I found myself in rehearsal yesterday saying how important I think it is that artists are able to “plug into each other’s work”. In a time when budgets are tight, rehearsals are limited, and creative demands high, a very practical way to address performance-making is to collaborate with artists whose work, independently, is very strong, interesting, and even seemingly incongruent. The incongruence is the exciting ‘hazard factor’ - the wild card that makes the work compelling and dynamic. Autumn Spectre’s elements include the butoh-inspired dance of Toni Valle; the only-Timothy Evers-can-create-this character of a mourning Englishman; the dreamy sitar playing and atmospheric elemental Wind of Aaron Ray Hermes; Megan Reilly’s multimedia and lighting; and the core of the evening: beautiful contemporary art song mediations on loss, death, regret, longing, and hope. These settings of Dickinson, Jonson, Shakespeare, Whitman, Vachel by master composers anchor the performance. The characters’ archetypal quality provide points of navigation, I can simply get out of the way and allow the audience to connect-the-dots of an open and non-linear narrative, hopefully, in ways I had not even thought of.
October 2 & 3, 8pm
First Cumberland Presbyterian Church (River Oaks)
More info here
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