Podcasts Society & Culture Personal Journals The Kitchen Sisters Present 181 - The Accidental ArchivistKeeping the Wooster Group

181 - The Accidental ArchivistKeeping the Wooster Group

Published: Jan. 18, 2022, 2 p.m.

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The Wooster Group, perched on a street corner in Soho in downtown New York, at the forefront of experimental theater for some 40 years.\\xa0Singular, rigorous, flamboyant. Their startling performances unravel and transform classic texts by Brecht, Shakespeare, Chekhov, Eugene O\\u2019Neill... along with their own striking original works. Six\\xa0Obies, nine Bessies, accolades from around the world as they tour their works through Europe and Asia.
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\\nTheater. One of the more ephemeral of art forms. How to preserve the work, chronicle it, archive it for the ages? Yes, there are scripts, props, sets, costumes \\u2014 a pair of muddy shoes from a 1981 production of\\xa0Route 1 & 9.\\xa0But what if you\'re experimental theater? Devoted to process, improvisation, the\\xa0dense layering of ideas and texts and sound and image, performances ever-changing? Obsessed with preserving everything\\u2014every rehearsal, every production meeting, every performance. How do you catalog something in a constant state of flux?
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\\nClay Hapaz entered the universe of The Wooster Group\\xa0as an intern in 1992. In 2000 he\\xa0became their official archivist.

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Voices you\\u2019ll hear include Clay Hapaz, Kate Valk, Frances McDormand, Hilton Als, Peter Sellars, Spalding Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte.

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Produced by\\xa0The Kitchen Sisters\\xa0(Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva)\\xa0and\\xa0Evan Jacoby\\xa0in collaboration with Brandi Howell and Nathan Dalton. Mixed by Jim McKee. \\xa0
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\\nSpecial Thanks:\\xa0Clay Hapaz, Kate Valk, Frances McDormand, Juliet Lashinsky-Revene, Hilton Als, Peter Sellars, Fran & Kate\\u2019s Drama Club and Elizabeth LeCompte.\\xa0

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Music:\\xa0Matt Dougherty and The Wooster Group\\u2019s archive.\\xa0

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Thanks also\\xa0to Lumi Tan, Lewanne Jones and Claire Maske.
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\\nSupport for the Stories\\xa0comes from The National Endowment for the Arts & Listener Contributions to The Kitchen Sisters Productions\\xa0(Many thanks)

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The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of the\\xa0Radiotopia Podcast Network\\xa0on PRX. Thanks for listening

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