Live Shorts – Program C

Trouble: A Narrow Vehicle

The 10 minute show of Trouble, presented at EMPAC's Studio 2, could be mostly spent waiting in line for entrance depending on how early you arrived. The performance relies on guests entering the studio four at a time to participate in a cleansing ceremony before finding their seats which extends the wait. The “ceremony” was a three step process: walk through the center of the room where you will be sprayed with a hopefully hygienic liquid by a cast member, walk towards another cast member that brushes your shoulders with a palm leaf, and finally receive an index card with the word fire written on it. This cast-audience interaction is not unusual for Trouble, who has also done another performance called YOU ARE HERE (the Maze) that involves a sculpture maze that guests travel through. I admit that part of the fun of the show is watching the reactions of following audience members to the stoic shamans. Most people were accepting and allowed the performers to do their job; others were not interested and were surprised at the determination of the cast. After all of the audience was seated all of the performers congregated in the center of the room to wave their right hands; hopefully a significant gesture relating to the eye drawn in the center of their hands instead of just a greeting. The slow departure of the performers from the stage signaled the end of this unusual performance and the transition into the next piece. There was some bustle as stage-hands removed the various props and fans from the center, allowing us to discuss and wipe mist from our eyes.

Jen DeNike & Rose Kallal: Another Circle

The next performance was a multimedia solo ballet performance. There were two projectors with screens in the center of the room along with a giant projection against one wall of the studio. All three projections showed a repeated clip of a ballerina doing a pirouette. There was also a lady in the corner of the room playing different notes on a keyboard for ambiance. Soon a ballerina came to the center and proceeded to perform a series of movements that sometimes mimicked the on screen projection. She occasionally moved around the room in a circle before stopping in front of the projectors to do various movements. The sounds from the musician changed over time from the keyboard to slow strums on the guitar at varying volumes. I should note that I was sitting opposite from the musician and speakers and therefore the sounds were only intense instead of painful. However there were others across from me that were holding their ears at various points during the music. After about fifteen minutes the projectors were turned off and the music stopped. The blue lighting that was present during the performance changed to one spotlight over the ballerina. She started a pirouette that continued for several minutes before she stopped and the lights dimmed. This performance was not very memorable aside from the ballerina; she was the only interesting part in the piece.

Steve Cuiffo, Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle – AMAZINGLAND IN TROY EmagicPAC

The performance started with the performers setting up the stage for the magic show. They were very loud and obvious as they 'improvised' with the position of their props and cords. This pre-show along with the main piece is meant to engage the audience as their exploration of the 'pathos' of popular magic shows seen in Las Vegas. This feeling of inclusion is continued as the three magicians involve the audience in the tricks that are performed. In one trick they ask an audience member to choose another and another to prove that the person involved in the trick is anonymous to the magicians. They also joke with the audience members, asking for phone numbers and commenting on appearance. There were some moments when the trick would fail, as in the time when one cast member was trying to guess the next card in a deck and guessed wrong. But this was part of their plan to see the audience's reaction to different magic situations. At first I was just humoring them, thinking of how amusing they were, but as the show progressed I was distracted by the fantastic tricks and the epic music playing in the background. By the end of the show I was cheering loudly for the goofy yet lovable characters and the awesome magic that I witnessed. And the amazing song that was playing in the background is called The Oh of Pleasure by Ray Lynch. Look it up.