You get a laugh on when you take a trip with Jane. A river is the mechanism for a great adventure, untamed with plenty of surprises but predictable enough to get you there. The trip in Wash Over You begins with three adventurers in identical plaid dresses. Projected are a series of still images on a finger paint background. The stop motion is hesitant and not at all graceful. Could it be that one of the travelers is a bit nervous about getting the journey underway and not ready to go new places, meet new people and certainly not ready to miss the ‘panda-cam?’ But go they must, and the adventure begins. Or the lack of it as one explorer asks, “When will we get there?” Things are so slow fish swim faster, and a fox jumps higher and higher.
Speaking of that finger paint, fish and fox, these visuals are original works of art from elementary school, supplied by Jane’s kids without their knowledge, and saved in boxes for 20 years. Speaking of family, the cast members include real-life sisters, one husband & wife and an assortment of folks that are not related. The roles change with the costume: a protester in front of a big fence, sea life buoyed along by waving blue paper, inhabitants of the tropical Playa Verde, to wild westerners. It’s only human to wish for somewhere else, perhaps with someone else, and that it all could be different with a second chance or a better place. How to get there? Well just take your chances and go ‘down the river’ even if it is as unpredictable as the tornado that whisked Dorothy away in the The Wizard of Oz.
What are the travelers looking for in Wash Over You? They are getting at dissatisfaction as it creeps along with all the grace of stop-motion. They are getting at the boredom of repetition as the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, over and over again. They are getting at the nonsense of non-acceptance in twisted words despite the invitation to partake and read your fortune.
Words, movement, music and still images whip up whimsy and familiar characters. A Yosemite Sam shows up with ‘wild west’ ways and he ‘ain’t no namby-pamby.’ The inhabitants of Playa Verde must convince the adventurers that Ice-9 is delicious, unlike the Ice-nine in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle.
Finally, in reference to Ed Wood’s B-Movie Classic Plan 9 from Outer Space travelers and inhabitants alike are all interested in the future, for that is where they, and you and I, are going to spend the rest of our lives!
It all comes from the river …So please row on, the only limit is yourself. Come see our show and let us reward the innocent.
Wash Over You
Performing at the Lang-Atlas Performing Arts Center
July 8th at 7:15 PM
July 9th at 5:00 PM
July 10th at 8:45 PM
July 13th at 8:30 PM
July 16th at 5:45 PM
July 17th at 8:45 PM
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE OR CALL (866) 811-4111.
Artistic Director: Jane Franklin
Music: David Schulman
Performers: Taryn Packheiser Brown, Emily Crews, Ken Hays, Nicole McClam, Carrie Monger, Matthew Rock, Amy Scaringe, Rachael Scaringe, Brynna Shank
Jane Franklin, Artistic Director, received a MFA from The Ohio State University as a University Fellow and certification from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies. Jane Franklin’s choreography has been presented at multiple venues and festivals in the mid-Atlantic region and southwestern US and internationally in the UK and in Mexico. A recipient of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region Creative Communities Award, Jane has developed innovative and collaborative projects combining dancers with the round wall skateboarding community, with a life size kinetic sculpture, with the architecture of a specific site, with dogs & owners, and with interactive live video and sound for numerous public art projects. Jane Franklin is a recipient of the American Association of University Women Elizabeth Campbell Award for the Advancement of the Arts in Arlington, Special Opportunity Awards from the City of Alexandria, and her video work Four Mile Run Footbridge was selected for PHOTO/VIDEO 13: Juried Mid-Atlantic Exhibition.
