Noted miniaturist Theodora Skipitares returns with "Body of Crime II" Puppets portray punishment and incarceration of criminal women through the ages
April 15 to May 2 (opens April 16), La MaMa E.T.C. (Annex Theater), 74A East Fourth Street
(presented by La MaMa E.T.C.)
Thursdays through Sundays at 7:30 pm, $15/tdf
Seating strictly limited to 60 per show; box office (212) 475-7710
Theodora Skipitares further mythologizes the unique history of women's imprisonment and punishment through the ages in "Body of Crime II," a multi-media performance with over 80 puppets, April 15 to May 2. La MaMa's Annex Theater will be transformed into eleven separate environments as scenes are enacted of women in prison from medieval times to the present.
The work is her second piece on women in prison, a subject she first broached with "Body of Crime" of November, 1996 at La MaMa. (Skipitares, whose work is often evolutionary, earlier staged a series of plays on the history of medicine--"Under the Knife, parts I, II and III"--at La MaMa between 1994 and 1996.) On the first "Body of Crime," Time Out (Pam Renner) wrote, "Imagine Michael Foucault trapped in a Disney-animated House of Corrections and you begin to sense what Skipitares is up to in this surrealist documentary montage." The New York Times (Peter Marks) wrote, "Employing a variety of techniques, from dumb show to diodrama, the work is a sensitive treatment of a topic that is all-too often exploited for its more sensational aspects."
In the current show, dozens of new puppets are featured in new scenes depicting women on Rikers Island today, Typhoid Mary's three-decade imprisonment on an island in the East River, and the execution of Eva Duggan, the last woman ever hanged in the U.S. As in previous works, Skipitares displays her virtuosity in making distinctive theater from historical research and myth. From medieval times, there is the story of a nun who had been impregnated by a Priest and was subsequently imprisoned for her crime (her lover was castrated). Her prayers to God result in a sort of an "immaculate abortion," as the pregnancy disappears and the chains fall off her feet. From the Victorian era, there is the story of a woman imprisoned for five years after stealing black silk for a dress. Her testimony reflects the moral pressures on women of her time. From colonial America come scenes from the Salem witch trials and from a convict ship conveying women from England to the New World penal colonies. In another scene, actor Chris McCann, playing a prison warden, takes the audience on a guided tour of prison architecture.
Like some of her previous works, "Body of Crime II" contains one installation which is audience-interactive: a "shooting gallery" in which viewers will choose a criminal woman and she will privately reveal her secret to them. The characters are based on the theories of Lombroso, a turn-of-the-century scientist in Italy who is known as the first scientific criminologist. Using techniques that were akin to Phrenology, Lombroso examined skeletons of "female offenders" (often prostitutes) to determine what makes a "criminal woman."
The experience is one of walking from scene to scene, passing various motorized, moving tableaux on the way. Due to the environmental nature of this performance, audiences will be limited to 60 participants per show in order to ensure good viewing. The entire Annex Theater will be used, including the main playing floor, risers, loges and proscenium stage.
Theodora Skipitares became regarded as the most provocative miniaturist now working in New York following such formative works in the 1980's as “Micropolis,” “Defenders of the Code” and “The Radiant City.” She made her La MaMa debut seven years ago with "Underground," a work which explored a wide variety of subterranean cultures, from mineshafts to fallout shelters. David Richards (New York Times) wrote, "She wants you to look hard and close into dark nooks and spooky crannies. You'll discover all sorts of mini-revelations and Lilliputian enchantments if you do." She went on to mythologize the history of medicine with "Under the Knife I, II and III," all at La MaMa, between 1994 and 1996. This developing work was her first use of La MaMa's large Annex Theater as an enveloping, multi-level installation as, in a series of 24 miniature environments, she fabricated a spectacular interactive marketplace of medical ideas through the ages.
Trained as a sculptor and designer, Skipitares avoids the label puppeteer as too limiting in view of her multi-media approach. Alisa Solomon (Village Voice), reviewing her "The Age of Invention" (1985), claimed Skipitares fulfilled Gordon Craig's call for Uebermarionette to replace actors because only puppets could convey the "noble artificiality" he considered necessary for the stage. That work had life-size puppets of Ben Franklin, Edison, and Michael O'Connor--a 20th century salesman who passed as a surgeon and performed operations in five states. Skipitares' work has been cited for its particular and rigorous historicity. She says that when she does research, she tries to find the false side of an event or character, and upon finding it, uses it as a peephole into what might be really true. This results in a chilling sort of theater, where real first-person narrative becomes heightened through puppet theater, becoming as brazen and atavistic as myths which are delivered side-by-side.
When "Micropolis" (1982), her first major work, was revived in 1992, the Village Voice (Pam Renner) call it "the work of a possessed and clairvoyant miniaturist." The work contained miniature scenes from urban life: some real, like an unnoticed murder, some fanciful, like a dinosaur waking up on a superhighway. Her "Defenders of the Code" (1987) was picked in the New York Times' "ten best plays" list. It dramatized Plato's "Republic," Darwin's "Origins of the Species," and James Watson's "Double Helix" with Bunraku-style puppets. "The Radiant City" (1991) presented the legacy of master-builder Robert Moses. Her last work, "The Harlot's Progress" (1998), was a chamber opera (with music and lyrics by Barry Greenhut) based on the engravings of William Hogarth. The New York Times (Lawrence Van Gelder) wrote, "Like its inspiration, 'A Harlot's Progress' is striking, timely and admirable art." The piece was presented by the Performing Garage, became part of the Jim Henson Foundation's International Festival of Puppet Theater last fall and toured France this past January.
Skipitares has been repeatedly nominated for the American Theater Wing's special design award and has received Guggenheim, Rockefeller and NEA grants. In the Fall of 1999, she will be a Fullbright Fellow in India, collaborating on a theater production of Yakshagana theater in Bangalore.
"Body of Crime" is conceived, designed and directed by Skipitares. It employs five puppeteers (Sarah Provost, Preston Foerder, Charlotte Braithwaite and Tom Ross), one actor (Chris McCann) and two singers (Felice Rosser and Shaheen Chambargwala). The continuous score is composed by Barry Greenhut. Additional design is by Holly Laws and Jane Catherine Shaw. Lighting is designed by Pat Dignan. [NYTW]
Related article: La MaMa sets 1998-99 season schedule
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