Five performers who shift roles nightly resuscitate a single recorded conversation of an aging Long Island couple. What begins as a crude process of imitation becomes an increasingly human portrait of mortality, memory, and endurance. From the banal fragments of this unremarkable summer afternoon comes a quietly emotional story of family and aging.
World premiere University Settlement 2011.
“Editor’s Pick” – TIMEOUT NY
“Sweetly earnest” – VILLAGE VOICE
“a puzzle that gathers terrific momentum … frantic, funny, heartfelt”
– L MAGAZINE
Performed by:
Abigail Browde, Paola Di Tolla, Lucy Kaminsky, Jenn Kidwell, Ike Ufomadu & Mary Van Fleet
Design by:
Tilly Grimes
Laura Jellinek
Eric Southern
Brandon Wolcott
Assistant Director:
Chip Miller
Photos:
Blaine Davis
JULY 20-30, 2011: University Settlement (NYC)
Developed through support from the Wellspring Foundation and a residency at the Invisible Dog Art Center.
In the summer of 2010, we visited Abby’s great uncle Woody and aunt Nancy who live in Mineola, Long Island. An audio recorder in Michael’s pocket accidentally captured the whole thing, from arrival to departure. This coincided with plotting a new performance, and questions about dramatic structure and the ways in which playscripts can unfold. After listening to this inadvertent documentary, we found the banality of the afternoon, as well as the structure of the whole thing (including the exposition at the beginning, and the arrival in the “final act” of a new character, Barbara, Nancy’s sister) to be a kind of living room play. We assembled a cast (Lucy Kaminsky, Ike Ufomadu, Jenn Kidwell, Paola di Tolla, Roger Lirtsman) and listened to this recording over and over and over again. We listened until we knew every twist and turn, and every rise and fall of each person’s voice. As we began inhabiting the script, the deeper complexities of the afternoon began to surface.