Performa 09: Omer Fast November 12, 2009

Interested in probing and unsettling the relationship between history and memory, for Performa 09 Omer Fast will enact the familiar childhood game of "Broken Telephone" to trace the arc of a story traveling from a first-person account to an improvised actor's dramatization. In a theatrical setting, invited guests will recount personal memories, all of which will have direct links to current global events. As each guest begins speaking, an actor appears in the stage wings, as an observer, listening to the guest's account for the first time. When the story is finished, the actor appears on the stage to retell what he or she has just heard, while another actor appears in the wings to listen to the account and subsequently narrate his or her own rendition of the story. This sequence repeats over the course of the night, allowing the story to transform from version to version into its own fluid text.