Death in Vacant Lot!
October 4–15, 2006 at 15 Nassau Street, a former LMCC Swing Space
The South Wing presents a world premiere rock opera, based on Japanese theatre artist Terayama Shuji's masterwork, Death in the Country. Terayama’s films, plays and poetry – wildly popular in Japan – have rarely been seen in the West. For the first time in more than two decades, New Yorkers will be treated to a production of one of the 20th century’s most provocative and rebellious writers.
Set in a future where the United States is no longer a hyper-power, Death in Vacant Lot! considers the problems of individual and national memory. Dead spirits, mediums, circus troupes, military fanatics, whores, abandoned children, evil landowners, goofy neighbors, witches, girls-next-door all collide in this coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of Mt. Fear, a desolate volcano housing the souls of dead children.
Co-presented by the Watermill Center, Death in Vacant Lot! is written and directed by South Wing Artistic Director Kameron Steele. The company is composed of musicians, actors and dancers who have previously worked with Cirque du Soleil, Meredith Monk, Mabou Mines, Anne Bogart’s SITI company, The Flying Machine, and the Suzuki Company of Toga.
For three years The South Wing has created intensely physical performances that embrace and challenge the obstacles of language, culture, genre and tradition. The company was founded in 2003 by Kameron Steele and Ivana Catanese during their residency at the Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico and has toured extensively in the U.S., Mexico and Europe.
