UNSOUND presents

A Nautical Tale, Part Two:

Why Don’t We Know Any Wood Owl?

"Think ‘Riverdance.’ Then turn your mind 360 degrees."

The stage is set with two loudspeakers in attractive cabinets and one scrawny floor lamp. The lamp will provide the only light. The cast and crew sit in the first row of the audience in wooden chairs. When a chair is needed on stage, the character who needs the chair will bring a chair from the front row onstage, then return it when the scene is finished.

Our toy opera begins with the lamp turned off. The room lights should be left on

"Why Don't We Know Any Wood Owl?" was first performed in Philadelphia on September 9, 1998 at Highwire Gallery.

SYNOPSIS

In this sequel to "A Nautical Tale," UNSOUND celebrates the traditional culture of river piracy. At the root of all pirate cultures is the commitment to family. "Wood Owl" dramatizes the strains and rewards of pirate fatherhood.

1. ERRANDS

The prince, diverted from his quest by the forces of the world, evokes the winding of the River and the spirit of the Riverwoman.

2.PILLS

"In 1933 a young man ‘Z’ thought sleep a waste of time and decided to conquer his need of it. He began the experiment at 5:00 a.m. on June 5, with the help of two researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute."
--Mi-Mi Chen, "Sleep Deprivation" (1996)

3.GHOSTS

The Land wakes from its barren sleep. The voices of the River greet the Land.

4.ECHOES

Now the voices of Land and Water come together, tentatively at first, blossoming into a spectacular climax.

5.TIPS

"‘Doctors is all swabs,’ he said; ‘and that doctor there, why, what do he know about seafaring men? I been in places hot as pitch, and mates dropping round with Yellow Jack, and the blessed land a-heaving like the sea with earthquakes--what do the doctor know of lands like that?--and I lived on rum, I tell you. It’s been meat and drink, and man and wife, to me; and if I’m not to have my rum now I’m a poor old hulk on a lee shore, my blood’ll be on you, Jim, and that Doctor swab;’ and he ran on again for a while with curses."
--Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

Details on the recordings are in the individual sections. The live performers:

Heather Batson (CHORISTER, singing) is a stern, uncompromising hedonist in this sick modern world of reckless, unbridled Puritanism.

Accordionist Mike Benedetti (stage manager, DUDE) has been performing in drag since 1982, and staging original and classic drama since 1984. If you want, he can teach you how to swim.

Jessie Bennett (CHORAGOS, singing) is not the droid you’re looking for. Move along. Move along.

American-born Mike Ciul (GUY, MIKEE, music) began his musical career in England with the goth-ska-pop band Fuse Box. He has flirted with respectability: he studied composition with Curt Cacioppo and electronic music with Ellen Fishman-Johnson from 1991-95 at Haverford College. In 1996 he continued his studies at Les Ateliers UPIC in Paris under Curtis Roads (editor of Computer Music Journal) and Bennington’s Randall Neal. He then formed the unruly and childish Unsound.

James Speer (HAT MAN, music) grew up in Massachusetts. He took a degree in music theory and composition at Haverford College under the advisement of Curt Cacioppo in 1990. He has written music for CD-ROM and television. He is a member of Broadside Electric and Unsound.

Michael Stanton (writer, director) presents new work frequently with Stanton-Walsh. His next "toy opera" will chronicle the lives of Cesare Borgia, Henry Morton Stanley, and Johnny Appleseed.