On January 31 Colin Gee will culminate his work on Frontier with a presentation at New York Theatre Workshop as part of the new Watermill Center / New York Theatre Workshop residency partnership. As a result of his Watermill Center residency, Gee was awarded a further partnership residency with NYU-Gallatin from January 10 – 21 to continue his project prior to the presentation at New York Theatre Workshop on January 31.
About Frontier
Frontier is a new solo theatrical opera comprised of nested stories inspired by John Ford’s 1956 film, The Searchers. Interposing the live spoken voice into an electronic score, Frontier extends the operatic use of spoken dialogue.
The performance will occur within a series of locations communicated through video stills projected against layered semi-transparent screens. One actor will, as one story is nested into the next, embody all the characters. The shifting between characters, throughout the piece, will employ historical performance genres such as melodrama, tragedy, clown, and Commedia dell’Arte. The shifts between performance styles will also parallel shifts from the linear events of the narrative to the inner psychological processes of the characters.
The locations of the narrative will reference those seen in specific works held in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection, made available as a resource through Colin Gee’s Whitney Live residency. The use of locations from other works of art indicates and explores the ways in which a process of individuation uses landmarks that have become archetypal.
The project’s narrative involves the return of the protagonist, John, to his brother’s home in a rural town after several years. John’s checkered past, involving military service, is revealed. Following a family drama his niece disappears and he begins a quest to find her with the help of another man. Over the course of their travels through wilderness and rural landscapes, John fills in parts of his own history and reinterprets himself in response. When the young woman is found, her story is revealed to be more complicated than originally thought. John’s antipathies and prejudices are invoked, and considered, before they return home.
For more information about Colin Gee and to see a short video of his open rehearsal at the Watermill Center, click HERE.
About the Watermill / New York Theatre Workshop Partnership
This partnership applies to new theatrical work where music plays an integral role or defines the essential theatrical language of the work. The primary emphasis is not on the conventional American notion of musical theater—the kind seen on Broadway—but rather other innovative forms that are often marginalized. This partnership is also supporting Joe Diebes, Christian Hawkey, and David Levine’s residency at Watermill that will take place in April as they develop a new opera inspired by Milli Vanilli. Click here to read more about that residency.
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