Soulographie and Beyond
This production featured Yermedea directed by Kym Moore (with puppet theatre artist Alejandra Prieto). One of 17 plays comprising Ehn’s Soulographie cycle, the play went on to premiere in New York, November 2012, at La Mama E.T.C.
“Energizing and frightening, the tale is told through the experiences of a nurse, and two of its most haunting images are of a pile of puppet-baby corpses and the giant face of a demon-mother with sad eyes. Kym Moore directed the piece, which began at Brown.”
~ Anita Gates, The New York Times
“Soulographie is an audacious and devastating achievement, sustained by Erik Ehn’s commitment to lyricism in the face of brutality. The strongest characters in his cycle—signaling through the flames from Rwanda, El Salvador, Tulsa, and many other ruined landscapes—resist pain and shame with their inviolate imaginations. In metaphor they achieve grace. Their dialogue, each line a koan opening onto marvelous new worlds, demands patience—what Ehn once called “slow hearing.” The spectator who practices it models an attentiveness that itself protests a culture of indifference.”
~ Marc Robinson, Yale University
Along with Yermedea, we presented Equiprobabalism (directed by Kathleen Amshoff) following Vacant Lot Theatre Company’s New York premiere in summer 2012.
On October 27, directors Kym Moore and Kathleen Amshoff joined Robbie McCauley, playwright, director, and Professor of Performing Arts at Emerson College, for a post-show discussion.
On October 28, Kym Moore and Erik Ehn joined Noe Montez, Assistant Professor in Tufts University’s Department of Drama & Dance, for a post-show discussion.
Poster design: Matt Desmarais
Photos: David Marshall