On Saturday, September 19th, 2009, I performed “Pump that Pussy”, and excerpt from Bride of Wildenstein – the Musical at The Fall of Puppetry, hosted by PLOP! (Performance Laboratory for Objects and Puppets) in Olympia, curated by Dan Luce.
In Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical, an aging socialite grows fur and claws to recapture her philandering game hunter husband’s attention. Using puppets and masks to augment the body, this solo cabaret performance playfully unpacks desire and the contagion of identity with songs that examine the making of a monstrosity.
The weird and tragic love story wildly reimagines tabloid accounts of the real-life “cat woman”, Jocelyn Wildenstein. As the protagonist’s marriage dissolves, she begins to reinvent herself through drastic measures. But biomedical and surgical procedures to become more feline only heighten her sense of estrangement and embolden her quest to find a fiercer sense of self.
After being estranged from her husband, Jocelyn finds herself in a junk yard pumping party* where she encounters a rat doctor and a pigeon recovering from a beak job. A cockroach who’s just had his thorax pumped convinces Jocelyn to inject her face so she can feel beautiful again.
*a gathering where participants inject industrial grade silicone to create low-cost curves as a dangerous, often fatal alternative to medically sanctioned cosmetic surgery
Bride of Wildenstein – The Musical was written with long time collaborator, P.J. MicWhiskers. In this iteration, music was composed by Josh Senick and costumes were designed by Rachel Weir.
PERFORMANCES
Performances were part of PLOP!’s first installment of Puppet Nights, a live entertainment series for adults.
Saturday,
September 19th, 2009
at 8PM
Northern
321 4th Avenue
Olympia, Washington
PLOP! (Performance Laboratory for Objects and Puppets) was an Olympia-based performance center dedicated to fostering innovative puppet theatre through public performances, classes and artist laboratories. Curated by Dan Luce and Ariel Goldberger, PLOP!’s slam challenges Pacific Northwest artists to explore non-traditional approaches to puppetry.
PERFORMERS
Robyn Coffey
Beacon
Matt Zook + Shawn Douglas
Kill Yr Idols
Geahk Burchill
Rail
Marsian De Lellis
Bride of Wildenstein
Frogz II Men
All My Life
Tyler Stuart
Shawn Douglas, Dan Luce, Ariel Goldberger
The Sexual Life of Plants
Bride of Wildenstein was developed at CalArts and the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center with funding from The Durfee Foundation and Ibex Puppetry.
