HISTORY
The Lament
of the Onion Cutter has developed as a performance art piece and
short 16mm film during the past two years. It began as my master's
thesis performance for the Columbia College-Chicago Interdisciplinary
Arts program. The first performance, as well as the film, was entitled
Swallowing Seeds and consisted of video projection of the film combined
with a pre-recorded sound tape and a live vocal performance (I sang
a torch song: "Bird Alone," by Abbey Lincoln). The soundscape was
created in collaboration with composer Mark Nelson. This first performance
took place at the old Randolph Street Gallery on Milwaukee Avenue
in Chicago in May 1997.
Almost a year
later, I met with Becky Pavlatos Gascon with the intention of creating
a new, original score for just the film portion of the piece. Becky
interviewed me about my expectations and researched themes and music
which she thought might fit the film. I then decided to shoot additional
film footage, and so a new process developed in which Becky and
I were each inspired and influenced by the changes being made. The
sound was recorded in the summer of 1998 and the film was re-edited
and mastered to 3/4-inch video in October, 1998.
During
that same summer I contacted performer Jenny Magnus and asked that
she serve as my advisor and "coach" with the end result being a
performace to take place in the spring of 1999. It did not take
long for both of us to agree that the completed film should serve
as a major component of the performance evening. Jenny encouraged
me to create two additional performance pieces, and Becky agreed
to coordinate a live recreation of the soundtrack in the performance.
Next, I began
weekly Monday night meetings in the fall of 1998 with Becky, Gina
Buccola, Liz Cruger and Karen Sorenson. I asked them to be in the
performance and to help contribute to its form and content. During
our sessions, we wrote, discussed and improvised around the themes
of transformation, grief and loss. I shared my research with them
about shamanism, Jung, Victorian mourning rituals, dark goddess
mythology, Greek Island funerary rituals, geisha and the grieving
process, and they brought new ideas to the table, including Gunter
Grass' Tin Drum and its chapter "In the Onion Cellar." We watched
the onion cutting scene in Like Water for Chocolate and viewed the
work of Peter Rose on video, who created text pieces which dissected
language and communication. We shared personal stories of transformative
experiences and began to shape the performance of The Lament of
the Onion Cutter.
The new performance,
The Lament of the Onion Cutter, will take place on the weekend of
April 23, 1999 at Charybdis Multi-Arts Complex, a 6,000 square-foot
loft space, located at 1750 North Wolcott, near North Avenue and
Damen in the Chicago Wicker Park neighborhood. An excerpt from the
piece was performed at the Glass Layers Performance Festival at
Links Hall on April 9 and 10.
--Theresa
Sofianos
Painting:
Onion Diva by Barbara Dawn
