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13th Anniversary of Red Room

13th Anniversary of Red Room

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Emergence, by definition, is the process of coming into existence or the process of becoming visible after being concealed. In one way or another, we all have stories of emergence, stories of the days we dared, the days we shifted shapes and entered a new stage. Red Room is a community that encourages and embraces emergence. The non-profit platform has developed numerous events that cultivate a culture of learning to listen to each other, what is around us, and ourselves. Whether it is spoken word, music, visual arts, theatre, or family-friendly activities, Red Room enables its participants to emerge, to explore their passion with other artists and creatives. And it has now been so for thirteen years!

To celebrate its anniversary, Red Room hosted a special Stage Time and Wine night on the theme of emergence. Redroomers were encouraged to share their journey and the role Red Room has played in their life. ST&W takes place every third Saturday of each month at the Red Room Rendezvous. It is an opportunity for all kinds of performers to share their art during an open mic session. And let me tell you, this anniversary ST&W was a great success! As the new intern at Red Room, I had been waiting for this 3rd Saturday of November impatiently. What was the core event of Red Room going to look like? Would it be as multi-generational, cross-cultural and community-fostering as I hoped for?
On D-day, at barely 7 pm, the Red Room Rendezvous was already swarming with people running up and down the stairs, moving furniture around, greeting one another, embracing long-known faces, or shaking hands on a first encounter. Sixty people, two floors, a wonderful synergy. The magic happened on the first floor, under deemed lights, where the stage met with the feet of the audience. It jumped from heart to heart, trickled down the stairs, and spread to the ground floor and the terrasse, till all attendees pulsated on one same tempo. The venue was packed. We all shared a warm Dal and as we carefully stepped around one another, we tried not to spill the lentils on the oriental carpet. That, in itself, was already a performance; the members of the audience, aware of each other’s presence, organised themselves and made room for all souls. Meanwhile, Marley, Tina’s dog, ran from a spectator’s vegan hamburger to the feet of the performers and was greeted with pats on the back. This sixteen years old Dachshund had attended more ST&Ws than most people present that night!

That is the thing with Red Room, anyone is welcome, and anyone can get involved. As the artist and Redroomer Tim Nathan Joel puts it:

“ Home, home is a place that has to be believed before it can be found – in a sense, that is the Red Room as well.”

Red Room is a space created and re-created by its participants. It is to celebrate what the Redroomers have built over the past thirteen years that Red Room has organised this anniversary ST&W. The platform has come a long way since the co-founders, Ayesha Mehta and Ping Chu envisioned the community over a cup of tea in Taitung. At their first ST&W at Aveda’s Learning Kitchen, they were flabbergasted to see no less than a hundred people attend. Each attendee brought wine or a vegetable to add to the stone soup.

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Have you ever heard of stone soup? It comes from a European folk story in which a hungry stranger convinces the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone can enjoy. The stranger, missing ingredients, first put stones in the boiling water of his pot. The inhabitants of the town, curious about what would happen, pitched in – a cabbage here, a carrot there. This epitomises Red Room’s message and purpose. It started from nothing, from stones, and with the help of its members, it evolved to become what it is today, a shared soup, infused with the spices of all. A soup created because it was first believed in.

Over the last thirteen years, the organisation has developed from its core platform – Stage Time & Wine – to launch various projects. Red Room Radio Redux saw the light in 2012, as a group of Red Roomers tried to revive radio theatre. A year later, Red Room partnered with Taipei city Playgroup to host Stage Time and Juice, an event that welcomes children to express themselves on an open mic stage. Red Room quickly outgrew its home at the Aveda Learning kitchen and moved to a new venue at the old Taiwan Air Force base (TAF) in 2015. There, they launched Visual Dialogues, art exhibitions that brought together two artists of different backgrounds and cultures every month.

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But in the light of Covid and with the end of its lease at the Air Force, Red Room has faced difficult times. Resourceful, its members have decided to open a restaurant – the Red Room Rendezvous – where Red Room still hosts its events. During the lockdown, gatherings would take place online, and now, slowly but surely, activities are starting to flow again. Since 2020, the organisation helps with TAIPEI SHORTS – a yearly festival that presents original short plays written and performed by expats and Taiwanese. Red Room developed Trash to Treasure workshops where participants up-cycle what is about to be thrown away. This year, the platform also partnered with the Museum of World Religions to co-produce International Women’s day. They hosted and promoted discussions about the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women in Taiwan. And the two non-profits will partner again to organise International Women’s day 2023! This year, Red Room also partnered with Women’s Nest, an NGO for indigenous women from the Bunan, Kanakanavu, and Sara Peoples in Kaohsiung. The participants from Taipei had the opportunity to see the mountain environment and get to know the NGO. With projects like this, and many more, Red Room proves to be versatile, it always finds a way because before being a physical space, it is a community.

