Growing Up Linda, Chicago

May 7th through May 9th, 2010, I performed Fudgie’s Death, a segment from Growing Up Linda at Links Hall in Chicago.

GROWING UP LINDA
FUDGIE’S DEATH

Fudgie’s Death was a segment from Growing Up Linda in which a woman who believes she’s the daughter of a famous ice cream mogul must come to terms with her troubled past.  In Fudgie’s Death, table-top pop-up books transform into full-screen cinema for this neo-noir tale of depravity.

CREATIVE TEAM

I wrote Fudgie’s Death with PJ McWhiskers, and Joel Egger. Korean paper engineer, Eugean Seo designed the pop-up books, while Kari Rae Seekons created a sound design I could trigger from the stage. Costumes were fashioned by Rachel Weir with specialty corseting by Lee Vargas and Hunter Wells.  Heather Henson provided on stage live video feed for this performance.

PERFORMANCES

Links Hall
3435 North Sheffield, Suite 207
Chicago, Illinois 60657

Friday May 7, 2010 at 8:00PM
Saturday, May 8, 2010 at 8:00PM
Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 7:00PM

Founded in 1978 by three experimental choreographers, Links Hall serves as an artistic incubator and launch pad in Chicago.

PRESS + MEDIA

Banners and Cranks was covered by The Chicago Reader and Time Out – Chicago. While in Chicago, I also appeared on Feast of Fun podcast with Fausto Ferños and Marc Felion.

PROGRAM

The performances were part of Banners and Cranks: A Festival of Cantastoria, curated by Clare Dolan and Dave Buchen. 

Banners and Cranks, was the first ever festival and exhibition of cantastoria art in the US. For three weeks, Links hall presented performers from around the country, while Packer Schopf Gallery displayed cantastoria art.

As part of the program, I also narrated Susan Simpson’s, Exhibit A.

Weekend One
Without the Fluff

  • Great Small Works
  • Dolly Wagglers
  • Blair Thomas + Co.
  • Clare Dolan

Weekend Two
Off the Cuff

  • David Isaacson
  • Diana Slickman
  • Jenny Magnus
  • Fred Lonberg Holm
  • Teria Gartelos
  • Deborah Hunt
  • Blair Thomas
  • Javier Maldonado O’Farrell
  • Beatriz Santiago

Weekend Three
New Stuff

  • Marsian De Lellis
  • Susan Simpson
  • Shoddy Puppet Company
  • Ramshackle Enterprises
  • Meredith Miller

CURATORIAL

Cantastoria is the Italian word for a performance form originating in 6th Century India involving the display of representational paintings accompanied by sung narration. It travelled the world and has taken on many forms, from Indian religious Par scrolls to the Indonesian Wayang-Beber, to Persian Parda-dar entertainers, to itinerant European street performers selling broadsides, to the German banklesanger in Weimar cabarets to the present day revival.

Banners and Cranks is the first ever festival and exhibition of Cantastoria art in the US. It brings performers from around the country together for three weeks of shows and art work  from all over the world together for an exhibition at the Packer Schopf Gallery.

What is so exciting about this festival and exhibit is that it showcases this unique form in its many permutations, revealing how an ancient performance practice has inspired contemporary young artists, activists, and performers.

Dave Buchen + Clare Dolan

SUPPORT