After an acclaimed 2007 debut at the Ontological Hysteric Theatre Incubator, The New York Innovative Theater Awards honored the original production with Best Set and nominations for Best Ensemble, Best Performance, Best Sound Design, and Best Costumes.
photo credits: Ryan Jensen
Dreams leave as quickly as they come, and the shortest of them are usually most profound and more difficult to grasp upon waking.
This was my experience with Company SoGoNo's production of Art of Memory playing at 3LD Art and Technology Center.
Conceived and Directed by Tanya Calamoneri, written by Lisa Ramirez and performed with Heather Harpham and Cassie Terman, these four women create a remarkable ensemble together. Playing off of each other with such ease and grace, they at once take command and 'on our imaginary forces work.' Art of Memory is evasive and immediate, attainable and timeless.
This is both a discovery play and an imagination play, but like real dreams, the discovery will not arrive until the imagination has been indulged.
Part of the splendour comes from behind the scenes, by the technical staff. Sean Breaults' set design is a stunning work of art, with more specificity in scenic elements than I have ever seen. Live glass music and sound collage by Miguel Frasconi is not to be described, but felt viscerally deep within you. Along with Bruce Steinberg's exceptional lighting design, Mioko Mochizuki's decayed decadence in costume and Video/Animation created and Installed by Matt Tennie, James Short, Antonio Frasconi and Michael Woody, this production team certainly earns the many awards they've brought home.
I would run to see this again.
Theatre magic has come alive again, and we need to experience it once more.
To understand you need to soften your focus with this play--you cannot take it head on and analyze it. Pay more attention to shapes and sounds than specific faces and words.
When I left the theatre I didn't know what I thought of the piece, but the more and more I feel it play around in my head, the more profound and meaningful it becomes.
Art of Memory plays July 16th-August 2nd at 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street at Rector (1/R/W)
