DIY: 2013 – GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN ‘The Deadwood Stage’

Cambridge

RETURN TO ALL PROJECTS

GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN
The Deadwood Stage 
With Cambridge Junction
The Live Art community musical!

Project summary:
GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN will explore exertion, endurance, cliché and the epic using the musical Calamity Jane as our material, over a weekend. On the one hand this project will unpack questions of cultural stereotyping and performance of ‘the other’ – and on the other hand, it will be a binge of cheap spectacle, crass play-acting and obnoxious indulgence in performance – open to an ‘illegitimate’ cast. The project is open to 20 applicants with a demonstrable interest in live art practices and little-to-no experience in musical theatre. Parts will be distributed during the project (based purely on participants’ desire – nothing resembling auditions will take place) and everyone who wants to play Calamity Jane (or any other part) will get the chance. We are also looking for someone to make the low-budget set (materials provided) – no experience necessary. This project will have a pianist. The project will couple desire with distaste, stemming from our current explorations into fantasy; the role of the ’exotic’ and the co-option of cultural imagery within fantasy and desire (sexual fantasy, role play, fancy dress, games and toys) – as well as the trend/fashion for retro imagery and the fetishisation of bygone eras. These themes are prevalent in Calamity Jane with its landscape of cowboys and Indians and phony accents, coupled with the Hollywood glamour of the 1953 Doris Day film – itself a cliché of queer iconography.

Dates, times, location(s):
Saturday 10 to Sunday 11 August. Times tbc.
Cambridge Junction.

Application procedure: 
Applicants are invited to submit a paragraph explaining a bit about their practice and why they want to be involved. Submissions will be judged on genuine interest in the themes and explorations – we are not interested in musical theatre talent/experience/ability. You don’t have to sing if you don’t want to. Applicants should be keen to challenge themselves both physically and within the themes and problems of the project.

Please submit applications to [email protected] (cc’d to [email protected]). Please clearly note if, rather than performing, you are interested in designing/constructing the set over the weekend – again, no experience necessary! Closing date for applications is Sunday 9 June.

The artists:
GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN is Hester Chillingworth, Lucy McCormick and Jennifer Pick. We are an experimental performance company making theatre pieces, performance installations and text projects. GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN’s work tours nationally and internationally (including Vienna Festwochen, Festival Belluard Bollwerk International (Switzerland), ANTI Festival of Contemporary Art (Finland), PACT (Germany), Junge Hunde Festival (Denmark)). The company’s show Big Hits is currently touring and will be at The Almeida Festival in London in July 2013. GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN was a Platformed Artist at Arnolfini (Bristol) during 2011, where we were commissioned to respond to the venue’s 50th Anniversary theme “The Apparatus of Culture” and in 2012 we were made Associate Artists at Artsadmin. GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN has developed and delivered workshops and community events for partners including Roehampton University, Falmouth University, World Event Young Artists, and IdeasTap. We also curate the work of other artists through our SHOW US YER BITS! series of events, resident at the Roundhouse. We recently launched a mentoring scheme for emerging artists, supported by Arts Council England. www.getinthebackofthevan.com

Contact Information: 
Lucy McCormick on [email protected]
This DIY project is supported by Cambridge Junction.