1993(Melancholy) by Finkle
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1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle 1993(melancholy) by finkle CONTACT: Beth Blickers | APA 135 West 50th Street, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10020 O: (212) 621-3098 | F: (212) 245-5062 [email protected] | www.apa-agency.com 1 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle finkle 1993 NOTE ON PERFORMANCE: This piece is to be listened to with your eyes closed while sitting or lying in a comfortable position. However, you are free to open your eyes at any time. The images displayed in this script will appear on the walls of the space – like waves, coming in and out of focus. You may catch them, you may miss them, you may see them in partial development and/or disintegration. 2 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle SETTING The mind’s eye via the ear. The space is varied in its seating options – couches, lounge chairs, futons, pillows, hammocks (?!!!) yoga mats, there’s a random row from a theatre in the space, which should look strikingly uninviting when surrounded by the rest. 3 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle PERFORMANCE/CONCEPT Several tape recorders on a table in front of finkle. One tape recorder plays the songs – 2 cassettes A second tape recorder plays the episodes – each episode has its own tape. The tapes are laid out on the table for the audience to see. A third tape recorder could be for sound FX or multi- layered voices – unknown number of cassettes. Each tape recorder has a microphone pointing towards it to amplify sound. finkle uses the tape recorders to (try to) tell the story. There is trickery here – sound can morph and grow out of tapes – i.e. – the sound in the room can build but audience shouldn’t notice this at first. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION Are there other live performers besides finkle in this piece? Yes. However for a long while it should feel like – there’s a man at a table talking to us while also telling a story using tape players. VOCABULARY OF PRODUCTION Rewind- going back in time Play – playing forward in time Fast forward – skipping ahead in time Pause – finkle has a comment, insight, inspiration, etc.. Stop – at the end of each episode and act. this recorder reminds me of being a pre-teen. aka, this recorder reminds me of my childhood. I remember making recordings of myself telling stories to myself as early as 8. 4 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle INSPIRATION #1 The 2013 New Museum exhibition – NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/nyc-1993- experimental-jet-set-trash-and-no-star In particular This opening image of the exhibition – 12 Televisions each for a different month of the year 1993. TVs showed historical, cultural events and moments from that month. I go to this exhibit with my friend Kim in February 2013 and am instantly brought back to the year 1993 and thrust unexpectedly into a mid-life crisis. 5 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle INSPIRATION #2/OBJECT #1/FORM/LOSS Random cassette tape This cassette tape represents the one and only copy of an “album” I made in the year 1993. I had stolen a friend’s 4 track after I decided I wanted to be a pop star. I recorded 13 songs that I never played for anyone. I held onto that tape for a long time but somewhere over the last decade, in one of many moves, the tape was lost. I’d like you to imagine that all the tapes that are part of this experience are a stand in for this one long ago lost tape of songs recorded on a 4 track and never played for anyone. I imagine myself not too far in the future finding these tapes in the back of some closet and listening to them for the first time in a long time. How will I hear the past now? OBJECTS All objects in the space are displayed as if in a museum. Glass cases if possible. Some objects are seen from the start, like this cassette, some reveal themselves throughout the experience as they are mentioned or used in the stories. 