Name: Jeff Seal
Background: improv, pantomime, commedia dell'arte, clowning and circus skills
Interest: Clowning, choreography/dancing
Eben Lillie (co-creator)
Eben grew up in the East Village of New York City. He is an apprentice of the performing arts. His background is in music and he has been composing beats, songs and instrumental music for years. He received his BA in Music from University of New Hampshire.Thanks to the Brooklyn College MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts, and his natural evolution, Eben is also exploring puppetry, acting, writing, dance, theatre, visual art, mythology, folklore, and anthropology.
Nick Lesley (co-creator)
Nick is a multimedia artist and musician. Much of his work focuses on physical relationships to sound and art experience. He regularly performs improvised music, primarily playing percussion and electronics. Nick has also created interactive sound and video installations as well as music for a number of dance pieces. He expects to complete his MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College in the Spring of 2008. He holds a BA from the University of California, San Diego (2001) in Film and Video, Media Arts with a minor in Music Technology. Nick hopes to develop in his work a better fusion of interactive video and music in performance.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Friday, December 14, 2007
Story Outline (detailed)
* Parents meet and mate, dance around the column
---dance, parents' costumes, woodsy setting projected (to be similar to forest woman set at end)
* Monster is born, belly projection on mother, birth out the funnel, consumes mother and is thereby full-grown, perhaps close-up projection of hero saying "Mother?"
---setting projection of body interiors: blood flow, organs. belly projection of animated growing fetus, mostly dark besides projections, projection of close-up of hero face saying "Mother?"
* trance dance with the elements. when they enter into their trance, the hands take over, and puppet poles.
---air, land, water, fire, dead, meat, plant, nuclear. we need to look at trance ritual footage for dance. our hero sees Peeker and is chasing him around looking for him during dance. Wind god appears and battles with Air element. Wind Gods blow the trancers into the distance!
* Wind gods
---setting projection of desert after they blow trancers into distance. sand in stage box with slight fan blowing sand projected. third Wind God cuts mouth open and blows others away. then our hero appears again, after chasing the Peeker, walking through desert
* a dangerous dragon needs food to be thrown at it to save the travel writer (meeting of the travel writer who follows our hero)
---walking... hero comes across travel writer, trapped. the dragon has 2-3 people inside, head has moveable mouth to eat thrown food-things. travel writer gets audience to throw things
* shrimpies meeting, hunting and mauling of shrimpies
---after walking Hero and Travel Writer come across shrimpies, hero makes friends with them and licks the one life-size shrimpy, they dance together while projection puppet shrimpies bounce in background. Travel Writer is chasing Peeker. Predator appears. the predator is the badger. "Let the bells in cities and towns be rung often, and great ordinance discharged, thereby the air is purified." chases shrimpies away
* hero is put to sleep by badger who holds up false image of Forest Woman. must be revived by music and noise by audience. travel writer gets audience going
---cave-like setting, under ground, under a house. like the inside of a mine.
* meeting of the forest woman, he tries to make her circle the poll, she begins to then leaves him teasingly, she begins to consume hero with tree trunk
---woodsy setting projected similar to beginning but different, leaves and glitter held and moved in front of live cam feed
* evocation of the mysterious recurring character, peeker/spy, to lop off trunk of forest woman and save hero
* hero pushes dead forest woman around column, then slowly consumes forest woman (sans trunk)
* hero has stomach ache and regurgitates forest woman, transformation into a shrimpie
* reuniting with the shrimpies
* regurgitated forest woman becomes predator, death of our star and the shrimpies. she eats hero, lights fade out, we hear eating/digesting sounds, Eben and Nick at box make a "THE END" sign and hold up to project on set.
---dance, parents' costumes, woodsy setting projected (to be similar to forest woman set at end)
* Monster is born, belly projection on mother, birth out the funnel, consumes mother and is thereby full-grown, perhaps close-up projection of hero saying "Mother?"
---setting projection of body interiors: blood flow, organs. belly projection of animated growing fetus, mostly dark besides projections, projection of close-up of hero face saying "Mother?"
* trance dance with the elements. when they enter into their trance, the hands take over, and puppet poles.
---air, land, water, fire, dead, meat, plant, nuclear. we need to look at trance ritual footage for dance. our hero sees Peeker and is chasing him around looking for him during dance. Wind god appears and battles with Air element. Wind Gods blow the trancers into the distance!
