From: konrad (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Apr 12 2009 - 01:07:11 PDT
Thursday, April 16, 7:30pm
The Exploratorium, McBean Theater
3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco
"The 10,000 Mile Bike Race"
A Live Music-Film-Narration performance
*
Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) was a French author and
dramatist ... also a prankster, a brilliant student,
a lousy soldier, and an alcoholic.
His work was scandalous (UBU ROI),
satirical (THE PASSION CONSIDERED
AS AN UPHILL BICYCLE RACE), and
unclassifiable (THE EXPLOITS AND
OPINIONS OF Dr. FAUSTROLL, 'PATAPHYSICIAN).
*
Along with the darker figure of Lautreamont, he was a
clear precursor in France to the spirit of dada,
surrealism and absurdist theater. However in his time
he was a member of no movement or group.
As he was dying in poverty, his body ravaged by
tuberculosis and years of drug and absinthe use, his
last request was for a toothpick.
*
THE SUPERMALE was written by Jarry, diminutive in
stature but casting a large shadow over French
Literature, in the few years before his death.
Published in 1906 the short novel concerns a debate
among men over the limits of human, specifically male,
prowess.
A chapter from this book called "The 10,000 Mile Race"
has been used as the basis of our performance,
interpreted simultaneously through music, film, and
oration.
*
This excerpt features the main characters of the novel
in bit parts and foregrounds many of Jarry's
obsessions: alcohol, bicycles, and fantastical
technology. The idea was to project this text into
sound and image, refracted through the imaginations of
the artists.
The piece was constructed by assigning sections of the
text to the filmmakers and composer for the purpose of
creating an accompaniment to the narrator, reading
Jarry's text. This set of three interpretations were
developed separately over several months, and the
puzzle was assembled for the first time on October
16th, 2008 for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
triennial Bay Area Now exhibit.
Actually, that was our dress rehearsal.
This will be our second
- revised and dynamically improved -
performance.
*
TEXT - Alfred Jarry
NARRATION - Brent Cunningham
MUSIC - Graham Connah
FILM - Kerry Laitala, Jerome Hiler, Paul Clipson, and Bill Basquin
CONCEPT - Konrad Steiner
MUSICIANS
Aaron Novik - clarinet
Darren Johnston - trumpet
Evan Francis - flute
Marty Wehner - trombone
John Finkbeiner - guitar
Lisa Mezzacappa - bass
Vijay Anderson - drums
Graham Connah - keyboards, piano
PROJECTIONISTS
Bill Basquin
Paul Clipson
Rosario Sotelo
Konrad Steiner
* * *
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.