PERFORMANCES
that's not how Mahler died...
Ontological Incubator July 2005
The BRICK Theater November 2005
SPARK Festival of Electronic Music and Art
Minneapolois, MN
February 2006
31 Down Radio Theater's hypnotic mellow drama.
The last year of Gustav Mahler's life was plagued with heartbreak. Alma Mahler, Gustav's young and restrained wife,
took a lover; Gustav found out about this due to a mis-addressed love letter from Walter Gropius, the future Bauhaus architect who was
Alma's lover.
Mahler's music is dominated by the composer's obsession with death. His haunting scores evoke the pain and torment that lurked in the the
heart and mind of a troubled being.
In the 1960's America, Mahler's legacy was rekindled as Leonard Bernstein released an entire cycle of recordings. This so called "Mahlermania"
spread over the entire country and new Mahler enthusiasts were borne.
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31 Down radio theater sets out to find the energy of that era: the end of the 1950's and the dawning of a new decade that encompassed so much change, heartbreak, love and agression. Set in the life of an out of work private investigator and his disintegrating marriage, the energy of Mahler is rekindled as the deathly obsessions of human nature occupy another domestic tragedy.
Starring: Lian Sifuentes as Alma
Ryan Holsopple as Mike Sharpie
Frank Boudreaux as Wally Gropes
and as special appearance by DJ Mendel as Doc Freud
Lighting by Jon Luton
Production Manager Shannon Sindelar
Violin by Tara Novak
Written and designed by Ryan Holsopple
Set and Props by Mirit Tal and Ryan Holsopple
This work was developed in the Outside/Input program of the Ontological Hysteric theater and as part of Free103point9 Transmission Art's AIRtime Artist Residency Program at the Wave Farm in Green County, New York.