Performed July 26 - August 2, 2008
at the former Kitchen Distribution Warehouse
Winner of the 2008 Iffy Award for "Best Found Space"!!!
...AND
THEY PUT HANDCUFFS ON THE FLOWERS.
by Fernando Arrabal
"Superb acting .
. . replete with powerful metaphor."
-- Galia Binder, BUFFALO NEWS 8/6/08
click
here to read this review
For the 2008 Buffalo "infringement"
Festival, Subversive Theatre went off the beaten track -- literally -- to the
dank, cavernous basement of a defunct warehouse in the post-industrial
wasteland of Buffalo's West Side.
Each night, muse-like actresses clad in shimmering
white robes and neutral white masks led audience members down rickety wooden
steps into the shadowy bowls of this massive Turn-of-the-Century warehouse to
sit on rotting crates, pallets, and barrelheads and watch a performance that
was occasionally even encircled by real life bats fluttering amidst the
rafters!
In addition to the haunting surroundings, this
wholly experiential production also featured surreally stylized mask,
movement, and shadow work as mad bohemian music genius Patrick Cain conjured
primal sounds from his extraordinary arsenal of found sound instruments.
Set in a Spanish prison in 1969 amidst the horrors of
the Franco dictatorship, "...and they put handcuffs on the
flowers." is a notoriously daring play that plumbs the depths of
human suffering under the most severe onslaught of degradation, brutality, and
oppression. The story's unflinchingly graphic events are beautifully
counter-balanced by the breath-taking poetry infused in every line of
Arrabal's psychedelic dialogue.
This gutwrenching tale ultimately offers a timeless
outcry against imprisonment, violence, and authoritarianism that is all too relevant
to our modern-day world of Patriot Acts, Military Tribunals, and
waterboardings.
Bringing to life this infamous work of 1960s
experimental theatre with a wide array of enigmatic performance styles in the
most unconventional of performance spaces, our rendition of "...and
they put handcuffs on the flowers." made for a totally unique
journey in protest theatre and one of the most all around "subversive"
productions we've ever presented.
Here's the rundown on who did what:
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THE CREW
Director . . . . . . . . . . . Kurt Schneiderman*
Music & Foley Effects . . . . . . Patrick Cain
Movement Choreography Monica Karwan*
Lighting Design . . . Carlie Todoro-Rickus*
Set Design . . . . . . . . . . . Dyan O'Connell*
Costume Design . . . . . . . . Jessica Stuber*
Props Mistress . . . Jeanette Schneiderman*
Fight Captain . . . . . . . . . . . Candice Kogut
THE CAST
Amiel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Zybala*
Katar . . . . . . . . . . . Lawrence Rowswell*
Pronos . . . . . . . . . . . Leonard Ziolkowski
Tosan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Victor Morales
Lelia & others . . . . . . . . Mary Jayne Ertel
Drima & others . . . . . . . . . Jessica Stuber*
Fallidia & others . . . . . . . . Candice Kogut
Imis & others . . . . . . . . . . Dechen Dolkar |
 Special
thanks for assistance with this production in the form of house management,
videography, photography, and building maintenance in addition to the
procurement and transportation of props and set pieces as well as the
production and distribution of posters, leaflets, and playbills goes out (in
alphabetical order) to the following individuals:
Michael Fanelli*, Tom Izard*, Matt Kantor, Bryan Lohr, John Rickus, Tom
Scahill*, Jeanette Schneiderman*, Joe Smeltzer, and Leonard Ziolkowski.
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