The Resurrectory, Portland, Ore., May–June 2005
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Last night was the "open dress rehearsal" for The Resurrectory. Chris [let's just say "I"] wore my hobo get up and sang songs about people who were killed 180 years ago, whose deaths were being re-enacted inside the facility. I managed to creep some people out ("Are you Burke or Hare?") and received requests to "sing the song about the whore again". ("There's more than one...")
There's a nice preview in this week's Portland Mercury.
The first public performance is tonight. It plays for seven weeks, and it will be evolving through that time, and the show is packed with so much detail that you will have to come more than once to catch it all.
During the show I sing a set of songs several times in no particular order. I'm still researching and adding songs to the collection, but so far the songs (which are not as severe as their names perhaps suggest) are:
Transience
Economics
Hypovolemia
Excommunication
Transubstiation
Admonition
Asphyxiation
Interment
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Thursday has rolled around again, and I'm gearing up for a few more shows at The Resurrectory. Research continues, and brings forth some new songs. One, currently called "Insolubilia", has already been added, and one, called "Automaton", is being worked on.
Anyway, if you haven't come out yet, this might be a good weekend to do so! Also, check out the review in the Willamette Week, although it doesn't mention me.
Saturday, June 4, 2005
The Resurrectory continues. There are only 7 more performances. My role has changed a bit—the hobo has been hired by the facility to give visitors a quick overview before they go in. I am still working on songs for the victims, but am also working on a set of songs for Daft Jamie, a 19-year-old homeless victim who spent his days entertaining children with songs and riddles and living off the charity of strangers.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
I did not expect to accept an award last night. I suspected that Liminal would win a few Drammies, the local theater awards, for The Resurrectory. But when we won the award for Production Design (its second award; it also won for Sound Design), half of Liminal was in line for drinks downstairs, where they'd been waiting for fifteen or twenty minutes, and where they were nearly at the front of the line. So I ran upstairs and breathlessly thanked the room full of people on behalf of the director. (Fortunately another ensemble member was on stage to say some slightly more cogent and less breathless things to the crowd.)
There's a photo of me with the award in my hand.
There's one more week of shows left. If you haven't visited the Resurrectory yet, do so now, or else you might have to wait a few years and travel to Chicago to see it.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Well, the Resurrectory is over. All those due to be remurdered have been processed and interred. Information discovered during the process is still being cataloged and organized, but the facility has closed up shop and the cadaver, the ashes, the distillery, and all the straw have all gone home. We had about 1,000 visitors during the run of the show, and I hope at least a few of them listened to the guy in the corner who was singing his little songs about these murder victims.
I was able to provide a nice ending to the run by playing "Interment" (a.k.a. "When I am laid in earth" by Henry Purcell) to the relatively large number of people who remained until the very end on that last day.
One final song was added on that last day, which is tentatively called "Memorandum", for Mary and Peggy Haldane, mother and daughter, both prostitutes, both murdered by Burke and Hare.
At some point we will begin recording an album of the Resurrectory songs, but in the meantime you'll have to wait until the next time we are able to start up the facility, perhaps in a few years, perhaps in another city, perhaps Chicago...
