The Group May 29, 2008

Dodeska Performance Ensemble & Climate Theater present…
THE GROUP
A World Premiere Performance
by Dodeska Performance Ensemble
created by Robert Quillen Camp
A Three-Week Limited Engagement
May 29 – June 14, 2008 - Climate Theater in SF

http://www.dodeska.com

The Group, a new performance piece created by Robert Quillen Camp and performed by Dodeska Performance Ensemble, is an Enacted Self-Empowerment Workshop that combines a charismatic leader with an immersive audio experience. Inspired by the largely American tradition of packaging and selling self-improvement, (from EST and the Landmark Forum to Norman Vincent Peale and The Secret), The Group takes its audience on a savagely wry headphones-guided “soul journey” and illustrates the negative potential of positive thinking.

The Group plays for a three-week limited engagement May 29 – June 14 (Thurs. – Sat.). Performances are: Thurs at 8:00 pm , Fri. and Sat 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm.
Fri. June 13, 10:30 pm only, & Sat. June 14, 2:00 pm and 10:30 pm at
Climate Theater 285 Ninth St. (at Folsom) in SF. Tickets are $15 and are on sale at http://www.climatetheater.com or call: 415/ 263-0830

Designed for intimate audiences of 15-20 people, The Group is an hour-long seminar led by an increasingly unsympathetic Group Leader played by Ryan Eggensperger. His voice (picked up through a wireless mic) is mixed into a vast, detailed sound world, featuring original music by composer Alec Duffy, delivered to the audience through wired headsets.
As the audience sits in the “power circle” they find themselves observing each other at the same time as they are invited to retreat into their own private audio environment. The Group creates a non-community community among its audience and calls into question the usefulness of secular social groups that have commodified the roles once occupied by religious institutions.

The main question posed by The Group is:
What happens when you know something is a scam and you choose it anyway?

Creator Camp explains that in making The Group, he has aimed to create a fun but ultimately unsettling experience reflecting his simultaneous attraction to and repulsion from organizations and programs that promise a better and happier life. While there are probably many cases in which individual programs can help people, he is troubled by the general trend towards a consumer culture of simplified enlightenment, in which fulfilling the needs of the self often trump any larger social or ethical concerns. More to the point, he is concerned that there seem to be increasingly few places in our contemporary world where we can turn to satisfy some of our basic human needs – friendship, advice, and meaning – that aren’t compromised by the pursuit of worldly ends, i.e. making money.

To hear audio clips from The Group visit:
http://www.dodeska.com/thegrouppress.htm

The Group is a project of the Dodeska Performance Ensemble,
created by Robert Quillen Camp, performed by Ryan Eggensperger,
with music by Alec Duffy and Robert Quillen Camp, and co-directed by Alexis Poledouris.

What: The Group
A World Premiere
Performed by Dodeska Performance Ensemble
Created by Robert Quillen Camp

Dates: May 29 – June 14, 2008 (Thurs. – Sat.)
Times: Thurs. 8:00 pm
Fri. and Sat 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm
Fri. June 13, 10:30 pm only
Sat. June 14, 2:00 pm and 10:30 pm

Venue: Climate Theater in SF
285 Ninth St. (at Folsom St.) in SF 94103

Tickets: $15

Box Office; http://www.climatetheater.com

Press photos: http://www.dodeska.com/thegrouppress.htm

Audio Clips: http://www.dodeska.com/thegrouppress.htm

Telephone: For info please call 415/ 706 - 9535

Website: http://www.dodeska.com

Official Website: http://www.dodeska.com/thegrouppress.htm