Site-based work designed for Artpark and the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood

INTERSECTION/Prototype

Written and Directed by Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola
Sound Composition and Lighting Design by Frank Napolski

Dates: June 18, 20 at Artpark, July 16-18 at Torn Space, 8:00 PM
Venue: Artpark – 450 S. 4th St. Lewiston, NY 14092, Torn Space – 612 Fillmore Ave. Buffalo, NY 14212
Co-produced by:

 

 

 

 

About NEIGHBORHOOD

The performances this evening are the first installment of a new performance series titled “Neighborhood”, a community wide, site-based performance project designed for the Broadway/Fillmore neighborhood in Buffalo, NY.

Intersection/Prototype has been designed for an open lot with the surrounding landscape, changing sunlight, and architecture providing the visual context. Other than location, the performance has several direct ties to the neighborhood. Many of the Bengali Cricket players live in the neighborhood, the Umpires grew up and live in the neighborhood, the drivers and their automobiles are from the neighborhood, the treats enjoyed during Tea Time are produced from a small business located directly next to the cricket pitch. The rocks positioned on the field have been extracted from the quarry. They date back 400 million years and are the oldest material in existence within WNY. They predate the neighborhood.

Torn Space has been in the neighborhood since 2000 and The Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle was founded in 1895.

The band performing in Five Songs for Fillmore have their rehearsal space right off Broadway and the video footage used in the production is of scenes occurring on Fillmore Ave.

Director’s Note

Intersection/Prototype is a new approach to performance for us. It is an experiment in performance and this is the first iteration. For some time we have been working with talented groups within our community- boxers, heavy machine operators, farmers, blacksmiths- and placing their talents within the context of performance design. This project takes the idea further. We will collaborate with a local Bengali cricket team to stage a live cricket match at dusk. Cricket has been described using the word Tamasha; meaning fun, excitement, glamour and uncertainty, and these themes drive the performance. For extended periods of time the performance is the actual actions, chance, communication and athleticism of sport, framed within a sound composition with pre-recorded text from a conversation titled ON THE NATURE OF REALITY between Albert Einstein, the German theoretical physicist and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali philosopher and playwright. At times, the game is disrupted by staged moments of self conscious glamour.

As the game progresses and night arrives, selected automobiles will enter into a choreographed routine highlighting the ceremonial color field of Niagara 1979, where headlights and machines engage with the surrounding landscape. The cricket match is ruled by accepted laws and logic of its own making within chance provided by physicality and sport. This logic is disrupted by mystery and mystery arrives by way of the automobiles.

Apart from the sound composition, the first part of the performance design focuses on the setting sun- the greatest lighting instrument performance has. The second part of the performance is designed with car headlights and a supernatural light source emanating from the classic Mercedes Benz.

This show is about observation, appreciation of the passing of time, and the experience of the recognition of beauty.

  • Dan Shanahan and Melissa Meola

Intersection/Prototype is a part of the sixth annual Torn Space RESPONSE: Performance Series. This performance series is made possible through lead funding from Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Legacy Funds, the Cullen Foundation, the Regional Economic Development Council, the Creative Arts Initiative of the University at Buffalo, the New York State Council on the Arts, Erie County, Rich Family Foundation, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, M&T Bank and The Baird Foundation.

Selected Text

ON THE NATURE OF REALITY Albert Einstein in Conversation with Rabindranath Tagore
STIVALE, written by Dan Shanahan and composed by Justin Rowland

Performed by

  • Buffalo Youngsters Cricket Club
  • Sean Kulak
  • Kalub Thompson
  • Leon Alston
  • Sara Wierzba
  • Grzegorz Nowacki
  • Tadeusz Nowacki

Voice Recording 

  • Holly Kirkpatrick
  • Masoumeh Mirzai

Production Team

  • Co-Directors/Co-Writers – Dan Shanahan, Melissa Meola
  • Sound Composition and Lightning Design by Frank Napolski 
  • Stage Management – Glo McDonald
  • Production Manager – Rick Haug
  • Costume Design – Jessica Wegrzyn
  • Text Recording and Composition- Justin Rowland
  • Choreography- Sara Wierzba
  • Technical Staff – Melissa Carey, Zak Noweihed, Daniel Toner

Special Thanks: Artpark, Sonia Clark