As you enter the Wilbury Theatre, you see a sign hanging that reads in Italian, “In bocca al lupo.” This is an Italian idiom translating to “into the wolf’s mouth,” which is commonly used to wish someone good luck, especially before a performance or challenging task, similar to ‘break a leg.’ A typical response might be, “Crepi il lupo,” meaning “May the wolf die.” This production screams, ‘There’s something wrong. I need to fix this now! Let’s do it!’ As art is open to interpretation, you get to decide who, or what, the wolf is.
This improvisational and experimental performance drew its inspiration from an art book by well-known local artist Umberto “Bert” Crenca, and music by Gillen Street Ensemble consisting of Heather Ahern, Chris Anderson, Susan Clausen, Bert Crenca, Alan Greco, Alice Jackson, Mitch Mackenzie, and Cliff Wood. Interesting to note, Clausen hosts weekly ‘family’ dinners at her house with her husband and the ensemble for improvisational jam sessions, which sometimes become public performances. This production was born of that collaboration.
The ensemble serves as catalysts and anchors. Their performances depict characters that move as though their desired reality is already fact. Ahern’s movements and percussion resonate with the current vibe. Jackson’s instrumentation conjures menace and yearning. Clausen’s bass, along with Greco’s drums, build a rhythm that underlies the chaos, reminiscent of our need to stay grounded when foundations begin to crack.
“Our intention is not to entertain but to provoke,” says Crenca. Sometimes scattered, it works because it’s real, and it’s raw. Within the play he says, “Sometimes I write this sht and I ask myself, ‘What the fck am I talking about?!” When Crenca says he doesn’t stop for red lights, it’s a metaphor for the rest. It doesn’t stop, having a cacophonous momentum that runs the gambit of emotions from rebellious, to poignant, even sometimes comical. Referring to a poster on the wall of TWG listing his pieces for this production, he says, “Some of those pieces are 25 years old, and some I just wrote, but they’re meant to be timeless.”
It’s loud and messy, so if you’re sensitive to noise, consider grabbing some free earplugs in the lobby as you enter, but keep an open mind to the concept. Greco, who gives a pulsating drum solo halfway through, says of the show’s volume, “It should be powerful! It should be impactful!” The loosely structured improvisation means each show is slightly different, which can impact the length of the show a bit, but ya gotta love the unpredictability. At one point, they sustain a note indefinitely. “It’s a B♭ note— the sound of a black hole,” explains Greco. “It’s supposed to leave an impression!”
This incantation does not comfort, it convinces. The insistence, even when fractured, lingers with hope. From Here to Where is not easily categorized. The structure— devised, improvisational, fluid— carries risk. There are moments when the cascade of sound and image overwhelms, when abstraction struggles with clarity, but maybe that’s the point. In our laden society, discomfort is part of the truth.
With a strong sense of relationship, what initially seems formless gradually connects voices, gestures, audience and performers. When three interpretive dancers (Amy Maria Burns, Nina Kossler, Michelle Saguiero) move about in various costumes, the ritualistic and intimate coexist. You leave From Here to Where not with answers but questions: Who are we? Where are we going? How do we move forward in the current climate?
Visually and design‑wise the set is dense. Monica Shinn’s use of sculpture, film and space hover in abstraction. Andy Russ’s lighting shapes those elements with darkness lit by Christmas lights that feel alive, as if the dark has its own stories. The stage at times feels like a cave of memory, with twin screens featuring visuals and words prompting deep thought. There’s a wire stretched over nothing but possibility. It’s in those liminal spaces— when light catches momentum, when instrumental drones shift, when ensemble voices overlay with satire and ritual— that From Here to Where convincingly reveals what is often suppressed, encouraging us to riot against erasure.
“In the theatre,” says Artistic Director Josh Short, “sometimes we’re tempted to force our work— new work especially— into bites that we think might be more easily digestible for audiences. To give them a clear, linear construct to follow. From Here to Where doesn’t tell a linear story. Designers Monica Shinn and Andy Russ have resisted the urge to turn this communion with the Gillen Street Ensemble into something that conforms to today’s theater-going experience, and chosen instead to lean into the impulses that make this work so special. The result is a ‘happening’ unlike anything we’ve ever had here in the theater. And with our designers, the management of Maxime Hendrikse Liu and our staff, the seemingly bottomless talents of these dancers, the Gillen Street Ensemble, and Bert’s writing, it’s become a gorgeous, chaotic meditation on what it means to be alive.”
Wilbury presents From Here to Where through October 5. For more information, visit https://thewilburygroup.org/index.html.