Conversations
for You and Me 2007
a collaboration with
playwright Jenny Levison, as part of the EXPERIMENTAL TEXT FESTIVAL at
the Ontological Hysteric Theatre, New York. May 9 - 13 2007.
J – I’d rather make the in-betweens.
R – That’s my favorite part! The gaps before, the hanging around after.
J – The relationships.
R – Between –
J – Me and the page.
R – The page and the page.
J – You and someone else, the ear and the speaker. The agency of the reader
to play an active role of dismantling or assembling the conversation. The
esoteric notion of being on the outside and inside at the same time, trying
to make sense of –
R – Now you’re just trying to sound clever.
J – That’s the point!
R – Do you think they’ll get it?
J – Why not? They’re smart enough.
R – They like to talk …
J – Same difference.
R – At least we’re giving them something to say at dinner.
J – It’s not so straightforward. They have to see it from both sides.
R – But still they have to put it together.
J – Stop telling them what to do. Isn’t it up to them what they do with it?
Rach ll Viad r Knowl s
I was born British and half Mauritian. Fat baby, bald scalp, an uncanny offspring of Winston Churchill. Many moons of art schools in Cymru and Windsor, Ontario. I am living in Canada now, in big sky country, amongst grass, flatlands and farm folk – but I do miss old blighty. I go back to Cardiff as much as I can; it’s my point of origin. I show my installations and wordy artworks in many lands, on my own and in groups, to all who will look, surf, inhabit and find. I am a prof at the U of R and I fill my classroom with all kinds of wonky marginalia. Art is it, that which sits right bang wallop in my soul…. my roots, my bag, my way of knowing. And MAN can I talk about it, it's all about words pour moi.
J nny L vison
A child of cold northlands, I took chalk to rock from my first days, writing, writing, words, music. Inspiration struck at four, and thus sprang many parlor room hits, most notably Kitty Cat, Kitty Cat and Ducky, Ducky. I still and always did go for musicals in show halls, skating on a frog pond, and playing outdoor sports with tall hardy boys. Many days, many jobs – immigrant rights, labor organizing, building with wood (walls, roofs, windows, doors,) family planning, singing, acting, and showing films by throwing light onto blank walls. Now I craft dramas – plays and films (fiction and non.) I got my BA in Anthropology from a school in a boot factory town, and my MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU.
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