Friday, July 31, 2009
Stories of the Sun God
“Stories of the Sun God” is a narrative that follows a powerful and immortal Sun God on a heedless quest for knowledge through a mythical empire in which secrets are the currency of power. Indeed, the keeping of secrets is of great importance to the characters in this dark fable.
The tales begin with 7 Golden Birds who share a secret, the keeping of which brings death to them, to other Birds, like the Red Bird, and even to a studious Princess. This Princess and the Sun God become lovers, a jilted poet hatches a plot that will eventually unravel the most elusive of the secrets and the Birds of Prey cause all manner of trouble before they are disbanded. No human, no magical bird is untouched by the influence of the brilliant but sadistic ruler for whom there can never be accountability. The narrative draws from ideas as old as Rome and is a meditation on the nature of power and the importance of information in any age.
The story calls for movement to bring it to life. My original vision of it was that of a feature film; something that may yet happen. However, I gave the script to my friend Michael Chang, who is a painter, and the paintings he made in response to the work have forced me to re-think that vision. What I am working on is something with a minimal cast of 4 dancer/ actors playing all of the parts, a strong theatrical element that includes some dialogue, and an emphasis on integrating the paintings. To facilitate a conceit in the script, I will use a sculptural “wheel” on which dancers and stand and move; giving the effect of a music-box dancer. The conceit is that there is a bird who is such a good imposter that she can “become” anyone or anything. The work will run as a series of vignettes, some set to classical music and other parts set to the music of Brookyn-based musician J. Greco. The script is inherently violent, but most of the death (many of the characters die) will occur off-stage.
Michael and I have been working separately on paintings and choreography, some of which has been posted to his web-site:
http://www.michaelchang.dk/17_projects/storiesofthesungod.html
The tales begin with 7 Golden Birds who share a secret, the keeping of which brings death to them, to other Birds, like the Red Bird, and even to a studious Princess. This Princess and the Sun God become lovers, a jilted poet hatches a plot that will eventually unravel the most elusive of the secrets and the Birds of Prey cause all manner of trouble before they are disbanded. No human, no magical bird is untouched by the influence of the brilliant but sadistic ruler for whom there can never be accountability. The narrative draws from ideas as old as Rome and is a meditation on the nature of power and the importance of information in any age.
The story calls for movement to bring it to life. My original vision of it was that of a feature film; something that may yet happen. However, I gave the script to my friend Michael Chang, who is a painter, and the paintings he made in response to the work have forced me to re-think that vision. What I am working on is something with a minimal cast of 4 dancer/ actors playing all of the parts, a strong theatrical element that includes some dialogue, and an emphasis on integrating the paintings. To facilitate a conceit in the script, I will use a sculptural “wheel” on which dancers and stand and move; giving the effect of a music-box dancer. The conceit is that there is a bird who is such a good imposter that she can “become” anyone or anything. The work will run as a series of vignettes, some set to classical music and other parts set to the music of Brookyn-based musician J. Greco. The script is inherently violent, but most of the death (many of the characters die) will occur off-stage.
Michael and I have been working separately on paintings and choreography, some of which has been posted to his web-site:
http://www.michaelchang.dk/17_projects/storiesofthesungod.html
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