 |
 |
|
 |
|
History
The genesis of Moving Parts Theater
began with a play I directed in 1996 as a member of New Directions Theater called
Lucas and Zoe by Matt Tomasino. A one-act drama about two young artists, the play was told entirely through alternating monologues between the main characters. Each monologue was accompanied by the reveal of a painting the character had created in response to a major occurrence in their life. This concept fascinated me, and so I began to explore the potential relationship between performing and visual art. I found that the two art forms could feed each other generously, enhancing and expanding the appreciation of the other exponentially.
Fast forward to 2000, when I had the good fortune to meet a prodigiously gifted young writer by the name of Clay McLeod Chapman. He was the creator of the popular east village performance series
The Pumpkin Pie Show , i.e. evenings of deliciously wicked southern gothic monologues, performed at full tilt and volume with live progressive music. The publishing world had taken notice too, and Hyperion published a collection of twenty of Clay’s monologues under the umbrella title
rest area. From the pages of rest area I borrowed four stories on the common theme of fractured parenting to create
Broken Boughs, and founded Moving Parts Theater with a mission to incorporate performing, literary and visual art. To that end I enlisted the talents of an equally gifted young artist named
Jonathan Spiegel. His work so closely reflected the themes of
Broken Boughs that it seemed a fated choice to adorn the walls of the Studio Theater at the Blue Heron Arts Center where the play received its premier. The ambiguous, conflicted, and sometimes combative relationships between parent and child were equally on display in Clay’s and Jonathan’s work.
With that blueprint in place, I set out in future productions to expand my mission to incorporate other art forms such as dance, live original music and puppetry. As in
Broken Boughs, the union of these arts is not arbitrary, but rather a calculated effort to juxtapose them in a manner which is complementary and elucidating. The goal is to grow these forms, and alter the audience’s perception of their capacity - thereby providing an enlightening and enriching experience with every new production.
-Charles Loffredo
, Artistic Director |
| | |
|
|
