The Neo-Futurists are not afraid to present work that is challenging, or to take risks in the service of theater that makes you think. They are looking to their production, Chalk and Saltwater: The Ladder Project, as a”… theatrical experiment, the creators push beyond the simplicity of surface criticism and take up the challenge of looking deeper into The Ladder, the longest running failure in American theatre history.”
The play was produced by Edgar Davis who sunk the earnings from his oil fortune into its two year run in New York, in 1926. According to reviewers, it basically stunk. The Neo-Futurists team of writer/performers, combed historical biographies, passages from unreleased memoirs, and 40 boxes of decaying 100-year-old documents in an investigation of the wildly expensive disappointment. This production will focus on what it means to try and fail, but unlike the unfortunate Edgar Davis, whose motto seemed to be “failure is not an option,” the Neo-Futurists will embrace failure.
Each performance is different as all 18 versions of the script are being represented through a different artistic force and the addition of random chance each night. Taking the show out of its original “costume drama” presentation and using no designed costumes, props or set pieces,Chalk and Saltwater: The Ladder Project will not only allow failure, but seeks to be comfortable and confident with it.
Rather than a sense of finality after exiting the theater, audiences are encouraged to become a part of the dialogue through an online journal to be launched over Labor Day weekend, 2011.
The cast of Chalk & Saltwater: The Ladder Project believe that the experience of studying this failure stretches beyond the show, so audience members are encouraged to talk before and after all performances about the play and performance, as well as their expectations, their disappointments, their own lives, history, food, or anything else they would like to discuss.
This face to face discussion is crucial to the project as it removes the separation between the opinions of the audience, the performer and the critic.
Co-Creator and performer, John Pierson, states, “I’m really excited to open the discussion of what failure is and how it is viewed. Once you understand the art, is it more difficult to mock? Our plan is to have a job that is never done – to constantly reevaluate the piece after each performance. In order to truly succeed, this open dialogue has to happen.”
There are “pot-luck Thursdsays,” with free admission (see the Neo-Futurist site for details. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Email ladderpotluck@gmail.com if you are interested in joining the potluck team.
John Pierson (Co-Creator, Performer) has been a Neo-Futurist since 1996. Besides being a full time ensemble member in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, he has co-written and performed in full length plays including the critically acclaimed, Crisis: A Musical Game Show, Daredevil’s Hamlet, and Fear. Also during this time he released his 20th record, “Thresholds From The Basement”, with his band Even In Blackouts and finished his second novel, “The Last Temptation Of Clarence Odbody”. The novel hits the streets in October 2011.
-
Edgar Davis’ production of The Ladder ran from October 22nd, 1926, through November 10th, 1928. The closing date of the Neo-Futurist production coincides with the 85th anniversary of its opening.
-
The Play ran in a few different Theaters but it opened at the Mansfield Theater, which is now called the Brooks Atkinson Theater at 256 W. 47th St. New York City.
-
The show charged, depending on day and week: from nothing to $3.50. A popular price for quite awhile was $1.65.
-
The play made no money worth mentioning.
Be First to Comment