Crud - a beautiful mess

The subconscious of pomo theater is explored in the Festival of Crud

Dress warm, bring a blanket, and prepare to delve into the Crud that is post-modern theater. Friday and Saturday night the Arb's amphitheater will be aflame with tiki torches and light sticks as The Festival of Crud digs itself out of the dirt to entertain a crowd intent on reclaiming the Arb.

The Festival of Crud, a post-modern examination of the narrative form, was curated by college senior Frank Shea, though in the spirit of all that is pomo, he said, "I just made sure the space was there."

Regardless, Shea has assembled a promising group of dancers, actors and puppeteers in a valiant effort to explore the underbelly of Oberlin theater in a performance space too long ignored - and all behind a creepily yummy name to boot.

"Crud is a great term," said Shea. "It's so enthralling and it delves into the self-consciousness of post-modern ritualistic theater. It's like looking through a dirty lens - down into the dirt of modern ritualistic theater. It fits with the ceremonial feel of the arb."

Five separate pieces will make up this exploration of the self-conscious - Ubu Roi, directed by college junior Mike Clune and Shea, two dance pieces, puppet theater, a monologue accompanied by a vocal ensemble and a comedy improv group.

Complying with the experimental nature of the evening, college junior Mike Anderson was intentionally vague on what his piece entails. "Frank calls me at the last minute tomorrow and tells me where to be. The piece involves gasoline, lots of gasoline, but it should be pretty safe," said Anderson.

Digging even deeper into the intentionally hidden, college junior Roger Peet will present a puppet show based on a poem written by a woman in the control unit of Marion Prison in Illinois. Peet has been building his puppets all year, and his creations thus far include a rod puppet which hangs off his neck and waddles along the ground, a sixteen-foot tall puppet operated by three people and a "puppet of death," a skeleton which hangs suspended in front of him.

The idea for Crud has been boiling in Shea since February, and since then he has been approaching everyone he thought might be interested. Along with the performers, Shea found senior Sadie Ishee to design the lighting. "We didn't want to bring in a generator," said Shea. "For the effect I wanted you have to get away from electrical lighting, which casts an awkward hue."

Ishee has come up with several ingenious schemes to overcome the lack of natural light found at the Arb at night. Three cars are being pushed up onto the hill to shine their headlights through the aisles, tikki torches and lanterns will light up the stage and audience members can choose to wear flashlight headgear.

Shea felt the staging of Crud at this point in time is especially relevant considering the threatened state of the arts in the US. "With the attacks on the NEA, the artist is stuck in this deranged financial position. Everyone is asking if art is really worth funding. The people giving out grants expect art to perform a social function - it gets kind of deranged when people stop looking at the true intent and purpose of a work," said Shea. With Crud, Shea is able to support fringe theater that might not receive the support of typical large foundations.

Workers in the service building and the grounds crew provided invaluable support in preparing the amphitheater for the festival. "They bent over backwards - getting cars on hills and lending me fire extinguishers," Shea said.

Rehearsals have been going on all week, and while any production period is stressful, the atmosphere of the arb provided a relief of sorts. When things started to go wrong, Shea said, "I would just look up at the sky, look at the stars, breathe in the air and all my anger would go away."

As a tension reliever - and a chance to examine the seething subconscious - the Festival of Crud couldn't come at a more appropriate time.

The Festival of Crud will be going up this Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The first hour will be devoted to art and performances scattered through the Arb - a map will be distributed to help the viewer find everything. The main performance at the amphitheater will begin at 8:00 p.m. For the most direct route to the festivities, walk down S. Professor, past Johnson House, and enter the arb at the wooden gates. And don't forget to dress warm and bring a blanket.