MEMORY RINGS

Original Phantom Limb Company Production

 
“Everything on stage was a work of human creativity.”
— Charles McNulty, LA Times
 

MEMORY RINGS by Phantom Limb Company (PLC) is a multi-disciplinary work-in-progress that traces the evolving relationship between people and the environment from the perspective of the world's oldest known living tree. Initially inspired by the “Methuselah Tree,” a California bristlecone pine estimated to be more than 4800 years old, Memory Rings takes the long view of humanity’s relationship to the natural world, specifically, our forests, which we have loved and feared in equal measure, paying homage to their powers of enchantment and transformation in our folk and fairy tales, and routinely destroying or domesticating them in the service of “civilization.” But Memory Rings is neither a 21st century Into the Woods nor a chronicle of deforestation, though it has elements of both; it is a ruminative, poignant, often mysterious theatrical poem about loss: the loss of our forests, of course, but also the loss of our identification with the non-human world around us. Memory Rings, In Progress Footage Robert Rauschenberg Residency October 2013 Shot & Edited Sierra Urich For more information on 'Memory Rings' please contact Mara Isaacs, Producer Octopus Theatricals mara@octopustheatricals.com www.octopustheatricals.com For more information on Phantom Limb Company please visit www.phantomlimbcompany.com

Memory Rings is a part of a greater trilogy that includes 69˚S., united by ecological and environmental threads of narrative and research. The title refers to both the resonance and impact of 4784 years of a living being and the poetry of age shown through Dendrochronology, or aging using the rings at a tree's core. The memory of who we have been, the growth of the tree, and the changing environment are all represented with cycles and circles. The tree is a living record of everything that has transpired during its history as it stands in mute testimony of civilization’s encroachment.

Our story is told through a series of overlapping scenarios that come together to confront us with one profound choice. The epic tale of Gilgamesh, woodland creatures as storytellers, fairy tales full of enchanted forests, and a new fable - the disintegration of four people in an identity crisis - all overlap. Dance, puppetry, mask, installation, music, projections, costume, and the occasional bit of Nietzsche are all judiciously used to tell our otherwise wordless story.

Phantom Limb teaser for expedition to the world's oldest known living tree created by Sierra Urich. This research and documentation will ultimately be a part of the theatre piece entitled Memory Rings.

ORIGINAL MUSIC 

 

PROCESS to PREMIERE

CREDITS

CONCEIVED BY Jessica Grindstaff and Erik Sanko
DIRECTION &  DESIGN | Jessica Grindstaff
PUPPET DESIGN AND ORIGINAL MUSIC | Erik Sanko
CHOREOGRAPHY | Ryan Heffington
COSTUME DESIGN | Henrik Vibskov
SOUND DESIGN | Darron L. West
VIDEO DESIGN | Keith Skretch
COLLABORATING ARCHITECT | Gia Wolf
DRAMATURGY | Janice Paran
PRODUCER | Mara Isaacs, Octopus Theatricals
STAGE MANAGER | Randi Rivera
PRODUCING ASSOCIATE, COMPANY MANAGER | Bryan Hunt
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT | Corps Liminis
PROJECT CONSULTANT | Julia Glawe
FRAGRANCE DESIGN | Douglas Little
VOICE OF LITTLE RED | Freya Sanko
SPOKEN EXCERPT, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" | Jennifer Charles

Media Courtesy of Sierra Ulrich, Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Prelinger Archives

ORIGINAL CAST 

Aaron Mattocks (Dance Captain) 
Carlton Cyrus Ward
Lucie Baker
Rowan Magee
Takemi Kitamura
Lisa K. Locke
Daniel Selon
Toby Billowitz

SECOND CAST 

Paul Singh
Emeri Fetzer

Memory Rings premiered at OZ Arts Nashville in June 2015 and is commissioned by BAM for the Next Wave Festival, CAP UCLA, the New York University Abu Dhabi Arts Center and ASU Gammage at Arizona State University. Development residencies provided by OZ Arts Nashville, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation/Rauschenberg Residency, MASSMoCA in North Adams, MA, and The Hermitage.   Additional support provided by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Paisley Powell Elebash Fund, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; The Jim Henson Foundation. Memory Rings is made possible with the assistance of New York Live Arts.