ARCHIVE: SEASON 18 | September 2006 | Ethos

review | photos

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Bell(e): The Museum of Suicide Machinery
A performance installation featuring Literary Geniuses who committed suicide

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Winner of B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Special Theatrical Event; Nominated
Outstanding Set Design and Outstanding Costume Design

These literary greats are all real-life writers who actually did take their own lives. Audiences are able to observe them in an artistic reality: a large-scale installation that encompasses the whole theatre space at The VORTEX, with all of the regular seating area turned into a performance arena.

Literary geniuses featured in Bell(e):

Heather Barfield as SYLVIA PLATH, Michelle K. Fowler as VIRGINIA WOOLF, Wendy Goodwin as ANNE SEXTON, Gabriel Maldonado as YUKIO MISHIMA, Betsy McCann as CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN, Melissa Vogt as MARINA TSVETAEVA, Briana McKeague as SAPPHO (curator of the installation)

Visionary artist Chad Salvata, Scenic design by Ann Marie Gordon, Lighting Design by Jason Amato, Costume Design by Talena Martinez, Soundscapes by Chad Salvata and Roy Taylor, Publicity Photos by Kimberley Mead

Ethos, Austin’s award-winning innovators in extraordinary visual and performance spectacles, once again presents a new ground-breaking performance installation at The VORTEX: Bell(e). A mesh of performance art, visual installation, experimental theatre, and sound montage, Bell(e) transcends traditional performance styles. Previous ethos installations include the award-winning projects hOle, Black Tower, HyperZoo, and The 13 Circles.

Ethos is a sponsored project of VORTEX Repertory Company and is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.