Meaning Machines at ROOMS Gallery

-SPONSORED POST-

ROOMS Productions makes MEANING MACHINES this Friday only…

MEANING MACHINES is a game where the goal is the “performance” itself.   And like most games, there’s a set of rules. So imagine you’ve just gotten the Meaning Machines board game.  You open it up, flip the box over, and read the following:

PLAYERS
Six barefoot performers.

PLAYING AREA
The performers are restricted to a 12 x 12 section of carpet (Or any other surface allowing the barefoot performers to feel that they’ve left the playing area.)

EQUIPMENT AND SETUP
Each performer is wearing a blindfold and headphones connected to their own mp3 player. There are several tracks of white noise (set at varying lengths) and 19 distinct sound triggers loaded into a play list on each performer’s mp3 player.  The play list is set to random.

INSTRUCTIONS
1.If the performer hears white noise they are to walk aimlessly around the carpet.

2.One of the sounds on the mp3 player triggers the performer to sound a sustained chant like note while they continue to walk aimlessly.

3.If the performer hears one of the 18 remaining triggers, they are to stop walking and perform the corresponding tasks.

TASKS
MONOLOGUES
Three of the sound triggers activate one of three corresponding monologues (the 3 are unique to each performer).  One based on a conversation overheard by the performer, another created from stream of consciousness generated by the performer, and another selected by the performer from literary materials (ie. poems, novels, etc)

MOVEMENTS
Three of the sound triggers activate one of three corresponding movements (the 3 are unique to each performer). One based on a slow more precise movement observed by the performer in the real world, another based on quick more menial movement observed by the performer in the real world, and another based on an abstract movement devised by the performer in rehearsal.

COMBINATIONS
The remaining 12 sounds triggers activate combinations of the movements, monologues, and the chant like sound. These triggers require performers to execute two tasks simultaneously.

SPECTATORS
Audience members can move freely about the space as well as among the performers.

DURATION
The performance runs continuously for 3 hours.

This is our handbook.  Our Ikea instructions.  Our manual that turns each performer into an automated “machine.”  A machine whose random movements and words suggest ideas of character or motive.   A group of machines whose spontaneous formations and accidental interactions generate notions of story, ritual, and meaning.

But there’s more to these “machines” than their output. The cast is asked to endure sensory deprivation, to execute the immediate recall and performance of monologues and movements at random, and do it all for a grueling 3 hours.  Their focused attempts at remaining true to the game while fighting their own sense of disorientation and fatigue create the immediate atmosphere of a sporting event.

For ROOMS, creating systems like the one in MEANING MACHINES is a continuing practice in discipline, precision, and endurance while experimenting with the creative process – trying to find new ways of manipulating all the little bits and pieces we as actors, artists, and writers use to generate work.   We want to create pieces that are intense, evocative, and mysterious.

MEANING MACHINES is created and directed by Todd Frugia and designed by Marrakesh Frugia.  It features Veronica Bruce, Stephanie Schnorbus, Zoe Schwartz, Jackie Sestak, Ashby Taggart, and Adam Todd wearing costume pieces designed by Annie Novotny of Frei Designs. Ian Reynold of Shake it for Grandma has composed a Sound-scape for the evening.

This is one night only – Friday April 9th at ROOMS Gallery located on the corner of Ruble and 18th St., 645 W 18th St. Chicago, IL 60616.  It’s  free and open to the public (however a $3 suggested donation to the gallery would be sincerely appreciated) – doors are open from 7:30-10:30pm, inviting audience members to come and go as they please.

ROOMS Productions is Marrakesh and Todd Frugia.  We show new works monthly (with some exceptions) – at our gallery in Pilsen.  Go to ROOMS Productions’ website to find out more.