Past Performing Arts | Interdisciplinary

Big Dance Theater

Cage Shuffle: A Digital Duet

Virtual | Columbus Premiere | Wex Commissioned Project

Bebe Miller (on left) and Paul Lazar (on right) seated and facing each other at a red table

This digital dance/theater duet between two consummate performers—Paul Lazar and Bebe Miller—incorporates text by Wexner Prize–winner John Cage.
 

Cage Shuffle was originally a 50-minute dance/theater solo by actor, writer, and Big Dance Theater cofounder Paul Lazar that premiered at the American Realness festival in New York City in 2017 and continues to tour nationally and internationally.

For this presentation reconceived in the era of COVID-19, Lazar teams up with renowned choreographer, dancer, and Ohio State Distinguished Professor Bebe Miller and media artist Eamonn Farrell to present a series of one-minute stories written by musician John Cage while simultaneously dancing a complex choreographic score by Lazar, Miller, and Annie-B Parson, artistic director of Big Dance Theater. 

Mixing multiple images of the dance to the speaking of Cage’s playfully philosophical text, the live event will be a cinematic adventure that continually forms and reforms in accordance with Cage’s signature chance techniques—a philosophy and methodology that seems especially relevant today. In a moment of multiple crises, when we are physically isolated yet virtually omnipresent, Cage Shuffle: A Digital Duet employs chance, live performance, and technology to create a piece that speaks to our current complicated and contradictory moment.

Conceived and Directed by Paul Lazar
Performed by Bebe Miller and Paul Lazar
Choreography by Annie-B Parson, Bebe Miller, and Paul Lazar
Directorial consultant: Annie-B Parson
Video Design by Eamonn Farrell
Lighting Design by Sonia Baidya
Sound by Stephen Trefnoff
Costumes by Eamonn Farrell, Bebe Miller, and Annie-B Parson
Streaming Technician: Stephen Jones
Stage Management by Ilana Khanin
Production Management by Andrew Hensler and John Smith
Produced by Sara Pereira da Silva
Tour Representation and Production: ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann
Associate Producer, Performing Arts: Adam Elliott
Director, Performing Arts: Lane Czaplinski

Commissioned by the Wexner Arts Center for the Arts

INDETERMINACY by John Cage © 2009 by Henmar Press Inc. Reprinted by agreement with Wesleyan University Press and John Cage Trust. All rights reserved. Used by permission of C.F. Peters Corporation.

“Gay Guerrilla,” composed by Julius Eastman, published by Music Sales Corp. 
(ASCAP) o/b/o Itself and Eastman Music Publishing Company (ASCAP)

Acknowledgments:
Thank you to Craig T. Peterson at Abrons Arts Center for his continuous support of Big Dance Theater, to the Wooster Group who kindly made their space available for rehearsals, and Annie-B Parson for her valuable choreographic and directorial input.

Bebe Miller (on left) and Paul Lazar (on right) seated and facing each other at a red table

Bebe Miller and Paul Lazar in Cage Shuffle, photo: Annie-B Parson

Black and white image of Paul Lazar (on right) and Bebe Miller (on left) in rehearsal

Bebe Miller and Paul Lazar in Cage Shuffle | Photo by Annie-B Parson

MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Ohio Arts Council
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Huntington Bank
Nationwide Foundation

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Kaufman Development
Cardinal Health Foundation

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Big Dance Theater