PURPLE HEART
Organizer Lynn Book’s concept for “Purple Heart” probably seemed like a good idea: invite back some of the artists who helped make N.A.M.E. a force in local performance. And a lot of these artists–like Evans, the members of Fluid Measure, Carmela Rago, and Grigsby–have fascinating interlocking histories. Perhaps not taken into account was the fact that many of these folks are no longer active participants in the performance scene. Jean Sousa makes experimental films. Evans is the artistic director of Live Bait Theater, where she also is a writer and director. Sistler has dedicated himself to painting.
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Rago offered up Real Life–Stories From the Real World, a piece she also performed in the last year at Club Lower Links, Gallery 2, and the WAC-A-Go-Go benefit. It’s in serious danger of being overexposed. This time, however, the work came in pieces: a ten-minute video of excerpts and a series of slides with text taken randomly from the work. Unfortunately the video, lacking the pacing of live performance, made this usually honest, serious work seem fragmented and shallow. The slides sometimes anticipated the video, robbing Rago of her best lines; other times the slides repeated material unnecessarily. In the end this version of Real Life seemed disorganized and rushed.
