Experimental Theater
The Oregonian, October 23, 1998
by Barry Johnson
Theater bargain hunters often find their prey on the wilder side of the theater world, in the realms of performance art and late-night shows. Liminal, the group responsible for both Suicide in B-flat and Handke Salmagundi last year, occupies the conceptual wing of the Portland theater scene. Theres no easy narrative line for this company: Its interested in more difficult conceptual matters, both intellectual and theatrical.
For its new show, Jowl Movements I-IX, for example, the company uses the avant-garde gesture and movement techniques of Russian director and theoretician Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold, among others, to create a dinner party, which it promptly deconstructs. Oh, and theres vaudeville, too, and an original musical score by John Berendzen.
The show opens at 8 p.m. Saturday and continues at 8 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, through Nov. 22, at the Portland Building, 1120 S.W. Fifth Ave.; $6-$15, sliding scale; 229-3851.
Jowl Movements I-IX (1999)
Jowl Movements I-IX was performed in the fall of 1999 in the underground parking garage of the Portland Building. What unfolded was a Liminal event that merged a visual art installation with a surreal deconstruction of an American drawing-room drama. Jowl Movements I-IX took a satirical and irreverent look at the world of high art, consumer culture and the media, while contradicting its own critical structure and meaning. Indeed, the play layered so many elements, that it is difficult to accurately describe the experience. Even the three press releases sent to media contradicted the performance by offering three completely different descriptions of the story.
Jowl Movements I-IX was written by the ensemble. Bryan Markovitz directed. John Berendzen produced sound and music. Miro O. Chun designed slide photography and Jill Buxworthy’s installation. Cast members included Amanda Boekelheide, Julie Burtis, Georgia Luce, Jeff Marchant, Christoph Saxe, Rich Southwick and Trent Moore.
