New Vintage Ensemble, from New Orleans, LA, presented Static, a hybrid theater, live concert production that told the story of a son using music as a means to cope with losing his father to dementia.
The show is the work of playwright Connor Kelly O’Brien, who created it after hearing Daniel Amedee’s music. The theater was dark and on the black curtain behind the performers, projections moved with the forms’ outlines in white. I could decipher some street scenes and pedestrians moving. The theater remained dark for the duration of the show with isolated spot lights focusing on each performer, in turn, as they traded back and forth while the narrative progressed.
Connor sat house left, going through boxes of his past memories. He was never as close as he hoped he could be to his father. As his father developed dementia and his days were numbered, the son decided to take him on a road trip to try and rekindle some form of connection. The show was about the love between people and the way we cope with the hard things in life.
All the music by Daniel was original and mesmerizing. This wasn’t your typical musical stage production. The dark, brooding production left in its wake sadness at the ways people deflect from any form of connection, with idle conversation that never gets to the heart of what should be said. Though the play felt like a personal reflection on loss, it was fictional.