It is this community feeling I experienced during the anniversary ST&W. Marley, the host, the manager, the first-timers, the old faces, the organising crew, and the Redroomers all pulsated to the rhythm of the bells wrapped around Tracy’s ankle as Rajat sang with all his soul “Bonde Maya Lagaise” by Shah Abdul Karim, a song from present day Bangladesh. The fingers of Manav ran on his handpan with inspiration. Singers found the confidence to sing their original songs for the first time. Witty poets spoke of wampees from Hong Kong, of Papayas to be bought, of rain, of love, of their love of rain. Jvana, the colourful host, sang the Lava song and many sang along. Later, two dancers asked for absolute darkness except for phone lights. On Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy, their bodies intertwined and their shadows reverberated on all walls.
Each performer shared with the audience a piece of themselves and their vulnerability was welcomed with open arms, tender smiles, and rolls of applause. We listened with our eyes, tasted with our ears, and touched with our hearts. The show may have lasted from 7.30 to 10.30 but it sure felt like 20 minutes. How time flies when we actively listen!

As the co-founder Ayesha Metha puts it:

“Listening is muscular. Listening is the rolling of joints, the smoke of breath through a body, singing out a mouth. Listening is the bearing of blood, and the seeing of feeling. Listening is the same as touch. It can make love, be live, centre and land a soul. Listening is transport, reminds you space and time are malleable, multi dimensional, formless, dancing.”

Each Red Room event is unique and transcending, but they all have this one thing in common; people come ready to listen and create together.

I cannot wait to go to the next Stage Time and Wine on the 3rd Saturday of this month and I hope to meet you there!

Manelle Liagre
Intern at Red Room
October-November 2022

Published in the Centered on Taipei magazine. Pages 8-10.

18 February 2017, Stage Time & Wine LXXXVI 紅緣寄詩酒 86

Stage Time & Wine Lxxxvi 紅緣寄詩酒 86Saturday, February 18 at 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM
https://www.facebook.com/events/232651640478360/

Please join us at Stage Time & Wine on the 18th of February 2017. Red Room will be hosting the 86th Stage Time and Wine and the first in the year of the rooster!

We welcome everyone to share the space as we revisit some familiar performances and be wowed by the new. Performers may sign up on the day of the event (open mic format).

6:30pm: Doors Open
7:30pm-8:45pm: 1st Half
9:00pm- 10:30pm: 2nd Half

Your Patronage 開支攤提費: 300 NTD

提示 Our usual reminders:

Performers have 5 minutes to share (unless you have made a request for a special performance beforehand)
各位表演者有5分鐘的分享機會(除非您事先提出為了特殊表演,延長時間的申請)。

The Red Room promotes the culture of listening. We ask you to honour performers by actively listening and remaining quiet and respectful while they are on stage.
紅房提倡傾聽的美德。我們邀請您積極聆聽,保持安靜,並且尊重空間與表演者。

Red Room is a community space and we welcome sharing.
紅房是一個社群空間,歡迎大家分享。

Stage Time & Wine is a performance-centric event and announcements are not encouraged. If you have an announcement to make, you may inform the MC and you are also welcome to leave your promotional material at the door.
紅緣寄詩酒是一個以表演為主的活動,因此不鼓勵您在活動上公開宣傳。倘若您有需要,請告知MC您的需求,並同時歡迎您將宣傳文宣留在入口處。

Credits & Sponsors 特別感謝與贊助

Tremendous gratitude to all our volunteers. Thank you to all who transform the space of the venue into the Red Room, prepare the food and drinks, greet everyone at the door, fill all who thirst till their cups near runneth over…and especially to all who help clean up. Stage Time & Wine would not be possible without your support and the beautiful spirit in which it is given!

Co-Founder | Ping Chu 朱平
Co-Founder | Ayesha Mehta
Reeves & Curator | Manav Mehta
Keeper of the Faith | Roma Mehta
ST&J Coordinators | Carol Yao & Jennifer Chau
ST&J Host | Brian Quentin Webb
R4 Director | Ruth Giordano
Visual Arts Director | Constance Woods
Operations | Sharon Landon
MoC | Charles Haines
Editor | Whitney Zahar
Sound | Addison

The Red Room is an ever-expanding community, exploring and extending the boundaries between audience and performer; a not-for-profit platform for events developing a culture of learning to listen to each other, what is around us, and our selves.

紅房是一個持續擴大延展的社群,不斷地將在聽眾與表演者之間的分界線上探索和延伸。一個非營利平台,藉由活動來發展學習聆聽別人、圍繞著我們以及我們自己的文化。

Reflections: Stage Time and Wine 81 – August 2016

At last, I entered the Red Room for the first time in over a year! After a year of great pressures, obligations, and pain, I breathed a sigh of relief. Even though I haven’t been a part of Red Room for very long, I feel like I’m always coming home when I walk through those doors. I feel like I’m with my tribe.