* Wind gods
---setting projection of desert after they blow trancers into distance. sand in stage box with slight fan blowing sand projected. third Wind God cuts mouth open and blows others away. then our hero appears again, after chasing the Peeker, walking through desert
* a dangerous dragon needs food to be thrown at it to save the travel writer (meeting of the travel writer who follows our hero)
---walking... hero comes across travel writer, trapped. the dragon has 2-3 people inside, head has moveable mouth to eat thrown food-things. travel writer gets audience to throw things
* shrimpies meeting, hunting and mauling of shrimpies
---after walking Hero and Travel Writer come across shrimpies, hero makes friends with them and licks the one life-size shrimpy, they dance together while projection puppet shrimpies bounce in background. Travel Writer is chasing Peeker. Predator appears. the predator is the badger. "Let the bells in cities and towns be rung often, and great ordinance discharged, thereby the air is purified." chases shrimpies away
* hero is put to sleep by badger who holds up false image of Forest Woman. must be revived by music and noise by audience. travel writer gets audience going
---cave-like setting, under ground, under a house. like the inside of a mine.
* meeting of the forest woman, he tries to make her circle the poll, she begins to then leaves him teasingly, she begins to consume hero with tree trunk
---woodsy setting projected similar to beginning but different, leaves and glitter held and moved in front of live cam feed
* evocation of the mysterious recurring character, peeker/spy, to lop off trunk of forest woman and save hero
* hero pushes dead forest woman around column, then slowly consumes forest woman (sans trunk)
* hero has stomach ache and regurgitates forest woman, transformation into a shrimpie
* reuniting with the shrimpies
* regurgitated forest woman becomes predator, death of our star and the shrimpies. she eats hero, lights fade out, we hear eating/digesting sounds, Eben and Nick at box make a "THE END" sign and hold up to project on set.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Travel Writer's dialog
"help me, the beast is going to devour me. to think my experiences and tales of adventure will be lost...lost forever! if I am devoured by this dimwitted beast. oh the tragedy! doesn't anyone have any food? anything at all? i know nothing can compare to the undoubtedly decadent flavor of my own flesh, but i couldnt bear to die this way!! not now! not when i'm so close to finishing my life's work. I pray to you, watchers in the sky, sympathetic gods, jury of my fortune. let a storm of tender vittles rain upon this mutant, that he will consume other than my savory personage."
"Thank you thank you. praise be to the gods and the animal spirits. Are you an ambassador of the gods? i've never seen a creature like you before, and i'm quite the seasoned traveler. hmmm...a large tongue. thats useful. What an appendage. I'm sure you have an appetite to match. However, I hope you don't desire the same fare that that wretched lizard was after. I can tell you, I hunger for adventure and all the sights of the world that are worthy of my observations. Once I've seen everything there is to see, i'm going to finish my work: a rough guide to beat all rough guides! a complete handbook to this mysterious land! So tell me, what is the goal of your travels?"
(lick)
"Ah, It's companionship you're after? I pray you make a good impression on the gods that you may be fortunate in your hunt. This world is a vast valley surrounded by unclimbable mountains. In a land that seeks holiness, all is unholy. Be sure, the beauty you find will be in the crooked and the maimed. I myself am a travel writer and will be happy to accompany you in your wanderings, but I imagine the company you're after is beyond the range of familiarity I wish to offer. My travel and observations are my priority. Intimacy is a distraction which can only hinder my adventures. But let us sally forth that my thirst to explore can be quenched, and likewise the appetite you ferry will someday be sated."
"...its so funny. i could have sworn there was someone else with us back then. i keep catching glimpses of a strange creature that must live in these areas, but i never find anything. no footprints, no droppings! nothing!... maybe i was just imagining things. Or perhaps it is another observant god, guiding our destinies. it could be the legendary Sophia of the Forest of whom I've heard the tallest tales...but no...from what i've heard, her beauty is so striking and luminous, it can be felt before it is even seen."
(grunt)
"oh i must have piqued your interest! ah yes many lustful ones have fallen for her allure. You wouldn't be her first my friend, and you certainly wouldn't be her last! haha. i advise you to be careful though. I've heard her mating practices are a bit unorthodox and will leave you unable to perform again. Best not to throw all your stones into one well. Her sinful appetite would be a lethal match for yours. But lets not dwell on that apparition.....let me tell a story to help pass the time as we travel on." (tells a story?)
"I knew it! a badger! in all my life i've never met a badger that wasn't up to something mischievous. i can't believe that horrible disguise actually worked! Now if i don't do something he might never wake up. i've heard of boneheads who have stayed asleep for years dreaming they were in an ornamented palace. I won't let that happen here! not if i have a say in it! oh gods! hear me..... i beg you to raise a raucous like thunder to wake this libidinous fool and drive the contemptible Badger back into it's stinking lair. i call to you with my drum! hear the vibrations of my ....."