6 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle CONTENTS OF THIS EXPERIENCE Structure Three Acts 12 Parts - Act One (Jan-Apr ‘93) has 4 parts • Low Romance – Swift • Last Lonely Nights of Loreena – Tremor • Low Romance – Swipe • Last Lonely Nights of Loreena - Terror Act Two has 2 parts (April, May, June ’93) • Byronic • Lorena Bobbitt Act Three has 6 parts (June-December ’93) • Low Romance – Seize • Last Lonely Nights of Loreena – Terrorist • Low Romance – Disappear • Last Lonely Nights of Loreena – Terra • Low Romance – No Romance • + 7 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle 1993 Soundtrack* Side One • 1993 • Hard Like a Gun • 6&7 • Jean Wayne Genet • Loreena’s Theme • WonderBar/Backroom (instrumental) • This Cud B Luv • For All Time Side Two • Warning Bells • Starting to Think I’m Going Crazy • Maybe I Should Runaway • Heart Deep • Biggest Crime • 1993 (melancholy) • Curtain Call (if u wanted to b w/me) *music can be heard here - http://www.mynameisfinkle.com/1993-melancholy2018 in performance the songs should be played through a cassette player – though they may sonically develop in the space. 8 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle CHARACTERS (in order of appearance) finkle1 Steven Tweaker Jean Wayne Genet Byron Loreena Radio Announcer Gym bunny Adamdon’tgiveadamn Maverick secretary Lorena Bobbitt John Wayne Bobbitt Berry And others 1 All footnotes, questions and inspirations spoken by finkle unless indicated otherwise. 9 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle ACT ONE January-April 1993 10 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle OPENING SONG - 1993 Music. finkle (singing) GONNA TAKE YOU BACK TO A TIME SIX YEARS BEFORE 1999 YEAH NINETEEN NINETY THREE IS THE PLACE TO BE AVENUE B IN THE EAST VILLAGE (NEW YORK CITY) EVERYTHING I WAS DOING I WAS DOING WRONG I WAS ONLY 21 (SO YOUNG!) WENT OUT EVERY NIGHT AND WORKED ALL DAY (I HARDLY WORKED) FOUND TRUTH IN THE DARK SLEPT THROUGH LIGHT WOULD GO TO BOY BAR ON THURSDAY NITES FLAMINGO EAST WAS WEDNESDAY RIGHT THE WONDER BAR HAD A BACKROOM AND IF YOU WERE THERE TOO I PROBABLY SLEPT WITH YOU. THAT WAS 1993 QUESTIONS Were you alive in 1993? Did you live in New York City? Do you remember anything that happened to you that year? Do you remember anything that happened in the world that year? What was your favorite song? Your favorite book? What kind of clothes did you wear? How long was your hair? Did you even have hair? I had a lot of hair then. But I hated it. I hated a lot about myself. 11 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle LOW ROMANCE – SWIFT January 1-2, 1993 SFX: PLAY. “3,2,1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!” It should sound as if we are in the midst of Times Square and then rapidly fade further away as we move downtown… MUSIC: muted sound from inside a bathroom at a club2. SFX: PAUSE. Footnote. 2 WE ARE IN BOY BAR 15 St. Marks Between 2nd and 3rd (though much closer to 3rd) Boy Bar was only open on Thursday nights. I think the cover was $7? My friend from NYU, Derek took me to Boy Bar first in 1993. He knew everyone in nightlife. When we got to the door at Boy Bar, Derek explained that I was his friend and the door person, looked me up and down and said “$7”. And I think that was the first time I realized I wasn’t a – perfect 10, like my Mom had always told me I was. The Boy Bar was two floors, upstairs a lounge and downstairs in the basement, a dance floor.Lady Bunny, Rupaul, Lipsinka, Mistress Formika, Girlina – before she became Lena. It was sexy, it was cheap, it was THE place to be. It’s now the location of an “informal” Japanese eatery. 12 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle SFX: PLAY TWEAKED OUT GUY Wanna do a bump? STEVEN A bump of what? TWEAKED OUT GUY You know. Special K STEVEN As in the cereal? TWEAKED OUT GUY As in horse tranquilizer. Ketamine. Come on, it’ll blow your mind And then I can blow you. STEVEN Get your hands off me. TWEAKED OUT GUY Fine... But do you still wanna do a bump? STEVEN Sure? SFX: The harsh inhale, catching his breath after. The music starts to warp. STEVEN I’m having trouble putting sentences together. TWEAKED OUT GUY It levels out. It’s good for dancing. I cut it with amaretto. Can you taste it? Let’s dance! BRIEF MUSICAL INTERLUDE – Hard Like A Gun! finkle/Steven/the whole club I’M A VIXEN PAINTED LIKE A BOY NOT QUITE A MAN I’M AN EASY TARGET 13 1993 Melancholy July 2018 draft finkle WELL THAN TAKE YOUR SHOT I’M MORE THAN YOU THINK I AM I AM HARD LIKE A GUN PULL MY TRIGGER BABY LET’S HAVE SOME FUN YEA, HARD LIKE A GUN LET ME SHOOT OOH HERE I CUM! TWEAKED OUT GUY (whispering,echoey – like we’re hearing it through Steven’s ears) Oh sweetie, are you ok in there? You can’t answer me. Try to move your arm. Are you trying? It’s ok. Don’t panic. You. Are. In. A. K. Hole. Just stand here and keep breathing Some time in the next 20 to 45 minutes you’ll regain simple motor functions. Biyyyyyye! SFX: The sound of Steven’s heartbeat, getting faster and faster.