A pear is always more than just a pear and a man is more than the sum of his collaborations.

Coosje the story of Claes Oldenburg (played by Steven Conroy) and his long-time collaborator and wife Coosje van Bruggen (played by Julie Congress). It is also the story of a Pear who is “self-aware” (played by Haley Greenstein).

Like Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, Coosje is a story about how an artist’s process of creating helps them develop a new reality for themselves as well as for the people seeing it.  Coosje allows for intimate interaction with the elements of the creative process.  This play highlights the notion that every piece of art is the completion of a journey for an object (real or imagined, sentient or inanimate) to get to the place where its inclusion in the art creates the context and meaning of the art itself.

The play begins with a short film representing the Happenings of the 50′s and 60′s that occurred organically around the world with many people including Claes Oldenburg.  The Happenings collected people together to do a variety of thing to challenge the rules of convention (think of a more disorganized flash mob before the age of cell phones).  This film is a prequel, of sorts, which sets things up for when we meet our characters.  It is shot in sepia tones and we hear the sound of a clackity old projector. There are various miming people moving in jerky and unusual ways as well as over-graceful and melodramatic ways.  Every movement is laid with meaning  - even if it is to escape the normal meaning of it.

The story begins with the self-aware Pear singing of her journey of discovery as realizing that she is special: she is empowered by this significance to be more than just a snack:

“I’m a pear.  Self-aware … I’ll live 1.000 lives in one for every pear…
I’ll go everywhere…”

And so begins her journey around and around the world and beyond, as she discovers what it means to be human … even if she is a pear…but also searching for her purpose beyond just exploring the world for all those pears that never get beyond the fruitbowl.

This sets the stage for the type of performance that Claes was trying to achieve before he began his journey of challenging  convention by putting everyday objects in extraordinary contexts.  He meets Coosje and they reflect and react to each others’ view of what it means to see the world in terms of art – or art in terms of the world.  Cooje becomes Scully to Claes’ Mulder, and together they create art together unlike any the world has ever seen before.

Looking at the teasers for this show it may seem  like Coosje would be merely a celebration of the fantastic, the absurd, and the surreal — which it is– but the heroes’ journey our characters all go through help them find some very real and provoking truths that are important to be realized and shared in this production.

There is a Pear that sings, dances and – most importantly – explores the world, searching for her purpose. There is also a love story between an artist and a critic.  One wanting to break all conventions of form, the other wanting to figure out how  everything fits together.  Between  moving ballads and giant inflating flowers, there are the personal and spiritual ramifications of a blueberry pie. And much, much more! These all meld together to make some very deep and touching points on why we should all be more playful so as to learn to find out what our purpose in life really is.

Steven Conroy as Claes

The production of the piece is done with great mastery by many talented individuals starting with the short film Happenings (organically arising from the exploits of Giselle Chatelaine, Steven Conroy, Maura Cordial, Ryan Emmons, Haley Greenstein, Ryan Huenstein, Raena Hubbell, Maxwell Schneller, Danny Tieger, and Enrico De Trizio), to the plethora of fantastical art (Jen Neads and Maxwell Schneller) and of course the whimsical costumes (Loring Taoka).  According to actor Steven Conroy who I spoke with briefly after the show,  the writing was done by the ensemble collaboratively  (many of whom are visual artists themselves) after they were inspired by an installation of Oldenburg’s art they had seen together at the MOMA several months ago.  Director (Ryan Emmons) did a great job at orchestrating this complex show with it numerous moving parts, so it looked like it had months of rehersal time behind it.  The songs written by Danny Tieger and music expertly played by Enrico De Trizio (who also did the sound and projections which were an integral part of this piece) as well as the choreography (Olivia Wingerath) and light design (Ryan Hauanstein) put the final touches on this beautiful play premiering at Frigid.  I hope circumstances allow this play to continue on in the future.

Don’t miss out on this thoughtful critique on the nature of art-as- filtering-framework that creates meaning (but then allows that meaning to be flipped around at a moment’s notice).  If you’ve ever wondered what sort of story there could be behind big crazy public art, you need to experience Coosje.

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The 2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL will run February 22-March 4 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets to all shows may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.

Related Posts:

• Coosje: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Oregon Trails : The Quest For The West! But Which Quest Is Best? (FRIGID New York 2011)
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: The Oregon Trail: Quest For The West!
• The Eyes Of Orbach: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Starting Tonight! Frigid Hangovers Begin At The Kraine Theater

Way, way back before the dawn of the internet, in the days when Microsoft was DOS (not Windows) and PCs were called by their full name (Personal Computers) and learning institutions were oufitted with Apple IIe’s, there was a game that infiltrated homes and schools across America.  A game that put you in the role of the leader of a group of interpid pioneers trudging across more than 2,000 miles from Independence,  Missouri to the fabled land of Oregon in the year 1848 along the Oregon Trail.  The game of Oregon Trail was one of the few educational games true to the claim of being “fun as well as educational” (at least in my school in the 1980′s), and has become extremely popular over the years.  So popular that it has insprired a a great new musical by No.11 Productions for the Frigid Festival called Oregon Trail: The Quest For the West!

