Big Dance Theater

Ich, Kurbisgeist

"Moving from large scale performance frames, to the intimacy of the crypt-like basement of the Chocolate Factory, Big Dance Theater teams up with playwright Sibyl Kempson install their signature blend of performance, text, and visual design for an audience of just 30 per show. Kempson's Ich, Kürbisgeist is set in a harsh quasi-medieval landscape facing destruction, populated by a community speaking a rigorous, specific, and completely invented language. Every word is semi-recognizable: an amalgam of English, Swedish, German and Sid Ceasar. The language is as tough and unforgiving as the windswept, uncultivated landscape.

The five characters, costumed by visual artist Suzanne Bocanegra, boast of surviving prior catastrophes as they bitterly recount lost times. They sing; they dance; they harvest pumpkin seeds. All the while, they feel threatened by vaguely understood, external forces from which there is no protection. They are grounded in fear: absurd and doomed." (via bigdancetheater.org)

Presented at New York Live Arts
Directed by Paul Lazar
Co-Directed/Choreographed by Annie-B Parson
Written by Sibyl Kempson
Set Joanne Howard
Costumes Suzanne Bocanegra
Lights Joe Levasseur
Sound Jamie McElhinney and Ben Williams
Video Design Joshua Higgason

Video Content Jeff Larson, Karrin Keithley, Joshua Higgason

Production Manager Brendan Regimbal
Produced by Aaron Rosenblum
Performers Paul Lazar, Tymberly Canale, Molly Hickok, Kourtney Rutherford