4/2/2002

The very first day of workshopping this piece was spend at the Space Theatre on March 31. Maria Stephens, who will be playing the role of The Doll got together with myself and Robynne Gravenhorst who is acting as our movement and choreography consultant. After having discussed the character of hte doll and looking at various pulp era art for visual inspiration, Robynne began coaching Maria's movement. The Doll's center of gravity is her hips. When she moves, she leads with her hips. We have decided to go with a highly stylized mode of movement and character with the Doll. Other ideas of discussion regarding the Doll were incorporating reversal into her character and movement as inspired by Gary Hill's Alice in Wonderland "Muddle" videos.

The second day of workshopping was spend doing a read thru of the current fragmented draft of BREED WITH ME. The cast esembled for the reading included Ron Kroll, Maria Stephens, Bob Karcher, Patrick McCarthy, and Derek Smart. Patrycja Rynduch was also in attendence.

4/4/2002

We had our second reading of Breed With Me. Having kept the past two rehearsals at the table, I've become convinced that Breed With Me will only come to its fruition if we workshop the piece on its feet. The work is so image and tonal based that music and movement take equal if not more precedent in the foundation of the performance. When we begin the second cycle of workshops, we will create entire seqences with out text. Thereby, we will allow the action to inspire any text that might appear. Also, I want to do this because my notebooks are filling up with apt poetic hardboiled dialogue which is in inspired by the situations by do not drive forward the action. Action first, then i'll figure out what poetry should be in later. Also, the elements of dementia that I want to include are primarily image based, and secondarily text based. So, I back to working and conceiving as if the piece were silent.

The scene between Shutterbug and the Cops is solid, the interogation process allows for the exposition to leak out subtly since the driving force in the scene (getting info from Shutterbug) is the primary concern. The only time they give exposition is as a tactic to get the prisoner to talk

Special thanks to the following for reading
BREED WITH ME and CREEPY DOCTORS COLD HANDS
(from left to right) Derek Smart, Ron Kroll, Patrycja Rynduch,
Patrick McCarthy,Kavin Skinner (didn't actually read but
always welcome), Maria Stephens, and Bob Karcher

3/29/2002

Breed With Me Thoughts
Lots of inspiring sounds have been crossing my path lately. Worked and Observed Meredith Monk in both rehearsal and performance with week. Also had some time to go to the MCA and was quite fascinated by the video works of Gary Hill. One of Gary Hill's videos was two people reading to each other from alice in wonderland with huge chucks of speech actually spoken in reverse and then played back in reverse so that it sounded almost normal (forward). Someone has in the mean time informed that that David Lynch also did this in his twin peaks series. (I have only seen the Fire Walk With Me movie a long time ago, although I do remember now both Dali and Cocteau doing things in reverse with film). There has to be a way in which we can utilize these reversal ideas in new innovative ways to forward our narrative. I am particularly drawn to the notion of reversal as it relates to the reproductive situations in Breed With Me. The actual gender reversals. The actual image reversals. The seduction could happen in reverse. That is we could record the femme fatale speaking her dialogue in reverse and then alter in and put it on CD and have her lip sinc the words. Also we could view images of her in reverse noting and emulating the idiosyncaries such as the movement of the eyeballs the way the hair leads the body. The disturbing sense of precognition and balance that we observe occuring. The actual copulation (how ever it occurs) could have in reverse as well. I think their will be a flashback to the FBI's seduction and copulation. When she impregnates the FBI it could incorporate these reversal notions.

'Doomed characters obsessed with bewitching women'

Circe Eve Medusa Pandora Sultry Wife Damsel in Distress Cheerleader Sirens Castrating Eve, Femme Fatale, Contemporary Circe Luring Siren Song.

Breed With Me deals with the ultimate magnification of Male sexual anxiety as presented within the Noir Tradition. The idea that woman is not human, not the same species as the male. The "Doll" in Breed With Me uses her unique reproductive abilites as the ultimate in castration fixation. She not only castrates the male, she actually impregnates him, reversing the "natural" order in service to her specific needs/desires.

'Sexual Release plunges both into irreversible calamity'
'Sex is only a means to an end...using bodies as destructive weapons.'

The human condition is one of self destruction. Our bodies were made to tear themselves to pieces. Some people know how to take their own sweet time savoring their own self destruction, others just crumble into dust whineing away at their pain. Justice Injustice - these are just words. You cant have one without the other. So don't ask why. Just savor the moment. Bite into the Apple.

Noir Environments Cramped Quarters Mazes Mirrors Multiple High Angles and Disorienting Low Angles Half Dead Confession

The first time I remember hearing the word Noir - I was a kid watching Mike Meyers as Dieter on "Sproketes" used the word...to describe what? I can't remember.

The Appeal of Noir.
One of the basic appeals especially to the storyteller, is how these directors and cinematographers did so much with so little. As a genre populated mostly with B-Movies, the Noir Tradition is filled with brilliant examples of camera work, light and shadow. Here are a bunch of film makers with little money, little time, and few resources who found/rediscovered multiple ways of using the camera angle to convey action, tension, etc. I think of the shot in KISS OF DEATH where Richard Widmark slowly moves toward the curtain to get a look at Victor Mature. This is a classic example of what I'm talking about. Simple, Direct, Evocative. Personally, There is something about the films being Black and White that appeals to me. I don't know if it is because this ages them and I better sense a tradition then? Maybe it is simplicity again. Expressionism, these Germane methods are from another world, a dream world that has always been, to my modern mind, Black and White. What Noir has to say about relationships between men and women. How it squarely places them as political stuggles for power between two or three players. This stark protrayal feels more honest and direct then other genres. Sentimentality and Stereotype even seem (frighteningly) more plausible when positioned in a Noir tradition.