"Thank you thank you. praise be to the gods and the animal spirits. Are you an ambassador of the gods? i've never seen a creature like you before, and i'm quite the seasoned traveler. hmmm...a large tongue. thats useful. What an appendage. I'm sure you have an appetite to match. However, I hope you don't desire the same fare that that wretched lizard was after. I can tell you, I hunger for adventure and all the sights of the world that are worthy of my observations. Once I've seen everything there is to see, i'm going to finish my work: a rough guide to beat all rough guides! a complete handbook to this mysterious land! So tell me, what is the goal of your travels?"
(lick)
"Ah, It's companionship you're after? I pray you make a good impression on the gods that you may be fortunate in your hunt. This world is a vast valley surrounded by unclimbable mountains. In a land that seeks holiness, all is unholy. Be sure, the beauty you find will be in the crooked and the maimed. I myself am a travel writer and will be happy to accompany you in your wanderings, but I imagine the company you're after is beyond the range of familiarity I wish to offer. My travel and observations are my priority. Intimacy is a distraction which can only hinder my adventures. But let us sally forth that my thirst to explore can be quenched, and likewise the appetite you ferry will someday be sated."
"...its so funny. i could have sworn there was someone else with us back then. i keep catching glimpses of a strange creature that must live in these areas, but i never find anything. no footprints, no droppings! nothing!... maybe i was just imagining things. Or perhaps it is another observant god, guiding our destinies. it could be the legendary Sophia of the Forest of whom I've heard the tallest tales...but no...from what i've heard, her beauty is so striking and luminous, it can be felt before it is even seen."
(grunt)
"oh i must have piqued your interest! ah yes many lustful ones have fallen for her allure. You wouldn't be her first my friend, and you certainly wouldn't be her last! haha. i advise you to be careful though. I've heard her mating practices are a bit unorthodox and will leave you unable to perform again. Best not to throw all your stones into one well. Her sinful appetite would be a lethal match for yours. But lets not dwell on that apparition.....let me tell a story to help pass the time as we travel on." (tells a story?)
"I knew it! a badger! in all my life i've never met a badger that wasn't up to something mischievous. i can't believe that horrible disguise actually worked! Now if i don't do something he might never wake up. i've heard of boneheads who have stayed asleep for years dreaming they were in an ornamented palace. I won't let that happen here! not if i have a say in it! oh gods! hear me..... i beg you to raise a raucous like thunder to wake this libidinous fool and drive the contemptible Badger back into it's stinking lair. i call to you with my drum! hear the vibrations of my ....."
Production Time Line:
Decembeer:
-recruit cast and collaborators (Jenny Seastone Stern, Jeff Seal, ...)
-finish script
-build costumes
-experiment with projection surfaces
-build dolls, puppets
-experiment with setting projections in box
January:
-continue building costumes, props
-record samples of setting projections
-record samples of doll/puppet action
-start animation sections
February:
-begin rehearsals, post production stills to website
-finish animation, youtube to website
-dance choreography with Jenny Seastone Stern
-finishing development of costumes
-begin recording music
-attempt to book other venues
March:
-rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals
-streamline tech
-figure out pre-recorded music with live music performance
-compile installation elements and short performance
-book other venues
Abril:
-April 11th: installation, preview performance at OTO
-rehearsals at The Living Theatre
-plan European summer tour! (London, Bilbao, etc.)
Mayo:
-SHOW!!!
-recruit cast and collaborators (Jenny Seastone Stern, Jeff Seal, ...)
-finish script
-build costumes
-experiment with projection surfaces
-build dolls, puppets
-experiment with setting projections in box
January:
-continue building costumes, props
-record samples of setting projections
-record samples of doll/puppet action
-start animation sections
February:
-begin rehearsals, post production stills to website
-finish animation, youtube to website
-dance choreography with Jenny Seastone Stern
-finishing development of costumes
-begin recording music
-attempt to book other venues
March:
-rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals
-streamline tech
-figure out pre-recorded music with live music performance
-compile installation elements and short performance
-book other venues
Abril:
-April 11th: installation, preview performance at OTO
-rehearsals at The Living Theatre
-plan European summer tour! (London, Bilbao, etc.)
Mayo:
-SHOW!!!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Shrimp Lips
Shrimp Lips is a sample work that will contribute to the whole piece which is yet untitled. The authors are Nick Lesley and Eben Lillie who are part of the PIMA (Performance and Intertactive Media Arts) MFA program at Brooklyn College. The final multimedia performance will be presented in the spring of 2008 in New York city.
Please check in again for more information as the project develops.
www.interactivearts.org
www.nicklesley.com
www.neckandtongue.com
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