5 Semi-Random Thoughts About Sister Taking Nap
Wynne Greenwood's "Sister Taking Nap" at On the Boards. Photo by Wynne Greenwood.
Wynne Greenwood's excellent Sister Taking Nap, a performance-installation, plays through Sunday at On the Boards at 8 p.m. Tix are still available for Sat. & Sun. performances; $18.
1. Wynne Greenwood is a surprisingly natural actor...for a visual artist/musician. She even ad libs well. Someone needs to make sure their cell phone starts ringing during every performance just to see how well she takes it. (Okay, maybe not. Seriously, people.)
2. Most of the show we get--but we have no idea why the hell they paint the statue of the crow black. Someone please explain what that meant. Was it like, a dove turning into a crow? Because that's sort of pedantic, and none of the rest was pedantic.
3. Great artists understand the value of details, and Greenwood definitely won our respect with the detail about not being able to find pens. That's always so disturbing to us, to go to someone's house and there doesn't appear to be a single writing instrument. How passive is your experience of life that you never need to write something down, make a note, address a letter...seriously.
4. The piece for some reason reminds us of Easter Island...it is "a meditation on human evolution," after all, that asks the provocative question, "What must we give up to survive?" That said, Greenwood's piece turns over the question of feminist engagement, a young woman struggling with her older sister's evolution from radicalism to apathy (no pens, plenty of pillows). If the slumbering sister represents a potentially necessary choice, where does that leave feminism?
5. Shows start later and later these days. We notice because we always have to check the time before and after so we know how long the show actually runs (this case: 30 mins.). We don't really care, but if it's already ten minutes past the putative start, should audience members really feel comfortable wandering down rows to chat with friends? Isn't that what the lobby's for?
