Play With Time
Synopsis
(1M 1W or Many of Both)
In 2018, the renowned composer Philip Glass and the esteemed visual artist Fredericka Foster were asked by Nautilus Magazine to meet for a discussion of time, the arts, and their individual work. The resulting article was about 2,000 words, but the fascinating transcript, recorded over two separate meetings, was nearly two hours long. With the permission of Glass and Foster, PLAY WITH TIME reconfigures the transcript of their conversation to create a new theatre piece that is at once a meditation on those themes, an exploration of the lives and work of the artists themselves, and a new creation that diverges from realism, documentary, or biography.
The resulting play reimagines the Foster-Glass conversations using an analogous method to Glass’s own iterative compositions, inspired by the experimental works of his early influences like Samuel Beckett, the Dadaists, Brion Gysin, and William S. Burroughs. The technique is intended to create a playful, funny, poignant, and engaging point of entry into the artists’ discussion, one that touches on such weighty subjects as the characteristics of Time, and its influence and impact on art and musical composition.
The final project combines the text with live music, projected imagery, and dance to bring to life the ideas and experiences of these two brilliant minds in conversation with one another.
Production History
PLAY WITH TIME, a new play, was a Semi-Finalist for the 2020 Ground Floor Residency at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.