Counterfeit Scenario is a duet for the performer Natalie Green and myself that explores the power dynamics inherent in the performer/director relationship. Through a microphone, I give live direction to Natalie in an attempt to give shape to the performance for the audience in real time. This makes tangible the complicated triangle between director, performer and audience. Often the text and directions are ridiculous and impossible, much like the ridiculous and impossible things that are frequently asked of performers, yet the results still manage to convey a tenderness and fragility that is at the heart of this constructed arrangement we call live performance.

Credits

Choreography by Levi Gonzalez
Dramaturgy by Susan Mar Landau
Performed by Levi Gonzalez and Natalie Green
Music by Justin Luchter
Lighting Design by Joe Levasseur
Costume Design by Emily Roysdon

Counterfeit Scenario was developed as part of the BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange Artist in residence program 2010-2012 with major support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, the New York Community Trust and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Production History

Premiere: The Kitchen, NYC | February 9, 2012

The premiere at The Kitchen was made possible by support from the Jerome Foundation and the Greenwall Foundation. Dance programs at The Kitchen are made possible with generous support from the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.