Project       Performances      Video    Repertory      Press     Contact    Discussion     Mark Doerries, Artistic Director  

DREAMING IN DARKNESS     FRIDAY & SATURDAY DECEMBER 12 & 13, 2008    7:30PM - IU ART MUSEUM - PLAZA     Reception to follow performance     Music Direction - Mark Brennan Doerries     Lighting Design - Sean Michael Smallman     Sponsered by the Indiana University Art Museum     Corporate Sponser - Duke Energy Program Dreaming in Darkness - Robinson McClellan Claviante Brilioso - Thomas Jennefelt Pseudo-Yoik - Jaakko Mantyjarvi Sleep - Eric Whitacre Calme des nuits - Camille Saint-Saens  Actors - Gabrielle Reed & Joseph Beutel Chorus

Multi-sensory performance art, a continually evolving genre,     aims to stimulate audiences’ eyes, ears, and emotions to create     penetrating and intense new compositions and performances.      Dreaming in Darkness merges musical, theatrical and visual     narratives into a single performance of light and sound that     interweave creating powerful images of the transformative     forces of darkness and color.     Dreaming in Darkness’ music paints rich sonorous descriptions     of the enveloping, comforting and mystic elements of the night.      It is at dusk and evening that we drop many of our fears; we feel     freer to look one another in the eyes, speak loving and difficult     truths, end old relationships and build new paths.  Darkness is not     an abyss, devoid of light and substance, but rather an intense emotion,     a psychological location, and a time of day that releases new colors,     shadows and images of the natural world not visible to us beneath     the sun’s rays.  Light Totem, a work of art in its own right, has     illuminated the Indiana University campus for the past year and     has become part of the evening landscape.  Its use in Dreaming     in Darkness not only lights the night terrain, it conjures and depicts     the foreboding and consoling narrative each musical depiction of     evening unfurls.      Immersed in this sonic and visual world, we watch the struggles     and successes of a couple learning to look, listen, condemn and     embrace under the cover of darkness; a relationship that comes to     life only under the protection of twilight.  But, will what begins in     darkness continue into light?  The powers and mysteries of darkness     are at once destructive and forgiving; Dreaming in Darkness explores     our innermost desires to connect to others amidst nightfall’s vivid pallet.

photos: Cavanagh and Montague