Double Blind Sided

"Physical theater is a kind of theater in which movement is equally as important as text. Movement in theater is obviously related to dance and it is no surprise that two of America's most active practitioners of physical theater are both trained as dancers. Paul Zmolek and Joséphine Garibaldi founded Callous Physical Theater in 2004. Since that time, Garibaldi and Zmolek have given numerous performances in the United States and Europe. In the spring of 2013, I collaborated with them in the creation of a new work, Double Blind Sided."
- Robert Fruehwald, Double Blind Sided composer

Double Blind Sided

With movement-based direction provided by Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek of Callous Physical Theatre the world premiere of Double Blind Sided, was conceived as a contemporary opera Inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and influenced by Harry Partch's vision of a corporeal theatre. In post-9/11 security state, through the PATRIOT Act and other concessions, the trials and tribulations of Josef K as imagined by Kafka have gone beyond the realm of metaphoric satire and have become a very real possibility. "Double Blind Sided" explores Kafka’s memes that continue to resonate in the 21st century.

Composer, Robert Fruehwald of Southeast Missouri State University, created emotionally moving music for Indiana-based poet G.B. Waldschmidt’s witty libretto, creating a non-linear montage of anachronistic scenes connecting Kafka’s novel, Weimar Germany’s slide into Nazism, the Vietnam War, and current economic and political events.

Artistic directors Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek utilized a collaborative devising methodology with the eight performers to create movement based in script and movement analysis. What resulted was an evening of total theatre – rich images, beautiful singing, witty wordplay, exuberantly physical performance.

Double Blind Sided was made possible, in part, by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, Idaho Commission on the Arts, Pocatello Arts Council, Callous Physical Theatre and Idaho State University’s Cultural Events Committee, Humanities & Social Science Research Committee and the Department of Theatre and Dance as well as private donations from Kristi Austin, Carla Barragan, Walter John Budnick, Karen Chadwick, Ellen & Rob Dillon, Elizabeth Emmerson , Lorraine Gates, Thom Hasenpflug, Cassie House-Harris, Julie Leir-Van Sickle, Diana Livingston Friedley, Antoinette Marich, Kathleen C. McCulloch, Elizabeth Miklavcic, Ikuko Milton, John Morrison, Cacie Mularchuk, Bea Nevins, Robin Parker, Cid Pearlman, Cleve Redmond,Cathy Santome, Rick Starks, Rhonda Weller-Stilson, Jennifer Wolbrecht, John Zmolek, Steve Zmolek.

Rogers Black Box Theater, Stephens Performing Arts Center
Idaho State University, Pocatello
May 22, 23, & 24 at 7:30 pm
May 25 at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm
Post-Performance Panel May 22 & 23

Double Blind Sided

Music:                Robert Fruehwald
Libretto:             G.B. Waldschmidt
Direction:         Joséphine A. Garibaldi and Paul Zmolek
Conductor:         Julie Sorensen
Vocal Direction: Diana Livingston Friedley
Performance:         Matt Austin, Tiffany Chandler, Megan Griggs , Julie Leir-VanSickle,
                            Adam Mendez, Jr., Kelsey Palmer, Alexis Starks, Lakota Terrace
Instrumentalists:    Andrew Erickson, Shandra Helman, Michael Helman, Cassie Vandersloot

"Any type of theater can make use of music. If one adds music to movement and text, one ends up with a kind of 'opera'.
Double Bind Sided: Kafka's German Process (DBS for short) is just such a work. The text for DBS was written by G.B. Waldschmidt. It places Franz Kafka's character Josef K, from the The Trial, in the center of the action. Josef K. is held accountable for many of the atrocities of the 20th century, even those that occurred after his time. In addition to dealing with issues of importance in Europe between two wars, DBS deals with love, death and betrayal in Vietnam-era America. The text contains numerous quotations, paraphrases and parodies.
Waldschmidt's words create a web of post-modern connections."
- Robert Fruehwald, Double Blind Sided composer