“His [David Gordon’s] curiosity and intellectual capacity [are] astonishing, and he influenced me in many ways . . . He is one of those rare people: he’s brave with his life, and . . . with his art.” —Mikhail Baryshnikov
German dramatist Bertolt Brecht viewed most wars as a political panacea for economic downturns and a purposeful division of people by color, religion, language, and geography—a timely perspective in an era defined by the “war on terror,” fears about immigration, and ethnic conflict worldwide. For this reimagining of Brecht and composer Hanns Eisler’s rarely performed music/theater work Roundheads and Pointheads, pioneering choreographer/theater director/writer David Gordon animates and adulterates Brecht’s pre-Holocaust parable with an English translation by Michael Feingold (Village Voice). Uncivil Wars: Moving with Brecht & Eisler will have its world premiere in the Walker Art Center’s William and Nadine McGuire Theater on Thursday–Saturday, March 12–14, at 8 pm.
Gordon notes that Brecht himself borrowed liberally from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure in penning Roundheads and Pointheads. “In researching Brecht and his—some say ruthless—use of other folks’ ‘intellectual property,’ I imagine that I have Brechtean permission to acknowledge intention and integrity and to investigate the script for 21st-century connections—which, in this play, run rampant.” For one thing, there’s the setting: a fictitious country called Yahoo, which Gordon describes as having “a big deficit and an overproduction of corn.” Then, as per the Brecht playbook, a war is devised to solve those problems: Yahoo’s leaders—with the goal of avoiding a contentious draft—goad the native-born Roundheads to turn on the Pointheads, who are said to be stealing jobs. Gordon sums it up: “What more could a guy want from a play written in the early thirties?”
Gordon’s liberties with the written word are just one facet of a career devoted to blurring boundaries among the performing arts. “My performance work, from the start, very frequently contained text,” he says, referring to his early days as a founding artist with the Judson Dance Theater in New York’s Greenwich Village. By integrating poetry, visual art, and an array of other non-dance art forms into their work, that legendary 1960s collective pushed modern dance into postmodern forms—and captured the attention of Sue Weil, the Walker’s first director of performing arts. Weil invited Gordon and other members from Grand Union, the group that grew out of Judson Dance Theater, to work and perform at the opening of the Walker’s Edward Larrabee Barnes building in 1971. That residency, Gordon’s first at any institution, led to several more visits to Minneapolis in succeeding years.
“I continue to combine words, movement, and music in varying proportions,” Gordon says, a simple yet apt reflection of the Walker’s roots in interdisciplinary art forms. “I imagine I can ‘have my cake and eat it.’ “ He plays it both ways with the casting of Uncivil Wars, the Walker’s first world premiere of 2009: nine cast members, including acclaimed performance artist John Kelly, actress/dancer Valda Setterfield, and pianist/composer Gina Leishman (Kamakazie Ground Crew), join performers from the University of Minnesota and other local volunteers.
Gordon’s commissions for directing/choreographing include: American Ballet Theater, American Repertory Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dance Theater of Harlem, White Oak Dance Project, British Dance Umbrella, Barbican Centre, On The Boards, Joyce Theater, Theater For a New Audience, Guthrie Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Mark Taper Forum, Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave, Serious Fun@Lincoln Center, Spoleto Festival USA, The Actors Studio, PBS/WNET Great Performances, PBS/KTCA Alive TV, BBC 1, and Channel 4, U.K. Gordon’s awards include two Obies, three Bessies, two Dramalogues, two Guggenheims, two Pew Charitable Trust National Residency Grants (in both theater and dance). He is a current member of the Actor’s Studio and the Center for Creative Research. Gordon is the previous Chair of the NEA Dance Program. He is the founding artist of Pick Up Performance Co(s) and has performed with Grand Union, Yvonne Rainer Company, and the James Waring Company.
Related Event
Talking Dance: Michael Feingold and David Gordon
Collaborating with Bertolt Brecht
Saturday, March 7, 7 pm
$8 ($5 Walker/Playwrights’ Center members, U of M students/faculty)
The Lab Theater, 700 North First Street, Minneapolis
Grammy Award winner Michael Feingold, chief theater critic for the Village Voice, playwright, dramaturg, and translator of numerous works by Brecht, joins David Gordon in a discussion of the playwright’s changing role in production, the art of translation, the life of Bertolt Brecht, and behind-the-scenes stories about the creation of Uncivil Wars. A reception follows. Presented in partnership with The Lab Theater; University of Minnesota through the Interdisciplinary Program in Collaborative Arts, Institute for Advanced Study, and the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance; The Playwrights’ Center; and the Center for Creative Research, a program of the New England Foundation for the Arts.
The Gertrude Lippincott Talking Dance Series is made possible by Judith Brin Ingber.
Tickets to Uncivil Wars: Moving with Brecht & Eisler are: Thursday, $18 ($15 Walker members; $10 students); Friday–Saturday, $25 ($21) and are available at walkerart.org/tickets or by calling 612.375.7600.
