WHAT? A
mutation of the traditional Middle Eastern Karagoz shadow
puppet play (famous in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Syria)
about the consequences of being on the fringes of society…EVERY
society. Periodically the show is interrupted by cantastoria,
or picture performance, an age-old story telling technique;
employing his weird and amusing drawings, Zaloom recounts the
U.S. Marines repeated efforts to recruit him (he’s sorta
old for the Marines: 54. He’s also gay…etc.) It’s
all comedy, needless to say.
HUNH? The
shadow show tells the twisted story of an Arab, secular
humanist / Quaker / Buddhist / agnostic / political refugee
/ immigrant / queer / artist / weirdo’s
adventures while being comically pursued by various enemies:
Syrian Secret Service, Israeli border guards, Al Qaeda,
Homeland Security, the Statue of Liberty, Christian “Ex
Gay” activists,
and U.S. immigration vigilantes the Minutemen. The idiot
savant Karagoz foils their evil plans, dispatching them
one by one
with subterfuge, obfuscation, and cheap puppet gimmicks.
They all fail; he triumphs.
Zaloom jiggles his puppets, recounts absurd emails with
Marine recruiters, creates the entire soundscape with his
voice,
and uses drawings to illuminate the perverse workings of
our “civilization” with
a frontal comic assault.
WHY?
This
performance is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Neo-Sincerity:
The
Difference Between the Comic and the Cosmic is a Single Letter,
at apexart Feb
22 - April 8, 2006, curated
by
Amei
Wallach. Please join us.
WHEN?
Thurs,
March 30, 7:30 pm |
Thurs, April 6, 7:30 pm |
Fri, March 31, 7:30 pm |
Fri, April 7, 7:30 pm |
Sat, April 1, 3pm and 7:30 pm |
Sat, April 8, 3pm and 7:30 pm |
Sun, April 2, 3pm and 7:30 pm |
Sun, April 9, 3pm and 7:30 pm |
*WHERE? Collective:
Unconscious, 279 Church Street (between White and Franklin),
one block
south of apexart.
HOW? Buy
tickets online at www.theatermania.com or
call Theatermania at (212) 352-3101. Tickets purchased
at the Collective:
Unconscious box office are cash only, and may be purchased
only on the day of show, up to 30 minutes before the
show.
WHO? LA
artist Paul
Zaloom started with Bread and Puppet in ‘71,
and went on to create 12 solo puppet shows, including Fruit
of Zaloom and Zaloominations. He has been
awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, OBIE, BESSIE, LA Weekly
Theater Award, NEA
grants, etc. He is currently working
on the
toy theater,
high def, feature length puppet film of Dante’s
Inferno starring James Cromwell and Dermot
Mulroney.
QUOTE? “One
of the most original and talented political satirists working
in the theater.” --New York Times |