APART/MENTAL
Description
Two Jewish women in New York, one says, “Do you see what’s going on in Poland?” The other says “I live in the back, I don’t see anything.”
-Henny Youngman
Inspired by REAR WINDOW and a long stare-off with a neighbor through our respective windows one Tuesday afternoon, APART/MENTAL grew out of composer Ken Steen, writer Mary Birnbaum and director Anna Pool’s discussions of the people we unknowingly share our lives with and the secrets they may hold. When visual artist Jojo Karlin sent Mary wry and whimsically crafted paper dolls of each character, our puppet opera concept was born: a remedy for how to film a cast who live across the world, from Hong Kong to Peru. Within Ken Steen’s imaginative, foley-infused score, ensconcing each apartment in their own unique sound world, APART/MENTAL asks: what leads to trust in a community? What incentive do we have to take care of each other? Oh, and how many times can you disinfect a doorknob?
Artist Statement
Artists
Others you might like
After Glow
NBC’s The Voice finalist John Holiday and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph lead us through a sensual, modern retelling of Schumann’s iconic song cycle Dichterliebe.
Interstate
The road from trauma to tragedy. Interstate is the story of Olivia and Diane, who shared a childhood in vulnerable, unsafe circumstances before life sent them down different roads. The adult Diane reaches out from her stable life to Olivia, a prostitute in prison for murder. Interstate blends the horror and violence of Olivia’s life with the tenderness of old friendship and the hard questions of accountability.
Obscura Nox
In this modern retelling of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, a woman is cloistered in a prison of her own making until a mysterious stranger shows her a way out.
On Lost Time
A new Harper Henly film set against the iconic and historic backdrop of the Chicago Cultural Center.
Featuring
Joffrey Ballet company dancers Brooke Linford and Graham Maverick.
