SINISTER FOOTWEAR Storyline / Stage Directions
Bossk (R)
Guess what I'm turning the pages of with my other hand right now?
Guess what's 11 by 20 inches and leather-bound?
Guess what I'm reading while I'm listening to the Berkely/Nagano recording?
--- Bossk (R) <wik...@mbox301.swipnet.se>
SINISTER FOOTWEAR
BALLET IN THREE SCENES
SCENE ONE: Jake's bedroom, changing to a stylized industrial panorama
dancers: Jake
Group one (with masonite autos)
Group two (illegal aliens)
Jake's secretary
Catering man
major props: ugly shoe painting (with easel, brushes, pallette)
bed
large surrealistic traffic signal
one-dimensional [sic! :D] masonite automobiles
catering truck (well stocked)
ugly shoes coming off assembly line
boxes
SCENE TWO: black velvet backdrop with fun-house mirrors
dancers: Group one (beautiful people with ugly shoes)
Group two (who pretend not to notice)
Children
Chiropodist (can be danced by Jake)
major props: masks of "beautiful people" and "contemporary personages"
rolling bin containing the masks
cardboard people who do not notice
SCENE THREE: surreal night club scene
dancers: entire company
I.
[A] JAKE, WHO DESIGNS IT
Curtain rises.
Jake wakes up
and rubs his eyes.
Jake stumbles out of bed.
Jake walks towards easel.
Jake grabs brushes
and palette.
Jake applies 3 finishing
brush strokes to painting.
Jake turns easel toward audience
revealing a picture of the ugliest
shoe you ever saw in your life.
Jake's room walls
fly up as bed and
elevated area with
Jake and easel are
pulled off to opposite
sides of the stage.
[B] SOMEPLACE IN NEW JERSEY WHERE THEY MAKE THEM
Removal of Jake's set reveals a grotesquely
stylized industrial panorama including
flaming funnels and smoke-ring-spewing
unclassifiable devices.
A large surrealistic
traffic signal turns green.
Dancers move about with
one-dimensional [sic! :D] masonite autos.
Jake appears in their midst,
walking to work with the
ugly shoe picture under
his arm.
Dance interaction between Jake and cars.
As Jake and cars dance, factory walls gradually
move in from opposite sides of the stage.
Cars/dancers are gradually
replaced by illegal aliens
as factory set appears.
Set change.
Cars change to aliens.
Jake dances with the ugly shoe picture.
Large sign is lowered into factory set
reading "SINISTER FOOTWEAR"
Changeover is complete
as Jake places ugly shoe
picture on easel and dashes
around urging the aliens
to construct it.
Jake points to various details on ugly shoe design
while aliens pretend to understand and scramble around as if
they were actually building it.
[C] ILLEGAL ALIENS ON A LUNCH BREAK
Aliens drop their tools and rush around
pulling their shop aprons off.
Factory walls slide out again
to reveal industrial landscape
again. (Sinister Footwear sign
flies up.)
Catering truck drives in.
Catering man exists truck and
opens flaps as aliens gather.
[D] AT THE CATER-
ING TRUCK
Aliens grab for
truck items.
Aliens move away with their goods as Jake
approaches and makes his selection.
Jake pays catering man.
[E] JAKE EATS A MOLDED JELLO SALAD
Jake makes an elaborate
production out of the
molded jello salad.
Dancing with it as he eats.
Aliens respond.
Jake eats some more.
[F] JAKE'S SECRETARY
She is grooming herself ...
Filing her nails ...
Adjusting her perm ...
Factory walls slide back.
[G] ILLEGAL ALIENS WORK SLOWER IN THE AFTERNOON
Aliens continue industrial behavior at half speed.
[H] JAKE'S SECRETARY READS HER MAGAZINE
She walks through slow-moving aliens
with magazine in front of her face.
[I] ILLEGAL ALIENS WANT TO GO HOME
They make yearning gestures
in the direction of the front door.
[J] JAKE'S SECRETARY EATS COTTAGE CHEESE
[K] UGLY SHOES ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE
As the shoes come off the line,
aliens stuff them into boxes.
Some aliens carry the boxes away.
Other aliens stack the boxes.
As stack is completed, aliens exit randomly.
Aliens are gone ...
Lights dim; curtain down.
II.
[L] (WHAT YOU THINK YOU LOOK LIKE
WHILE YOU'RE WEARING THEM)
Curtain rises to reveal a group of dancers
wearing Jake's ugly shoes and masks of famous
"beautiful people" posing in front of several
fun-house mirrors. (Black velvet backdrop)
Change ...
Pose ...
Change ...
Pose ...
Change ...
Pose ...
Change ...
Pose ...
Change ...
Pose ...
"Beautiful people" engage in social intercourse; ...
... shake hands with each other; admire each other's shoes and costumes.
"Beautiful people" appear to agree that they are truly beautiful ...
[M] (SOMETIMES THEY MAKE YOU WALK FUNNY)
Dancers try to walk in Jake's shoes
and experience great difficulty.
[N] (OTHER PEOPLE PRETEND NOT TO NOTICE)
Fun-house mirrors revolve. The backs of them
have cardboard people pretending not to notice.
Other dancers walk continuously through the group
with ugly shoes on, ignoring the shoes in an
obvious manner ...
Dance continues with second group
revolving mirrors around and
through group with ugly shoes
Dancers with ugly shoes gradually collapse on floor and begin to remove
them.
[O] (SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO TAKE
THEM OFF FOR A MINUTE)
Dancers with shoes off rub their feet.
Second group watches and nods knowingly.
[P] (THEN YOU PUT THEM BACK ON BECAUSE
YOU THINK THEY LOOK SO GOOD ON YOU)
Dancers put shoes back on as fast as possible.
With shoes back on, dancers now stand ...
... and continue types of movement from other section.
Several children with ugly shoes on
sneak in from side of stage.
[Q] (CHILDREN CAN
ALSO HAVE
UGLY SHOES)
They begin to dance
with their "parents"
as second group
departs.
The chiropodist leaps in from the side.
All other dancers freeze slowly.
[R] (THE FOOT DOCTOR SAYS YOU
MIGHT NEED AN OPERATION)
Chiropodist examines dancer's feet.
He warns them,
[S] (BUT YOU'RE
GONNA WEAR
THEM ANYWAY)
but they dance
away from him.
[T] (VARIOUS NEW POSTURES)
Dancing go back to posing
in front of mirrors.
[U] (EVERYBODY HAS A PAIR SOMEWHERE)
Chiropodist produces rolling bin full of masks of contemporary
personages and distributes these to dancers.
Dancers affix masks and imitate the activity appropriate to the personage
whose mask they are wearing.
Dancers indicate during the dance in some way how the personage's
ugly shoes most affect his or her competence.
Hold pose as lights dim and curtain falls.
III.
A PLACE YOU CAN GO WHEN YOU GOT THEM ON
Scene is surreal night club with moving cut-out audience
and moving cut-out entertainer on small revolving stage.
All dancers, in ugly shoes and evening clothes, conduct
various social transactions.
Sam and/or Karen Rouse
<wik...@mbox301.swipnet.se> wrote:
> Guess where I'm getting these from?
> Guess what I'm turning the pages of with my other hand right now?
Yeah, but what are you turning them with? (Oh, your other hand - damn.)
--
"The music becomes more and more abstract sounding
like a syncopated barnyard button factory."
- David Lynch, "Ronnie Rocket"