SHOCK OF GRAY ENSEMBLE PERFORMING AT RAG
Roxbury Arts Group, : Saturday May 5, at 8:00 p.m. Tickets $10. Call (607) 326-7908 for reservations.
“It’s 1959, I’m lying on the living room floor in a railroad flat in Queens. Liberace is on the TV . . . and my father takes this puff on his cigar and in a burst of smoke he says to my mother: ‘Jeez what a pansy! Whadya see in that queer anyway?’“ An eight-year old child first encounters the threat of her dawning identity. And so begins a narrative that takes the audience on a journey of the evolution of “queer” identity from the 1950’s through the present through the eyes of five lesbians.
This new and original play, SMOKE AND MIRRORS, by the Shock of Gray Ensemble, traces the journeys of five women as they revisit the images and experiences of mainstream culture and queer subcultures that shaped their identities. The piece explores five decades of cultural messages, from the stereotypes of the fifties to the perplexing sex and gender images of the present. Through personal narratives and emblematic imagery, the women capture the angst, humor and complexity of their on-going struggles to find authentic selves, and in the process, raise provocative questions about what it means to be “queer.” Entertaining and illuminating, the piece appeals to a mixed audience as it surveys the sexual politics of our time.
The members of Shock of Gray Ensemble have long been part
of the downtown Manhattan theatre scene, some since the mid-1970’s.
Influenced by techniques and improvisational forms developed by The Open
Theatre and by Story Theatre, the ensemble creates original material that
combines movement work and storytelling in the form of a theatrical collage.
Shock of Gray Productions Inc. is a not for profit theatre
collective, developing and refining material collaboratively, with different
members taking on primary responsibilities for various tasks: all
members contributed to the authorship of this piece; Carol Bay took
on the role of structuring improvisational explorations and shaping the
improvised work theatrically, acting as a dramaturge as the piece evolved
over time; Marge Helenchild and Deborah Sherman provided
guidance and direction in the development of the movement and dance elements,
acting as choreographers and movement coaches; Margot Fitzgerald and Berenice
Fisher, facilitate production and administrative tasks for the
group; and Beverly Brumm, a long time associate of the Shock
of Gray Ensemble, provided direction, and acting coaching at key
points during the development and staging of this piece.
Members of Shock of Gray have also been artistically and professionally active in Delaware and Ulster Counties for decades. Marge Helenchild is a massage therapist with an active practice in the area, and has owned a home in Margaretville since 2000. She has been involved in several RAG events and is a member of the Catskill Connection for Health and Wellness. Carol Bay and Margot Fitzgerald have owned a home in Big Indian since 1988. Carol directed two plays presented at the 10 Minute Play Festival at the Roxbury Arts Group in 2005. And Beverly Brumm, the director and lighting designer, is a theatre teacher, director, and sometime playwright, who retired from the faculty of SUNY New Paltz Theatre Department three years ago. She is a full time resident of Rosendale.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS was developed over a period of three years through workshops around such themes of lesbian experience as: childhood and family experiences, sexual self discovery, lesbian pulp fiction, lesbian feminism, assimilation, aging, and contemporary transgender politics. And as the work evolved, the material began to reflect the changing meanings of “being queer.”