Commissioned by Reed Arts Week / Reed College
Enter Comma Prepare is made from a flexible structure and not a pre-conceived end-product. This iteration, made for the Kaul lobby and auditorium, takes inspiration from this specific architecture. Future iterations will be created in and for other performance spaces, traditional and not, to allow various architectures to impact the structure and define each articulation of the work. The space and the action within are equal partners that create an audience/performer experience and thus a resulting 'meaning'.”
Enter Comma Prepare is a playful exploration of the situation of performance and examines how meaning is created in the encounter between performers and viewers. Drawing inspiration from Plato's Allegory of the Cave, the piece toggles between the two simultaneous realities that occur in a performance situation and intentionally encourages a heightened awareness of these realities for both performer and viewer. Enter Comma Prepare examines the process of making “meaning” from performance by presenting numerous “accidental narratives”. The performers are propelled into action through computer-generated commands. Their improvised responses to these random commands, in combination with the commands themselves, result in unexpected narrative relationships and scenarios. Each viewer’s resulting sense of “meaning” is the real one and always has been.
