Alison Kobayashi- Say Something Bunny

In Alison Kobayashi’s interactive work, Say Something Bunny, Kobayashi allows the audience to hear old recordings of a 1960s Jewish family, and with the scripts provided, she presented her audience with an inclusive way to follow along and participate in the story. Say Something Bunny allows viewers to enjoy a part of history through theater art. 

As captivating as previous shows that I have attended were, whether on-stage performances or walk through exhibits, Kobayashi’s piece as well as her presentation and Q & A afterwards gave me so much insight on how much work she put into retrieving the archival material and figuring out how to decipher the several different voices, and conversations from the recordings. The recordings Kobayashi used for her piece came from a wired sound device popular in the 1960s. Kobayashi’s work has a collaborative quality that truly transcends new technology, while reawakening the lost history of an obsolete piece of media. To rescue these pieces from an obsolete media enables viewers to immerse themselves into unique aspects of theater art and retells this family’s event in an entirely new way. In my opinion, the most critical component of Kobayashi work is her intricate and perhaps, at times tedious creative process. Artistic limits are unique depending on the artist and their work so, Kobayashi taught me that great art takes time, however, imposing certain limits on yourself, such lessening the amount of resources or informed sources, may be necessary to allow a story to come to life and connect with your audience.