The Mini-Fridge Elevenses*

11 Questions, 11 Answers … ZERO calories, and 100% YUMMY!

*Elevenses is a snack that is similar to afternoon tea, but eaten in the morning and might consist of some cake or biscuits with a cup of coffee or tea. The name refers to the time of day that it is taken: around 11 am.

initium/finis

Produced by: Theatre Reverb

A lush sci-fi noir told with myth, media, live music, red-light cabaret and Indian dance-theatre. Voyeurism, eroticism and terror converge in this sensual tale of violence and revolution in a futuristic world. This unique, total theatrical experience is the result of a cross-discipline collaboration between artists from the US, Central Europe and Asia.

Sat. June 30, 5:00pm
Sun. July 1st, 7:00pm

Answers by: Kristin Arnesen,

co-creator, performer

1. Your tag line is featured above, so we know the PR version of what this play is about. But when you talk to your family and friends, how do you explain the show to them?
Kristin:I tell them it’s like the films Blade Runner and Metropolis mashed up and cradled in Christian and Hindu creation and destruction mythology. It’s a science fiction tale set in a nightclub with violent revolutionary cells, comedy, horror and beautiful and cruel religious myths.

2. Here’s a scenario: After the show some audience members go have a drink. What’s the part of the show you hope they’re discussing?
Kristin: I hope they’re discussing the way it made them feel. I hope they’re discussing how they felt in the position of voyeurs that we cast them in. And ultimately I hope they’re discussing any ideas the production may have stirred in them about the politics of oppressive hierarchical societies and empires and ethics of violent retaliation.

3. What drives your show – character, theme or plot?
Kristin: All of the above, though I think character is the primary driving force. The project began as an exploration of the creator/destroyer figure in religious mythology (e.g. Kali, Shiva, Christ as he appears in the Book of Revelation, God as he floods the earth and destroys Sodom, etc.) Our show is largely an exploration of how this figure (or character) manifests itself in different forms but is always driving towards the same harmonizing end.

4. What’s the one thing someone said about the show so far that made you the most proud?
Kristin: We thought Michelle Augello Page’s review for The Happiest Medium was pretty awesome and insightful but here’s one line an anonymous FRIGID festival goer posted that made us pretty happy:
“If Godard had directed Blade Runner as a stage play, it might look something like this deeply weird-and I mean that in the good way- mixture of sex androids, conspiracies, narration and homages to Marilyn Monroe in Let’s Make Love.” Radical :)

5. Let’s fantasize for a moment. Let’s take the “off-off” off. Imagine this show is on Broadway. What would that change about the production itself?
Kristin: To put it simply, we would keep the spirit the same but we would add lots of $money$ to this production. Our sci-fi premise includes an internet-like network where things that happen in cyber space can make visceral impact on bodies in the world and we would love to create some stage magic around that… Monitors that things can fly from… T.v. that can make you bleed? Yes please.

6. Taking that one step further – after paying everyone what they’re worth of course, what is the most lavish, luxurious, frivolous thing you would spend money on if there was no constraints? (Think of the helicopter in Miss Saigon).
Kristin: We’d rig our mythological narrator for aerial entrances and during her tale of Kali’s dance of annihilation, we would have her sing from within a circle of flames.

7. Is there a scene, a moment, anything that gets a completely different reaction depending on the audience that night?
Kristin: The sushi scene is terrifying to some audiences and a delight to others.

8. What’s your favorite line from the show?
Kristin: My name’s Lolita and I just have to be-have, because Da-da-da-da Daddy says so– and Daddy’s the tops.

9. Is the world of this play sustainable outside a theatre? In other words … do you think people live the way the characters do? Would you want a world where they do?
Kristin: People definitely live in captivity, as some of ours do, though the sci-fi future world aspect is certainly not exactly real-world. I definitely wouldn’t want to live in the world of this piece but there are elements of it that we’re headed for now. I think that’s what the science fiction dystopian genre’s all about.

10. You scan the audience and you see a face that stops you dead in your tracks – who is it? And why are you shocked?
Kristin: Harrison Ford. I hope he’s not here to expire anyone.

11. Time for Elevenses! Go to the mini-fridge of your fantasy hotel. What’s your dream 11:00am snack?
Kristin: A cheese platter with figs, honey and lots of champagne!

Thanks, Kristin, for having your Elevenses with us here at THM! We can’t wait to see initium/finis!

If you’d like to catch initium/finis at The Mini-Fridge Festival find out more by clicking this link.

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HORSE TRADE THEATER GROUP IN ASSOCIATION WITH FRIGID NEW YORK PRESENT THE 2012 MINI-FRIDGE

JUNE 28 – JULY 4 @ UNDER ST. MARKS The mini-festival will play at UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Avenue and Avenue A) June 28-July 4. Tickets ($15/$12 students & seniors) are available online or by calling 212-868-4444.