I think many of us feel the same way when we come to Red Room. We feel it’s a place that no matter how long we’ve been away, or how far we’ve roamed, we can always return and find a warm welcome.

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Some of us bring beautiful traditional Balinese dance, such Inggrid Wardani. Others, like Rajat Subhra Karmakar, bear beautiful songs from India, with the flavor of Taiwan. Someone brought us their talents for the first time, such as Sean Wang with his amazing violin, CiCi with her hip-hopping “Hamilton” virtuosity, and our own intern Willie Chung with storytelling skills. Max Powers regaled us with his sharp, delightful poetry, while Vicky Sun returned as our wondrous songstress. Andrew Salamanca also showed us more of what he was discovering in his explorations of Taiwanese music.

Here at Red Room, at Stage Time and Wine, or at any event, what you have to bring to the community will always be embraced. Songs, stories, poetry, dance, laughter, tears: bring it all! So long as “thee shall obeyeth the rules!”

For me, Stage Time and Wine 81 marked the beginning of a new year. It’s a year of new friends and new relationships with old friends. I see a bright new horizon where I get more of a chance to give back to the community, and where I get to cultivate my skills as a writer and a storyteller.

Thanks for welcoming me back, Red Room!

by Whitney Zahar, Red Room Scribe

Red Room Reflections: Stage Time & Wine 77

Stage Time & Wine rarely starts on time; it starts early. What I mean to say is, what I’ve come to consider Stage Time & Wine, and the Red Room community, extends itself beyond the hours between when the emcee enters the stage and the last performer exits. Red Room’s 77th Stage Time & Wine confirmed this view.

Roma Mehta and Sharon Landon laugh while preparing the stone soup for Red Roomers

Roma Mehta and Sharon Landon laugh while preparing the stone soup for Red Roomers

At 5:30, volunteers for the night already bustled through the space, carrying trays of foods, stirring pots and chatting over tidying up. At the front of the room, Vicky Sun perched on a stool with her guitar. She looked over to Addison, who having spent the last thirty seconds muttering “check” and counting in different tones into the mic, had already settled into his post. After receiving the thumbs up, Sun began to croon into the microphone, a warm bluesy melody expanded and filled the room. Volunteers in the back responded with a smattering of applause and affirmative whoops.

Deshara

Deshara tiptoes and skips playfully through the crowd

The room had filled well before Trevor Tortomasi, Red Room’s emcee for the night, recommended sitting on the ever present red carpets. People had clustered in groups, a mix of friends and new attendees, and had commenced sharing their lives with each other. 6:30 came and everyone finally settled and hushed. In truth the night was filled with curiousity rousing and empathy engendering moments.

Max Power positioned himself on the stool and, with his usual dry wit, launched himself into a world full of vivid imagery; a world which left the reader disoriented but wanting. Addison Eng added levity to the night with a performance that meshed acting and musicianship. Li Wei Seh sang songs from the collective memory of his tribe. Deshara, and a friend she pulled from the audience, introduced a playful children’s drumming game. Each of them ran and skipped and spun around a chest, intermittently slapping the wood and humming in an otherworldly voice. “We just practiced for maybe twenty, minutes before so, actually, we felt quite nervous today,” an out-of-breath Deshara convinced following a healthy applause.

A ukelele player, Joyce Wolf, shared in Deshara’s nervousness. Nevertheless, she thanked “the Red Room for creating [a] space to be able to perform and feel comfortable” before strumming and singing with a friend. Many other performers seemed to feel similarly, because they felt comfortable enough to impart personal and social memories with a room filled largely with people they’d only just encountered.

Fiona read Bei Ying, or my father’s back, a poem written by Zhu Zi-Qing. The resounding image in the poem is of a father walking away from a son. Before she began, she revealed that she had lost her own father two months ago. A friend embraced her when she finished, and other audience members outstretched their arms and extended affection.

Marcus begins his spoken word performance

Marcus begins his spoken word performance

Another performer, Alex, shared his own personal loss. During his five minutes, Red Roomers went through the five stages of grief in a tragi-comic story which centered on the loss of a fiancee. Alexandra Gilliam reads original poetry which also focused on loss, heartbreak and abandonment. Her words settle upon the audience like a several blankets, cocooning them in layers of meaning.

As the night draws to a close, our opening performer, Max Power, introduces a friend. He asks the crowd if he can share, though he has arrived late. Applause follows him to the front of the room, where he composes himself for a moment, before beginning a spoken word poem on systemic racism and the community he grew up in.

