The Buzz Intro Interview | The Winding Sheet Outfit

Respondent: Amber Bjork
Position in Company: Founding Member/ Director / Performer
Company: The Winding Sheet Outfit
Show Title: All We Are Left With Is Hope: A Meditation on Life and Death Through the Facts and Fraud of a Victorian Spiritualist

“What it’s really about is being okay with grey areas, never believing in one thing so hard that you can’t allow yourself a little wonder, to allow yourself the gift of asking ‘what if?'”

Why should people see your show?

Because studies show that opening yourself up to wonder and delight can actually lengthen your life. Which is really good if you believe this is the only life you get. This is a topic I cover and contemplate in depth. You wouldn’t think that from a show about a woman who conducted seances, but that’s the point–the wonder of the unexpected, the delight of the possibilities–that’s what you’re gonna get. I understand that what you might actually expect from a show about a woman who conducted seances is maybe an actual seance. Will you get one? Possibly. Wouldn’t that be delightful? I don’t wanna give up the ghost…and I won’t. She’s staying with me.

What about festivals intrigues you? And why the Atlanta Fringe?

Fringe is my passion! I’ve actually worked full-time for Minnesota Fringe for the past 10 years as their Artist Liaison and it’s my extreme pleasure to assist the amazing people and their massive amount of creativity and passion every year. Fringe in particular is special because the lottery system ensures that ANYONE can be a Fringe artist. As an artist, I love Fringe because of the “box of limitations” (limited time, building a simple show that can be packed up in 10 minutes, using the tech and limitations of a raw space). To me, it’s a playground for creativity where audience’s expectations are to see something different and new. You can never push yourself too far at Fringe. There’s always another challenge!

This year my challenge was not only to make my first solo show, but to get out and tour it! In my quest to take my show on the road I wanted to go to new places and meet new people, eat good food and see surprising new art. I’ve never been to Georgia and I’m so so excited to explore the culture and the history here!!! Just point me to the peach cobbler and the puppetry museum and I’m a happy girl.

What inspired you to create this?

It really came out of wanting to tour to other Fringes! I wanted to make a one-person show and thought it might be nice to make a companion piece to a show I created with my ensemble in 2017 about the Fox Sisters and thought I might explore another spiritualist medium, this time Elizabeth d’Esperance. While the Fox Sisters seemed so quiet and understated–two girls I admire for their devotion to their craft and even more so to each other–Elizabeth turned out to be a master of theatrics and a study in the obvious con. The contrast surprised me and I struggled to make a show about her life because I kept judging her, I kept writing her off. I go back and forth on what I believe, but I WANT to believe in an afterlife, in ghosts, in something bigger than us all. To make a show casting her in a completely fraudulent light felt ingenuous as someone who can’t pin down what they truly believe themself! All of my shows start with a specific person but they end up being a veil over a deeper human question and this one isn’t any different. It started off by jumping into a subject I thought would be fun to travel with, a show about Elizabeth d’Esperance. But what it’s really about is being okay with grey areas, never believing in one thing so hard that you can’t allow yourself a little wonder, to allow yourself the gift of asking “what if?”

Life has been weird the last few years, to say the least. How has the “real world” affected the art you’re creating?

It always feels like theater is the slowest dying art on the planet. Then wham pandemic, and I had a hot minute worrying about hitching my life’s wagon to an art that was–for the moment–gasping frantically and clinging to life. What was I gonna do now? I got nothing else. This is what I do. So in the end I did what I always do with creating theater. I doubled down and found a way through and discovered my will to create is more flexible and inventive than I ever imagined. I think I had a good body of work before the dark times came, but it was in the darkness that I took the time to grow a spine to hold that body up.

What have you learned from working on your show so far?

I have learned that I’m always growing as an artist, but also as a human. I know, that sounds like a lot, but my show is about questioning my ideas about life and death and art and keeping an eye out for moments of delight, wonder, and acceptance. Every time I perform the show, I am in the moment, really asking those questions, trying to solve the puzzle in a room full of strangers. And I make it my goal at every show to make those strangers into friends. We’re all going through it together after all–the show, life, the inevitable crawl toward the unknown…. I’ve learned that by speaking openly about my fears and uncertainties in a room full of warmth not only lowers the level of my own fears but kinda lets everyone out there who has their own fears and doubts know that there’s someone who’s happy to sit there with them.

A mysterious stranger asks to meet you and your cast and crew after loving your show. In your WILDEST DREAMS, who is it? (Bonus points if your mysterious stranger is an Atlanta celeb.)

Oh, it’s Pedro Pascal. I’m not even gonna sugarcoat what a massive fan I am. That boy is the same age as me and I’ve absolutely LOVED watching him break through as not only an actor but a FAN. And watching him appreciate his craft and his costars and his journey, someone who really believes in the power of good stories? And being a genuinely good person through it all, just loving his life and appreciating it moment by moment, role by role? That’s my hero. If he came and saw my show I’d…. oh. Oh no. Oh no no no…Uh, that’s way too overwhelming to even consider. That’s not… Oh Geez. You know what? Can I change my answer? Can I say Grover Monster? I vote Grover. Bonus points for Super Grover. I would love it if there were muppets in my audience. *dreams* I’m sorry, what was the question?

Fringes are the place to really push the boundaries so we gotta ask: are you inviting your family to this show are “Hey, maybe sit this one out you guys…”

I actually haven’t had a chance to perform this one close to home yet, but I don’t know if I’d invite my folks to see it. Listen. I once played Madeline in Quills and if you know that script, I seduced a priest while receiving some unholy attention from a three-donged Marquis de Sade and I invited my folks to see THAT. And while I can take my mom clutching her pearls and hiding behind her program for that whole show, I’m not quite ready to have the conversation that ends with her giving me the silent treatment just because I can’t say for certain whether or not I think she’s definitely going to heaven when she dies. I’m getting the sweats just thinking about it.

Will your show change the world?

100%. Chaos theory and all that, right? Who knows who could be sitting in the audience? Perhaps someone will see my show and it will inspire them to join the study of human wonder and delight! And maybe along the way they accidentally find a cure for cancer or depression or athlete’s foot or something! I don’t know! I mean, you saw what happened when that one goat did a little dance and the farmer was like “right on, dance you little gremlin” and now we have coffee? I mean, game changer! What a world!

AI: the death of our art form or just a new tool to create?

Like all good inventions, AI has its place and it’s limits. I mean, a toothbrush is a major human innovation, but I’m not gonna use it to scrub my butt. You keep AI out of my art and I’ll keep my toothbrush outta your… well. You get the jist.