“Go to the theatre to see death performed live to really test your limits.”
“Refracting a Japanese ghost story through an American experimental sensibility, Temporary Distortion, integrating mind-blowing video images and theatrical tension, has created a nightmarish pop aesthetic that deserves your attention.”
-Jason Zinoman, The New York Times (Read full review here)
“It’s an impressive achievement and pretty frightening” – Jason Fitzgerald, Backstage
“Americana Kamikaze is a sleek translation of the unconscious mind into a postmodern theatrical experience that knows pictures tell a better story than live actors. You are not likely to see anything like it. And if you do you may very well be dreaming.” – Richard Hinojosa, NYTheater
Following sold-out runs at Performance Space 122 in 2008 and 2009 Temporary Distortion return and climb back inside one of their signature box structures to unspool a theatre-cinema hybrid so new it can only be called bleeding-edge as they delve into the world of Japanese ghost stories and J-Horror. Americana Kamikaze is haunted by vengeful spirits, impossible physical manipulations, elliptical storylines, creepy sound designs, equally creepy cinematography, and bizarrely happy endings.
American and Japanese performers are doubled by video doppelgangers in this East-meets-West psychological horror story that fractures reality and narrative beyond existence. Americana Kamikaze explores the fluidity of time and space, the thin line between madness and reason, and the capacity for acts of extreme violence to transform otherwise unremarkable lives.
Americana Kamikaze features Brian Geer, Yuki Kawahisa, Lorraine Mattox, and Ryosuke Yamada. Written & Directed by Kenneth Collins; Video Projections by William Cusick; Costumes by TaraFawn Marek; Music & Sound by John Sully; Motion Graphics by Jon Weiss; Set & Lighting Design by Kenneth Collins.
Co-producers: Maison des Arts de Créteil (Paris), Le Manége (Maubeuge), Performance Space 122 (New York). Additional support provided by The Greenwall Foundation, The MacDowell Colony, The Nancy Quinn Fund, a project of A.R.T./New York, a Commission Grant from the Jerome Foundation and the generous support of individual donors. Photo by Jon Weiss
Past praise for Temporary Distortion:
“I’ve never seen anything like this on the stage…so compelling, so haunting, so thoroughly absorbing.” – Nytheatre.com (on Welcome to Nowhere: Bullet Hole Road)
“Discover Temporary Distortion…intimate theater for our time.” – Le Monde
For more info visit Temporarydistortion.com
World Premiere
Presented as part of COIL 2010
SPECIAL MIDNIGHT SHOW: Fri, Jan 8
Sat, Jan 9 10pm
Sun, Jan 10 7:30pm
Mon, Jan 11 5pm
Fall 09 Premiere: Sat, Oct 24 – Sat, Nov 14
Help PS122 Go Green by viewing your Americana Kamikaze program online!
