Set in the lesbian bars, cop shops and street-cars of McCarthy-era Los Angeles, Concrete Folk Variations is a serialized puppet drama written, directed and designed by Susan Simpson that will be presented in installments throughout 2008. The first episode, titled "Death of a Sugar Daddy," opens March 6 at The Manual Archives in Silver Lake for a three-week run through March 22.
An emotionally gripping noir,
Concrete Folk Variations is told through Simpson's intricately crafted small-scale puppets, projections and a minimalist mid-century Los Angles cityscape. This cultural excavation of the moment just before the rise of the modern gay movement unearths secret codes, clandestine homosexual societies, flamboyant transgressions and soul crushing silence, all under the looming storm of police crack-downs and public shaming.
Concrete Folk Variations is an hypnotic tale of the formidable times that sparked the first calls for liberation, mapping a rich and labyrinthine culture stretching from the docks of Long Beach to the communist song circles of Silver Lake.
In Chapter One: "Death of a Sugar Daddy," Simpson introduces us to the laconic butch detective Loretta Salt. When a prominent society maven and philanthropist who secretly slums at lesbian dives is murdered, L.A.P.D. beat cop Loretta Salt turns reluctant investigator and steps into an infested swamp of corruption, brutality and subterfuge.
This is the second puppet play to be presented by Simpson at The Manual Archives, a micro-theater and exhibition space devoted to the newly discovered and invented folklore of the city of Los Angeles. The first production, "Lead Feet and Nothing Upstairs: A History of the Lifelike" was presented in June of 2007.
Susan Simpson is a critically acclaimed experimental theater artist and filmmaker whose work often involves intricate marionettes and unusual film projection. Her puppet plays have been presented in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles including numerous times at The Museum of Jurassic Technology and The Velaslavasay Panorama.
Frankenstein: Mortal Toys, which Simpson co-directed and designed with Janie Geiser, recently played in Los Angeles and New York. Simpson is a founding member and instigator of the performance collective The Little Fakers, creators of the marionette serial
Sunset Chronicles which has appeared at venues across Los Angeles. Her most recent film,
Boll Weevil Days, was shown at film festivals nationally and internationally. She has received grants from the Creative Capital, Multi-Arts Performing Fund, the Durfee Foundation, The California Community Foundation, and she was the 2002 recipient of Center Theater Group's Richard Sherwood Award. She is on the faculty of the CalArts School of Theater, and is the co-director of Automata, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of puppet theater, experimental film and other lost and neglected art forms. In June of 2007, under the auspices of Automata, Simpson opened The Manual Archives, a micro-theater and exhibition space devoted to the presentation of newly discovered and invented folklore of Los Angeles.
Concrete Folk Variations, Chapter One: Death of a Sugar Daddy runs Thursday and Fridays at 8 pm, and Saturdays at 2 pm and 8 pm, March 6 though 22. Tickets are $15.00; Students and Seniors are $12.00. The Manual Archives is located at 3320 West Sunset Blvd. in Silver Lake. For reservations and information, visit
http://www.manualarchives.org or call (323) 667-0156.
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