me up for a long, long time.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to take a show up to the fringe?
Have a team. I mean a real team. It’s hard work to take a show to the Fringe. And having individuals on your side who know what they’re doing has made this a really wonderful experience for me. But I could see a version of this, without them and that would be very stressful and painful actually.
When and where can people see your show?
Searchers will be at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 31st July to 25th August (not 12th or 19th) at Gilded Balloon’s Rose Theatre Basement at 10:15pm. Tickets and more information: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/searchers
And where can people find, follow and like you online?
All the cool kids are doing Instagram and if everyone jumped off a cliff, I guess this is proof that I'm a lemming! People can follow me personally @taigelauren and follow the show specifically @searchers_show.
I’ve got a website where I put all my stuff - poetry, upcoming projects, blog posts, visual art www.taigelauren.com so check that out too!
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