Though the mics were turned off after Marcus’ performance, Red Roomers continued to mingle and create well beyond the official end time. For many of us, Stage Time & Wine was more than a single event, or an open mic night, or a night of poetry and music. Stage Time Night was a facet of a community which flowed through all Red Room events and beyond them, spilling over past the microphone and the stage.

by Leah List
Editor for the Red Room

A Red Roomer’s Perspective: Stage Time & Wine 76

Red Room, by now, has made a name for itself as an open, enlivening environment that is verdant with the arts.  It’s a venue that, through its events and activities, bends over backwards both for the artists and for patrons who will go to great lengths just to have the presence of the arts dappling their lives.  The cup of inspiration is passed around freely, that everyone present might drink deep of it, and numerous people are in the wings volunteering their time, energy and miscellaneous forms of artistic mojo to create this platform that people can come stand upon.

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When people do make an outing to Red Room’s ‘Stage Time and Wine’ they will bring a multitude of things with them as the vehicle for their practice — instruments for music, paper for stories or poems, their own twisting, shifting frames for dance.  It’s rare that an evening at Stage and Wine passes without something unexpected, rare and robust taking the stage, though skilled exercises of more traditional and time-honored disciplines are inevitably present as well.  It is framed as a sharing and listening environment, though I personally suspect that a lot of people appear at Red Room events for the scene and the unique character of its actors.  Red Room’s events are also a branching-off point to involvement in various other art scenes and events in Taipei.

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Red Room’s Stage Time and Wine forms the foundations of a constantly changing and contorting chalice that serves as an axis for the city’s arts.  Since constantly-available venue has arrived to serve as the organization’s sanctuary (Red Room regulars will remember the hard times, when all we had was Stage Time and Wine once a month), a variety of gallery showings, concerts and other savory happenings have blossomed in this newly-available fertile soil.  Incidents at the Red Room are always worth a look.

Max Power is a Taipei local artist who writes and illustrates bittersweet dreamland fairy tales and histories of far-off worlds. his illustrations can be seen at facebook.com/seenerie .

16 April 2016, Stage Time & Wine LXXVII 紅緣寄詩酒 77

Saturday on April 16th, 6:30pm – 10:30 pm

Sing! Shout! Dance! Laugh! Bring in the Year of the Monkey!
At Stage Time and Wine…77th Edition!

We welcome everyone to share the space with us as we revisit some familiar performances and be wowed by the new. Performers may sign up on the day of the event (open mic format).

We invite guests to please contribute to the Community Bar with a beverage of their choice so that nobody has to go thirsty. (Pssst… we hear wine’s a good choice!)

把你的行事曆圈起來,下一次 Stage Time & Wine 活動,時間是 04 月 16日(六),地點在 Taiwan Air Force Base (TAF) 空軍總部 「圖書館」LIBRARY

把自己最喜歡的文章片段透過朗讀方式和我們大夥們分享,一同享受渴望的交流與那份心靈撼動。說、聽、傾聽、感受,與老朋友新朋友們一同分享獨特的體驗。現場也有氛圍溫馨音樂演出。所有的語言都非常歡迎!

紅房的酒吧是我們社群每一位所組成,請帶您精心挑選的來跟大家分享。任何您想喝的紅酒、綠茶、蘇打汽水,就讓我們從交流飲料開始。紅房社群的美食、美酒、心靈的點心吧由您我一起打造。

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6:30pm: Doors Open
7:30pm-8:45pm: 1st Half
9:00pm- 10:30pm: 2nd Half

Your Patronage 開支攤提費: 300 NTD

提示Here are our usual reminders:

-Performers only have 5 minutes to share (sniff! sniff!)
-各位表演者有5分鐘的分享機會(好好把握喔)

-The Red Room promotes the culture of listening. We ask you to honour performers by actively listening and remaining quiet and respectful while they are on stage (Non-listeners will be taken into the street and whipped.)
紅房是大家組成的經驗,請尊重空間與表演者

-We welcome sharing. We’ll make the stew, you bring the wine (or any other fantastically creative creations we’ll ooh and aaah over). Deal?
歡迎大家參加,我們會提供一大鍋湯跟些小吃- 請帶來些紅酒,茶,連加湯的蔬菜都可以!一起享受。

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Credits & Sponsors 特別感謝與贊助
Tremendous gratitude to all our volunteers. Thank you to all who transform the space of the venue into the Red Room, prepare the food and drinks, greet everyone at the door, fill all who thirst till their cups near runneth over…and especially to all who help clean up. Stage Time & Wine would not be possible without your support and the beautiful spirit in which it is given!

Co-Founder | Ping Chu 朱平 • Co-Founder | Ayesha Mehta • Reeves | Manav Mehta • Keeper of the Faith | Roma Mehta • Master of Cups | Charles Haines • Esthete | Julia Kao

RED ROOM www.redroomtaipei.com