Sang-Froid: Gertrude And Alice: A Likeness To Loving

Project Description

WHAT
GERTRUDE AND ALICE: A LIKENESS TO LOVING is a two person performance about the relationship between Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. The work examines how Gertrude's writing arose from the "daily life" together with Alice. It's written and performed by Lola Pashalinski and Linda Chapman; directed by Anne Bogart with the following collaborators: set design by Myung Hee Cho; lighting design by Mimi Jordan Sherin; costume design by Gabriel Berry; sound design by Darron West; production dramaturg Morgan Jenness; and research dramaturgs Ulla E. Dydo and Bill Rice. The producer is Sang-Froid, Ltd.

We are constructing the piece from Stein's literature, the two women's correspondence, Toklas' cookbook and memoirs. We are creating a theatrical portrait of the two, inhabiting a space, to quote Bill Rice, "...somewhere between Mabel Mercer at Cafe Society and a poetry reading".

WHEN AND WHERE
Rehearsals will begin in May for a two week period. Production is planned for Fall 1998 presented by Voice & Vision Theater, Marya Mazor, Artistic Director and Mona-Louise Hyre, Producing Director. A reading will take place on April 6, 1998 at Voice & Vision's venue, The Cornelia Connelly Center.

WHY
Gertrude Stein was an American original. Ex-patriate, pioneer modernist writer, art collector, salonniere, friend and mentor to painters and writers of renown, she became one of this century's great self promoters. Her passion was to renew the meaning of the word, indeed to invigorate American English for the twentieth century by forging new ways for the reader to experience language in a syncopated present.

This passion was fueled by a loyal partner. Gertrude had a wife, Alice Babette Toklas: lover, friend, secretary, house-keeper, gardener, publisher and finally perpetuator of Gertrude's artistic legacy after her death.

Before Gertrude and Alice achieved the recognition they both desired with the success of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas , they constructed a life together in singular support and worship of Gertrude's writing. Gertrude believed that "in English literature in my time, I'm the only one". Bold in their persons, they lived their erotic lives without apology, while their "daily life" was kept private from the scrutiny of family and the public.

The two women's struggles with art, sex, jealousy, money, fame, the major personalities of their times, and finally Gertrude's obsession with questions of identity torment and tease us as well. Who were the real women behind the self-perpetuated myth of Gertrude and Alice? Our fascination is with their relationship. We're not satisfied with the iconized Gertrude and Alice as the great lesbian couple. We've taken a more subtle approach, looking beyond those notions.

We turned to Stein scholar Ulla Dydo for guidance in our reading. We look closely at the writing. Gertrude's texts often make the reader impatient, so that you don't read with care. If you really look at the work, you find out the truth.

From unpublished writing and works out of print, a new picture of Gertrude and Alice's marriage emerges. Their personal life together had its turbulence. The idyllic sensuality conveyed in works such as Lifting Belly was only one color on the rich palette of "daily life." There is a wonderful sensuality and boldness in Gertrude's language. We bring our audience into understanding that language, thereby understanding the women.

HOW
Director Anne Bogart and an extraordinary design team will collaborate with us to create a life for this theatrical chamber work. Anne sees the performance unfolding in a series of beautiful images, informed by the burgeoning artistic and scientific influences of the first third of the century. The physical life of the play will include movement and musical accompaniment.

HELP SUPPORT THIS PRODUCTION
We are asking for gifts to support the production of GERTRUDE AND ALICE: A LIKENESS TO LOVING from friends and others who are interested in seeing this realized.

Sang-Froid is a not-for-profit organization, based in NYC since 1990. It has produced theater and media projects and has received past support from The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York State Department of Health, The Manhattan Neighborhood Network, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and from The Rockefeller Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Astraea Foundation, An Uncommon LEGACY Foundation, The Northstar Foundation, The Rapoport Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, as well as from many individuals and in-kind sponsors.

Contributions in any amount for GERTRUDE AND ALICE: A LIKENESS TO LOVING are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law and may be sent to:

Sang-Froid, Ltd.
113 West 15th Street #4R
New York, NY 10011

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