away from poetry for a time for food
travels music and
running but the season of discrete
returns and monsters set me aright or so
says KSM “no I am not OK, you sat on me/oh well, enough about me”
travels music and
running but the season of discrete
returns and monsters set me aright or so
says KSM “no I am not OK, you sat on me/oh well, enough about me”
posted by Kerri at Thursday, September 07, 2006
1 Comments:
Hi, Kerri
This is Andy Gricevich, who you met at your Woodland Pattern workshop. How are you?
Forgive me for writing via the "blogospehere--" I don't have your email handy (I'm in Chicago).
We (meaning Rick--who you also met at the workshop--and I, and our cohort, Ryan) wanted to let you know about our upcoming performances here in town. The main projects: every Sunday, we're doing Rick's play "The Climb Up Mount Chimborazo," which I like a lot (and which--for real poetry nerds--uses texts by Whitman, Zukofsky, Ginsberg and others). Next Friday, there's a one-time performance of Rick's trio for speaking percussionists (the main example of the kind of composed-speech-music he was talking about at WP), as well as a set of songs by our political satire duo, the Prince Myshkins. It's in a living room. All this is part of the Rhinoceros Theater Festival.
I'm pasting in the blurb we just sent out (it's to our regular mailing lists here, so forgive any obscure references). I hope you can make it to some of this stuff; we'd love to know what you think (and if you know of others who'd be interested, please do let 'em know)...
all the best,
Andy
ndm_g@yahoo.com
Hello!
Greetings to all ye Chicagoans! This message is to remind those who already know and inform those who don't that the Prince Myshkins, with their theater group the Nonsense Company (performers of the Threepenny Opera last Spring) are now, TODAY, September 10th, opening a new play in Chicago. Then, this coming Friday (the 15th), we're performing a one-night Prince Myshkins set of new songs, many never-before-heard in Chicago.
"The Climb Up Mount Chimborazo," written by Rick Burkhardt, is an odd, poetic, and not-consistently-reverent meditation on the education of Simon Bolivar. Bolivar's tutor, Simon Robinson, was an odd and never-reverent revolutionary whose approach to education seems radical even today. In his spirit, the play veers wildly between historical periods: Robinson's character is combined with other educators who fell foul of political currents (Jocelyn Elders puts in an appearance); the (perhaps genetically modified) electric eels of Venezuela's Orinoco river foretell the future on a stock market program; birds and bees of South America emerge from Bolivar's sombrero to conduct a right-wing talk show; and the actors argue with themselves about why (and whether) they are playing heterosexual characters AGAIN.
The play isn't really a comedy. It's about the difficulty of knowing history, especially revolutionary history, especially a history that has been deliberately buried by its political opponents. Much of the play (though not all of it) moves slowly and quietly. The main characters have been dead for over 150 years. If (like me) you have gaps in your knowledge about South American history, this play will fill some of them, point out others, and raise questions about how big a gap in history can get before the things that fall through are bigger than the things that remain.
Check out the play's webpage:
http://princemyshkins.com/chimborazopage.html
and come see it! Sundays, 7pm, September 10 through October 22 (no performance October 1) at the Prop Thtr, 3504 N Elston, Chicago. It's part of the Rhinofest:
http://www.rhinofest.com
And SO is the other show we're doing: on September 15th at 7pm, the Prince Myshkins' new songs, combined with Rick Burkhardt's percussion trio "Great Hymn of Thanksgiving." The Great Hymn takes place around a dinner table, where the sounds of conversation have been replaced by fragments of news reports from Iraq, scraps from the Army prayer manual, invented Arab folk tales, and a recurring State of Emergency pointing everywhere and leading nowhere. The sounds of the table itself (singing wineglasses, squeaking forks, grinding peppermills) struggle to bring this “conversation” into a confrontation with material reality. It ain't dinner theater. For reservations, dial 773-539-7838. (Then they'll disclose the location and give you directions.)
The Hymn's webpage:
http://princemyshkins.com/noncomgreathymn.html
We're ALSO (because two shows just isn't enough) performing the mysterious and haunting "The Jesus Fields" by our friend Matt Test (who played Constable Smith in the Threepenny Opera). Agriculture, theology, and police interrogation movies all rolled into one. This is also at the Prop Thtr (3504 N. Elston), Mondays at 7pm, September 11 to October 23, on a bill with "What Where," Samuel Beckett's frightening last play.
We look forward to seeing you at some of these shows! Bring the masses! (we are required to point out that these aren't "family" shows: there's adult language and nudity. Frankly, the kids would probably just find it dull.)
And finally, the Nonsense Company's webpage:
http://princemyshkins.com/nonsensecompany.html
Huzzah!!
Rick 'n' Andy 'n' Ryan
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