For any of you in the Los Angeles area, my company is performing the new
dance multimedia work "The Patchwork Girl of Oz." It is an updated version
of the Baum book from the Oz series, and Part I has recently been premiered
at Zipper Hall several weeks ago. This next performance at USC's Newman
Hall is at 4 pm this Sunday April 8, and is free and open to the public.
The music and images are run by Director on a computer, and video is used
in addition for the 3 projector live interactive performance. I will paste
in a press release for anyone closeby. At the end is an excerpt from an
email sent to me by the man whose Oz exhibit at the LA Public Library
inspired the work. Because I do a great deal of family programming, I tend
to use my interest in technology to expand on and be used as part of the
works (as opposed to making the focus of the pieces the technology itself).
I see myself as an artist/ storyteller, as opposed to scientist.
PRESS RELEASE FOR USC APRIL 8 PERFORMANCE
Event: Louise Reichlin & Dancers
Location: Alfred Newman Recital Hall, USC
University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Date: Sunday, April 8, 2001, at 4:00 pm.
Program: The Patchwork Girl of Oz, The Five Sisters
Tickets: Free and open to the public
Information: Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers: 213-385-1171
Web site: http://www.usc.edu/dept/dance/p2_lacd.html
Louise Reichlin & Dancers, a performing company of Los Angeles
Choreographers & Dancers, performs at the Alfred Newman Recital Hall,
located on the USC Campus on Sunday, April 8, 2001, at 4 pm. Part of the
Music Master Series of Thornton Faculty and Friends, the program of
dance, music, and adventure created for people of all ages and includes
The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Part I, based on the book by L. Frank Baum.
Written in 1913 the book is a magnificent fantasy about the world of Oz.
Baum himself was aware of his own era's latest technology, and in the
Prologue to The Patchwork Girl of Oz he tells us that even though Oz had
been made invisible to the outside world, cut off from all communication,
new communication with the Land has been set up through wireless
technology. Filled with strong female figures, the original work has great
humor as well as the classic underpinnings of a Greek myth.
Even with the fascinating use of technology in the story and her current
adaptation for the stage, Reichlin is aware that Baum's characters are
the main draw, leaping to the forefront and capturing the imagination. Not
only do they have fantastical appearances and extraordinary adventures, but
also they have timeless concerns with which children and adults can identify.
For example, the characters are concerned with hunger, loneliness, and
standards of companionship and friendship. Also, the "Patchwork Girl"
is always put down because she is too colorful, thus being ostracized for
different and special.
Reichlin tapped into the possibilities when she saw an article about the
celebration of the first book in the series, The Wizard of Oz, at the
Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. After viewing an exhibit of Oz
events also at the library, she was struck by the inherent movement of the
illustrations by John R. Neill -- especially of Scraps, the Patchwork Girl.
The character leapt out of the pages in every book, and one book was
devoted to her
alone.
Reichlin's new work is narrated (by Reichlin herself) from the point of
view of the heroine, "The Patchwork Girl." To convey the narrative, dance is
used as a primary ingredient, and the supportive multimedia element will
be organized with software including Macromedia's Director. In it, the
"Patchwork Girl" and the "Glass Cat" go in search of an antidote to the
computer/people virus to return lost people to life. They do a search on
the World Wide Web using the Crooked Magician's computer and take their
quest into the "real" world that Baum created in his novel.
In Baum's story, a Magician and his wife fashion a servant girl out of a
quilt, creating "The Patchwork Girl of Oz." In Reichlin's adaptation,
the "Crooked Magician" (Carlene Lai) exists in a lab setting that combines
magic with computer technology. Baum's magic "Powder of Life" becomes
computer chips to create more intelligence, and a computer/people virus
takes the place of his "Powder of Petrifaction" that turns living beings
into stone. A youngster "Ojo the Unlucky" (Yuki Tomino) feeds floppy
disks and extra chips into the magician's computer. When the "Patchwork Girl"
(Mandy Langen) is turned into a real person she has great Cyber
Intelligence and becomes the brightest, smartest and world's wisest
companion to Ojo.
Consequently Ojo's "Unc Nunkie" (played by Wil-son Williams) and the
Magician's wife "Dame Margolotte" (shared by Shelby Williams and Karen
Acosta) are accidentally turned into stone.
A 70-inch screen on stage and computer interface will allow the
characters to interact with even more fantastic images of themselves. For
example,the "Glass Cat" (Jennifer Flanagan) playing a totally transparent
creature (with extra pink brains and a red heart seen through her glass fur
in the book) will be able to use the "computer screen" to see herself in a
more fully realized animation, created through various programs beforehand
including Lightwave 3D and 3D Max. Another character the main players meet
is the "Woozy" (Shelby Williams), a squarish block of a creature, dark
blue,
with a tail distinguished by 3 hairs. These hairs are one of the key
ingredients needed to reclaim the frozen characters back into life. With
computer animation, effects enhance the more human dancer and increase the
imagery of the choreography. Preliminary sessions have been done with
motion capture which will be used in the next version of the piece, to be
performed in October.
Characters not mentioned above include The Shaggy Man played by Wil-son
Williams, Dorothy Gale and Glinda's Hand-Maiden, played by Carlene Lai,
Glinda, the good sorceress of the South shared by Karen Acosta and
Katina Childs, and Shelby Williams also dancing as the Scarecrow. Glinda's
role is expanded in this dance version, using a tiny laptop computer to
generate images that puts her and the adventurous characters in the same
plane. The piece uniquely meshes dance and technology, with Louise
Reichlin, faculty member of the School of Music, writing the adaptation,
choreographing and directing, and Richard Wainess, Information Technology
Program, School of Engineering, creating
the multimedia sections. Linda Borough, Costumer, and long time
collaborator with Reichlin, creates the costumes for The Patchwork Girl
of Oz. The characters, who have extraordinary adventures, have the same
concerns as we have today, and we feel connected to them whether they are
everyday people or more unusual creatures.
THE COMPANY
Louise Reichlin & Dancers was founded by Reichlin in 1979, using the
non-profit base of Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers. Now in its 21st
year, the company presents Reichlin's work that if classified, falls
under the style of modern dance. The company specializes in works for
the family and for children, and toured to Nevada last season for a
Family Series sponsored by the Las Vegas Cultural Affairs Division. Most
recently, Reichlin has created dances with her company for the
Multimedia event DreamScapes, with music created and played by Steve
Reid's Bamboo Forest. Premiered in Orlando Florida last spring,it will tour
next season.
This season Louise Reichlin & Dancers is again working with the Arts
Prototype Program of the LA Unified Schools in a dozen schools as well as
touring performances in schools. For the third year, the Hollywood Arts
Council
is funding the company for a residency in Los Feliz Elementary where every
class of students and their teachers receives a dance class emphasizing
the materials of dance: space, time, and energy.
The events of this season are supported, in part, by the Los Angeles
County Arts Commission, and the Newman Hall Performance funded in part
by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission through the Council
Civic Fund, Mark Ridley-Thomas.
# # #
"From: Lordwfc@aol.com
Message-ID: <4f.94c2191.27eff136@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 20:11:18 EST
Subject: Patchwork Girl
To: Louisehr@mizar.usc.ed
Louise:
My name is Willard Carroll. It was my collection of Oz material that was on
display at the Central Library. I attended your performance yesterday at
Zipper Hall and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it.
It's refreshing to see someone take the Oz raw material and do something
inventive and entertaining with it.
I'm happy that the exhibit was something of an inspiration for you. The best
of success with PATCHWORK GIRL - Part 2!
All the best,
Willard"
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