Back to Kindergarten

Oh performance art, you're so absurd. Seattlest got a taste of that absurdity first hand at last night's opening of Computer by Seattle-based collective High Kindergarten Performance Group. We weren't quite sure what to expect going into the show---we had read that it would involve an office workday and Lawrence Welk---but we didn't realize that 90 minutes later, there would be stuff everywhere: fake blood, shaving cream, Mountain Dew, and a lotta candy. Nor did we realize there'd be a naked dude on a ladder the whole time.

Said naked dude was Matt Fontaine, one of the HKPG's founders (the other being his wife, Tamara Paris). Fontaine describes the piece as follows:

In this production, the computer represents both a magical friend as well as an electrical parasite that dooms the human being merely to transmit without feeling or learning, thus reducing history to ashes. The goal of the show is to make the audience feel as though they themselves are those ashes.

Hmmm...we don't remember feeling like ashes. We did, however, feel way awkward and nervous during the multiple forced interactions between performers and audience scattered throughout the show, often when a series of tasks was being carried out by the rest of the performers. We'd see the performer coming through the audience, making his/her way through the crowd seat by seat, and get all nervous as to how the interaction would go when it was our turn. Memo to self: Remember not to sit in the front row of any upcoming HKPG shows. Those people bore the brunt of it.

Computer is interesting enough, but we're not going to attempt to tease out some huge higher meaning. Our companion for the evening described the show as "textbook absurdist theatre," at times reminscent of Joseph Beuys. He found some of the piece to be tiresome (especially all of the tension derived merely from the actors getting messy), but we both agreed that the show had some really funny moments, the best of which involved Aaron Allshouse playing with toys.

Ultimately, it's hard to fully describe this show. That's intentional---this type of performance is something to be experienced in person, not read about online. If you feel like you need more details, you can watch the flash-animated trailer here. There's also a thirteen minute-long phone interview with Matt Fontaine and Tamara Paris (Windows Media format) here.

HKPG - Computer at On the Boards
8pm, now through Sunday, March 12th.
Tickets: $18 general / $12 students