Personally, I really enjoyed playing the game as well as seeing the musical, but a question I was asked, adds an interesting  texture to this discussion, “Do you have to have played the game before in order to enjoy the play?”  It definitely helped that by being in the audience I got to relive the joy of playing Oregon Trail in more ways than one, but the play is entertaining and even moving at times in ways that take this now age-old story to whole new heights. Besides, if you wanted to try your hand at the original game it is available  to play just like it was back in 1985 …

Thanks to the people at virtualapple.com for putting this up so we can play it via a virtual Apple IIe right in our browser.  Try it out!

Anyway, hopefully you’ve had a chance to have either refreshed your memory of this piece of your childhood, or see what you were missing, and now I can get to the meat of my review.

Sitting down before the play I was asked if I wanted to name one of the characters (just like in the game!).  As the play begins, the audience is prompted as to whether the leader of the party would be a banker, a carpenter, a lamplighter or a farmer (just like in the game!).  Later on, if you sit in the first three rows you will get a chance to hunt for food (just like in the game!).  All leading up to an audience clap -off to be the virtual arrow keys from days of yore.

In other words a whole lot of interactive fun.

Like the original game, many things are going on in the musical of Oregon Trails: The Quest For the West! Like in the game, the cast works hard to make the show educational as well as entertaining. And like the game, the format of the show strives to be as interactive as possible yet not to overwelm the the audience with too many choices. Finally, like the game, the musical endeavors to make the trip of the covered wagons along the Oregon Trail a human one with colorful characters (now with personality and enjoyable musical numbers instead of 8-bit color versus the original black and white).

There are many things going on in this new musical. It has a great set of  production numbers (both ensemble as well as solos and duets), and I’d just love it if No.11 Productions came out with a cast album for this amazing soundtrack. It has interesting characters: a farmer/lamplighter/carpenter/banker named Jebediah (John Bambery) who is our expeditions leader, but with a tragic past that sometimes fuels his Darkness. His sister Hope (Haley Greenstein) is always confident that God will provide and therefore cheers on the crew. The character hilariously named for a finger-roll down the computer keyboard: Asdfjkl; (Brian Walters) is what you would expect – a bit afraid yet willing to pitch in or follow along, to get shot in the leg, whatever is needed to fill in whatever gaps might appear in the expedition. [Character 2] (Julie Congress)who is a draw from a hat became “Funnel Cake”. She is a rootin’ tootin’ cowgirl who thought she wanted to go to New York, but joined her crew to go down the Oregon Trail because it had more Danger. Which she craves continuously.  [Character 1] (Roger Mulligan) who our audience dubbed “Dingo” is a farmer who lives in the moment and works hard, becomes a love interest and is always a strong, gentle soul looking forward to “manifest his destiny”.

Speaking of Manifest Destiny, this is a central pillar of the plot arcs of Oregon Trails: The Quest For the West! In the 1840s the phrase meant the idea that “Americans” would extend from one coast to the other in a societal sense. This was facilitated by government programs such as the Donation Land Act of 1850 (which gave government endorsement to the Organic Laws of Oregon which said the same thing on the state level in 1843) which gave settlers 320 acres per married couple or 160 acres per unmarried settler to anyone who made their way out there and then showed improvement to that land they had claimed. What is cleverly done in the play is to change the tense so that each character sings of their own personal quests so they “manifest my destiny” and use the experience of riding the trail as their own Hero’s journey transform themselves, instead of just the aspirations to succeed economically.

The story is simple and so are the rules, the choices make a difference but so does dumb luck (or as Hope would say, God’s Will). So, though experience with the game may help you enjoy the many inside jokes regarding the original game mechanics, this play succeeds in ways the game couldn’t – specifically by connecting us back to the spirit of adventure and progress that the original trail gave those pioneers crossing the country despite hardships and dangers. Ultimately Oregon Trails: The Quest For the West! teaches the lesson that if we persevere the experiences of our journey will help mold us into the people we want to be.

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FRIGID New York Festival 2011 will run February 23-March 6 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1sr Ave and Ave A). Tickets ($10-$16) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. All shows will run 60 minutes long or less.

Related Posts:

• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: The Oregon Trail: Quest For The West!
• The Extraordinary Fall of the Four-Legged Woman: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• CHALK: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• All is Fine in Sunny Florida: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Sprucehaven B: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2016 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)