Hey all! Just a really quick blast since I’m on borrowed time (ie, pay-to-compute). I just stepped out of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater at St. Mark’s Church in the East Village where I saw the play “Clementine and the Cyber Ducks”. It was presented by a group called The Assembly (once known as The American Story Project) and written by Krista Knight, a colleague of mine from the Performance Studies program. It was a breath of fresh air to see this type of production in a downtown theater. The writing reminded me a bit of Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” (and maybe it’s because both Ms. Knight and Ms. Ruhl are Brown educated playwrights) meeting up and shaking hands with The Debate Society, with a bit of ensemble-like performing without any sense of self-important posturing that often can be found in NYC experimental theater. It was really a treat and I loved the ending.
Moral of the story is a sweeter, less gruesome/less violent one than say the film “There Will Be Blood”, but they have similar sentiments towards America’s gold/dot-com/financial rush history. Scam artists are a dime a dozen in California in both 1849 and 1994. America’s beloved “entrepreneur” God (think anyone who has “made it”) is just possibly another crook who actually didn’t get caught with his pants down.
Oh, and our heroine Clementine’s fate? (does she “make it”? does she strike it rich?)…well it’s precarious.
Go see it soon before it’s gone!
Autumn Widdoes 