Conceived/written/directed/choreographed and performed by Esther Neff and Kai Gilje with public and assembled participants
January 7, 14, 21 at Vital Joint as part of theexponentialfestival.org, Brooklyn, NY
PROTAGONY: A Play
Forming a new cast of “actors” for each evening, PROTAGONY combines forms of high school debate with king drag and “Theatrum Mundi” oratory theatricality. How each actor or subject sees themselves as a protagonist in their own life informs and structures ensuing abjective inquiries into self determination, civil responsibility, self-characterization, and construction of personal narrative. PROTAGONY stages conflicts between self and social narrative, between recognitions and presentations, and between “actors” and withdrawn “spectators.” How do narratives construct selves and vice versa? Who decides what is really going on here? How does what and who is centralized within visions of “Theatrum Mundi” materialize world(ing)s? The narrative “protagonist” position is agonizing yet powerful, dramatically saturated in suffering.
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March 17, 18, INVERSE lab at The Momentary (Crystal Bridges) Bentonville, Arkansas (MOVED ONLINE DUE TO COVID)
PROTAGONY: Statings
two days of operations by Esther Neff and Kaia Gilje.
Day One (Tuesday, 7-9pm in the Røde House) five local artists, invited through an Open Call, interpret conceptual events while witnesses and audience members mark states of mind, body, and context, socially composing a graphic score for movement and action.
PERFORMERS (alphabetically): Lela Besom, Jessica Davenport, Jessica DeBari, Pat Hennon, Nupur Sachdeva
Day Two (Wednesday, 10am-7pm) Esther Neff and Kaia Gilje use the socially-composed graphic score from the evening before, the work in the State of the Art exhibition, and responses to the economic, political, geographic, and social conditions of the Momentary and INVERSE to construct a durational performance throughout the galleries.