THESE
ARE OUR DEATHS
A
Two day long performance ritual
In the Catskill Mountains of New York
August, 2003
Directed by Eeo Stubblefield, David Greenaway and Helene Vosters
With the Coalition of the Willing
These Are Our Deaths was a two-day performance ritual to remember and honor the dead and wounded civilians in Iraq. It was performed in four sections: Preparing the Ground, Gathering the Bodies, Walking in the Dead, and The Wake. This particular performance took place in the Catskill Mountains of NY by artists from California, England, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Malaysia, Denmark, and New York. The performance began in a forest where the performers constructed a village out of rock and stick and spent the night together. The next day the performers walked three miles along rural roads pulling grasses from the roadside with which to make dolls. They then dressed each grass doll with a frock that had printed on it a photograph (taken off the internet from foreign presses) of a wounded or dead Iraqi civilian. Each performer had only four hours in which to make sixteen dolls, balancing the sheer number of bodies with the care of making and dressing. In the late afternoon, performers and dolls were transported by bus to a neighboring town. There the performers shared with each other the dolls for the first time as they loaded them onto stretchers. They carried the stretchers a half mile into town where they separated and performed in groups of three. They gathered again in front of a graveyard and laid the three hundred dolls formally in a line for the audience to view
Assistant Director: Ani Helmick
Scores: Eeo Stubblefield - David Greenaway - Slyvia Karathanos
Refinement of Scores: Ani Helmick - Amanda Levey - Mermer Blakeslee - Susan Brown Woods
Costumes conceived by: Eeo Stubblefield
Costumes refined by: David Greenaway - Sylvia Karathanos
Costumes made by: Amanda Levey - David Greenaway - Eeo Stubblefield - Slyvia Karathanos - Susan Tamara Darrow
Grass dolls conceived by: Eeo Stubblefield
Doll dresses conceived and designed by: Eeo Stubblefield
Doll dresses made by: Amanda Levey - David Greenaway - Sylvia Karathanos
Doll dress images: downloaded by Eeo Stubblefield off the internet from news sites from around the world (not in the US) during the Iraq War (Two of the photographers of those images were killed by US forces during the war)
Doll dress images printed by: Herbert Leber at Screen-Tech
Preparation of doll dresses for the performers by: Amanda Levey - Sylvia Karathanos
Grass dolls made and dressed by each performer during performance
Performers:
Amanda Levey - Angel Ortloff - Anika Kristensen - Annette Shultz - Boaz
Barkin - David Greenaway - Denise Chaplick - Eeo Stubblefield - Elaine
Yap - Frank Hediger - Lesley Ehrenfeld - Loring Vogel - Mermer Blakeslee
- Randi Barouch - Sherwood Chen - Susie Brown Woods - Sylvia Gorelick
- Sylvia Karathanos - Violet Snow
Photographers: James Heil - Jasmine Jordaan - Leilani Claire - Terri Lappé Olson - Toc Fetch
Videographers: Dana Dornity - David Channon - David Menzies - Scott Stevens
Crew: Amanda Royce - Art Smith - Bean Cline - Emma Bebe - Ivan Saint John - Liz Cline - Tricia Cline - Toc Fetch - Shannon Carroll - Ralph Gallagher - Ferg Richardson - Peggy Shaw - Judy Rosen - Cathy Gallagher - Randi Barouch
On site nannies: Marly Carroll - Mimi Paturel
Food for performance prepared by: Amanda Levey - Angel Ortloff - Cathy Gallagher - Randi Barouch
Food for performers
and crew provided by: Bread Alone - Catskill Mountain Coffee Roasters
- Hanover Restaurant
Flowers for reception provided by: Boiceville Florist
The financial help of the
following people made These Are Our Deaths possible:
Amanda Levey - Amanda Montgomery - Ani Helmick - Annette Schultz - Cassie
Scott - Cindy Knowlton - Dana Mollins - David Greenaway - Eeo Stubblefield
- Felicia Kacsik - Griffin - Helene Vosters - Holly Deye - India Hixon
- Joan Synder - Joel Kovel - Judith Katz - Judy Rosen - Liz Cline - Loring
Vogel - Margot McLean - Mary Hall - Mermer Blakeslee - Rachel X. Weissman
- Steve Welch
Also a great THANKS to all of the people that donated money to be sent to Voices in the Wilderness
The Reception
A fundraiser for the children and hospitals in Iraq was held under a large
tent, the following day, for the public to meet the performers and the
Coalition of the willing.
After sharing food together, everyone danced to the wee hours of the night
to Paprika, purveyors of international dance music, who came up from NYC
for the event.
All proceeds of the entire event went directly to the children and hospitals in Iraq through the organization Voices in the Wilderness http://www.vitw.org/
Everyone who worked on the piece did so because they felt it was extremely important to raise consciousness about civilian casualties in war.
The imagery and experiences
from this piece will be developed further, so would can take it to other
communities, and to educational venues. If you are interested in this
event for your community please contact Eeo Stubblefield at eeos@ulster.net
 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|