B OOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC "L" TRAIN 10ELDORADO • HENRY THREADGILL RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP, RUN LOUD, RUN HIGH BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC Harvey Lichtenstein, President and Executive Producer BAM Carey Playhouse December 1-6, 1987 presents SQUAT THEATRE "11' TRAIN TO ELDORADO World Premiere Written andDirected by STEPH~N BALINT Musicby PETER SCHERER & ARTO LINDSAY Artand Stage Design Lighting Design Sound Design EVA BUCHMULLER ANNE MILITELlO CONNIE KIE"LTYKA "L" Train to Eldorado was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy ofMusic NEXT WAVE Festival and ArtBureau Munich. This production was made possible, in part,with public funds provided'by th~ National Endowment for the Arts. BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC I i III.-----FEI~~~AL SPONSORED BY PHILIP MORRIS COMPANIES INC. The 1987 NEXT WAVE Festival is sponsored by PHILIPMORRIS COMPANIES IN:c.' The NEXT WAVE Production and Touring Fund and Festival are supported by: the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARIS, THE ROCKEfELLER FOUNDATION, THE FORD FOUNDATION, THE ELEANOR NAYWR DANA CHARITABLE TRUST, PEW CHARff,ABLE TRUSTS, the BOOTH FERRIS FOUNDATION, THE HENRY WCEFOUNDATION, INC., the AT&T FOUNDATION, THEHOWARD GILMAN FOUNDATION,THE WILLIAM AND FLORA . HEWLETI' FOUNDATION, theMARY FLAGLER CARY CHARITABLE TRUST, TIIEHINDUJA FOUNDATION, THEEDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OFAMERICA, the MORGAN GUARANTY TRUST COMPANY, ROBERT W. Wll..SON, THE REED FOUNDATION INC., theEMMA A. SHEAFER CHARITABLE TRUST, SCHLUMBERGER, YVES SAINT LAURENT INTERNATIONAL, andthe NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARIS. Additional funds for the NEXT WAVE Festival are provided by: THE BEST PRODUCTS FOUNDATION, COCA-COLA ENTERTAINMENT, INC., MEET THE COMPOSER, INC., the CIGNA CORPORATION, THE WILLIAM AND MARY GREVE FOUNDATION, INC., the SAMUEL I. NEWHOUSE FOUNDATION, THE ARMAND G. ERPF FUND, the ARTHUR ROSS FOUNDATION, the HARKNESS BALLET FOUNDATION, INC., THE WEILER-ARNOW FOUNDATION, AIR INDIA, REMY MARTIN AMERIQUE, the BAM Cominittee for THE MAHABHARATA, and the BAM NEXT WAVE Producers Council. WNYC-FM is the official radio station ofthe NEXT WAVE Festival. The Producers Council provides annual private patronage for BAM's NEXT WAVE Festival and also organizes and sponsors seminars, exhibitions, publications, and special events for this program throughout the year. The Brooklyn Academy of Music wishes to express its appreciation to Theatre Development Fund for its support ofthis season. The BAM facility is owned by the City ofNew York and its operation is supported, in part, with public funds provided through the NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OFCULTURAL AFFAIRS. The principal capital funding for the BAM MAJESTIC THEATER was provided by the City ofNew York through the New York City Department ofCultural Affairs with the special assistance of the Brooklyn Borough President's Office and the Office of the Mayor. Joseph V. Melillo, Director Michael O'Rand, General Manager "L" TRAIN TO ELDORADO Players MARK BOONE, JUNIOR PETER BERG ESZTER BALINT JEHNIFER STEIN SUSAN WILLIAMS (film) VIT HOREJS REBECCA MAJOR KLARA PAWTAI JAN GONTARCZYK STEPHAN BALINT ALEXANDRA AUDER (film) JON VORHEES (film) Film Cinematography BOBBY BUKOWSKI Assistant to the Director ESZTER BALINT . Sound GEORGE LEONG Assistant Camera JIMFEALEY Gaffer MEL PUKOVSKI Master Electrician BEN SPETH Best Boy DAVID LEE Script/Continuity MELODY LONDON Production Manager KLARA PAWTAI Assistant Director RICHARD GARBER Production Assistants STEPHANIE STEIN HILLARY FRALEY DAN McGUlRE JEHNIFER STEIN Assistant Editors NESSIAPOPE STUART KAUFMAN ALEXANDRA Sound Editor GISELLA IRANZO Special thanks to: J.D. Friedman, Howard Guttenplan (Millenium Filmworkshop), Nessia Pope, Fred Worden, Igor Sunara, Dan McGuire. Special Effect (SuperS Film) Camera PEGGY AHWESH Camera Assistant LESLIE MENTEL Editors PEGGY AHWESH LEWlSKLAHR "J)' Train to Eldorado ''i performed without intermission. Squat 1lleatre: (standing L to R) Mark Boone. Junior, Rebecca Major. Slcphan Balinl. Vit Horejs. Peter Berg, Eva Buchmuller, Jehnifer Stein. Jan Gontan:zyk. Jim St. Clair. (sealed L 10 R) K1ara Palotai. Sue Williams. Eszter Balint. Photo CO 1987 by Manha Swope & Associates. Carol Rosegg. A SHORT HISTORY OF SQUAT THEATRE 1969: Three people from the University Cologne. The show had a long year-and-a-half Theatre of Budapest created an independent run on 23rd Street, N.Y. It was awarded an theater group called Studio Kassak. Obie for the Best New American Play. It also 1972: They were censored by the Hungarian received a Villager award. An open-air version authorities for political and aesthetic radical­ ofthe show, The Battle ofSirolo, was per­ ism. Banned from performing in public, they formed in August. set up their theater in apartments. In the next 1982: The Golden Age ofSquat Theatre, a four years 36 different plays, sketches and retrospective festival ofthe three major pieces, improvisations were to be seen in apartments, was shown in October in the 23rd Street build­ staircases, streets, beaches, countryside, etc. ing. It also featured guest artists who hosted 1976: Six people with four children, the their own programs (painters, filmmakers, majority of the group, decided to leave the musicians) . country for the West. 1982: Two related painted installations were 1977: While living in Paris and waiting for shown in the same year: Mr. Dead & Mrs. their immigration to the U.S., the group, Free's Cafe in April at P.S. 1 and The Moments called the Squat Theatre, created their first Before the Tragedy I, II, 1/1 in October at The play for the Western audience: Pig, Child, Kitchen, both using theatrical effects. Fire! The play was set in a storefront in Between 1983 and 1985 Squat ran a movie Rotterdam, a setting that became a Squat theatre with a revival movie program. trademark for the next nine years. After tour­ 1984: Two more installations were ing Nancy, Shiraz, Baltimore and Paris with it, exhibited: Suspense, in Hallwalls, Buffalo, in Squat settled in New York, renting a building March, and A Painted Show at Postmasters on West 23rd Street, where they both lived and Gallery, New York. worked, and performed in its storefront Pig, 1985: May: Dreamland Burns, a work in Child, Fire! They received an Obie award that progress, Squat's first show set in a traditional same year. theater space, was shown in Montreal and then 1978: Summer: Andy Warhol5' Last Love went on tour to Munich, Zurich, Polverigi, opened on 23rd Street. It went on tour to Frankfurt and Boston. The same summer Hamburg, Rome, Milan, Florence, Belgrade, Squat lost the lease oftheir home and theater Rotterdam and Brussels. It won a Grand Prix ofeight years on West 23rd Street. in Belgrade, and the Italian Critics' Award for 1986: The finished Dreamland Burns had a the Best Foreign Performance ofthe Year. In successful three-week run at the new Kitchen the fall there was an attempt for a new piece in New York City in March, and then toured out of the storefront (Cool King Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington from Amsterdam). April through July. 1979: Squat opened a nightclub. It featured 1987: The Brooklyn Academy of Music great music: jazz, blues, rock, new wave in NEXT WAVE Festival, ArtBureau Munich live concerts through 1981. and Squat Theatre commissioned "Ln Train to 1980: A revival ofa 1975 adaptation of Eldorado. The work premieres December I, 1987 Chekhov's Three Sisters was performed in at The Brooklyn Academy ofMusic NEXT Pittsburgh as well as New York. WAVE Festival. Domestic and international 1981: Mr. Dead & Mrs. Frees premiere in tours of "Ln Train . .. are planned for 1988. LETTER FROM ELDORADO Dear Mother, ] got lucky. The Devils are making a documentary ofmy soul: you know]always wanted to be in showbiz, and with nojob or lbver to hold,] couldn~dream ofa better way to keep myselfbusy andplease, don~ laugh at me, maybe to become a little bitfamous too. Not that]care too much but]always wanted you to be proud ofme and they say I've got some unusual talent. Dear Mother,] don~ want to scare you, but]changed:]changed a lot! My skin is thick and dry, my inside is hardened, my limbs have gotten much longer. Remember, ] was balding before; now]am completely bald but, believe it or not, every spring my hair grows back. What didn~ change is the cold sweat every morning and my strange disposition to move with the wind. ] know you wouldn~ call where I live here, home. But]like it: the trash in the moo(llight, the noise ofthe living around me, freedom, sortof. .. , E~rything has become much more simple, Mother, and sometimes] wonder ifanything is going to change . .. and don~ you agree that the idea of New is obscured by the new? There is so much to tell you, Mother, but]see a dog walking toward me and]mustfinish now to get ready, they are coming, we start the shooting. with love, your Son. FOR "11' TRAIN TO £LDORADO SPECIAL THANKS Creative Consultants . ...Mark Boone, Junior, Cindy Sherman, Anna and Katalin Buchmuller, Peter Berg, Jan Gontarczyk, Klara Palotai DanielWolf, Louise McCagg, JeanneneBooher, Music Coordinator Eszter Balint L.B. Dallas, Tyler Smith, Lewis Klahr, The Assistant Stage Designers ..Jan Gontarczyk, Kitchen, EleanorAmbos Interiors Inc. , Jonathan Jim St. Clair Williams, Jon Voorhees, JackWalworth, Production Coordinator Kate Mennone Indochine Restaurant, Mihaly and Kati Mezei, Special Properties John Gati, Howard Read, Ljuba Stanivuk, Peter Construction Jan Gontarczyk Grass, AlanSussman, AnnaKoos, CECaInter­ Special Costuming Benedicte Leclerc national, EI-Bohio, Richard Haas, Inc., The Pyrotechnical Effects Fred Buchholz Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, John Neon Work ...Rudi Stern, Let There Be Neon Ittner, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Bielecki, Bill Red Dress Design Novobatzky Couture Serokin, Laszlo Dus, LaszloKutas, JoeRapaport. Letterfrom Eldorado Stephan Balint General Management Services provided by IPA/International Production Associates, Inc. BAM Video Archivists: Character Generators, Mark Robison, Michael Schwartz. BAM House Photographer: Martha Swope & Associates, Carol Rosegg, Linda Alaniz, Rebecca Lesher. House Physician: Jonathan Lorch, MD..