JOKING MATTER MICHAEL CLARK {BY DANIELLE FOX} COMPANY
TODAY’S ART DELVES DEEP INTO SOCIO-POLITICAL RELATIONS. Susanne Slavick’s skillful prints and paintings decry hunger, poverty and genocide. In her work and her wall plaques, she stands up for the Palestinian cause. Her images of empty and bloodstained tabletops make reference to the Jesus of Cana, who turned water into wine — but also to Qana in Lebanon, where, during operations in 1996 and 2006, Israeli forces killed many innocent civilians. Says Public Record curator Murray Horne: “If I can plant one seed of empathy and understanding in a single person, that would be a success.” But sometimes you can learn more from a fun experience than from a serious one. So it was at nearby 707 Penn Gallery, which hosts a satellite portion of the exhibit. Well Played: Paul’s Vinyl Records allows visitors to select, and play on a turntable, tracks from Paul Rosenblatt’s massive collection of vintage vinyl. Along with literalizing “public record,” Rosenblatt’s interactive installation provides a breath of fresh air. Two tracks from Frampton Comes Alive (let’s say) might transport a visitor back to a time when the world seemed much simpler. Despite everything learned at SPACE, you might find empathy (or understanding) in the simple spin of an old LP. INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M
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PITTSBURGH DANCE COUNCIL PRESENTS
[COMEDY]
Tig Notaro
ribs by someone unseen. Laughter unites. Surveillance is another subject explored. Paolo Pedercini’s video game “Leaky World” posits political elites connected across the globe who deny people “freedom, autonomy, and self-realization.” Tellingly, the game’s players must take the role of the elites, using a joystick and button to connect nodes and destroy leaks before the “tide of resistance” reaches a critical point. This sounds like a radical concept, but in light of NSA surveillance and the tracking of personal data by companies like Google, Facebook and Apple, perhaps the paranoia is warranted. Love also finds its way into Public Record. Inspired by Madeleine de Scudery’s 1654 Map of Love, Carolina Loyola-Garcia made short videos of the towns the map identifies. Four videos on the wall, with earphones, relate personal stories that deal with such themes as Sensibility, Exactness and Friendship. Film montage, poetic voice-overs and choreography make these videos very exciting.
TA S T E
There’s making light of a dark situation — then there’s turning your life-threatening disease into a comedy set. Comedian Tig Notaro has mastered the latter. In 2012, she revealed at Los Angeles comedy club Largo that she had just been diagnosed with Stage 2, bilateral breast cancer. Then she delivered a gut- and heart-wrenching set that Louis C.K. called “masterful.” A double mastectomy and a Grammy-nominated album later, Tig says she’s now healthy and “embarrassingly” without a complaint in the world. On Oct. 25, Notaro — also known for her podcast Professor Blastoff — brings her international Boyish Girl Interrupted Tour to town. She answered CP’s questions by email.
SAT, NOV 1 ST 2014 • 8 PM • BYHAM THEATER WATCH: TrustArts.org/MichaelClark
YOU’VE SAID THAT AT THE TIME OF THE LARGO SET, YOU HADN’T GRASPED THE POWER OF TWITTER AND HAD “GONE ONSTAGE THINKING I WAS HAVING A PRIVATE MOMENT WITH THAT VENUE.” WOULD YOU HAVE HAD THE SAME MINDSET IF YOU KNEW YOUR ROUTINE WOULD GO VIRAL? I’m so glad I didn’t know anything and didn’t have knowledge of that whole world of Twitter. There’s a huge chance I could have overthought things and the rawness would have been absent in the performance.
TICKETS START AT $19
Featuring the music of DAVID BOWIE and IGGY POP
expect to be jolted out of your seats – British Theatre Guide
TrustArts.org/dance • 412.456.6666 Program contains partial nudity. In partnership with the British Council. Pittsburgh Dance Council is a division of
DO YOU THINK YOU’LL ALWAYS WRITE ABOUT CANCER? I always do whatever excites me and what is authentic to me as a person and standup. I always want to do whatever feels right to me in any aspect of my life at any given point. My current hour of material has a nice mix of personal stories and just ridiculousness.
W Y E P & T h e P i t t s b u r g h C u l t u r a l Tr u s t p r e s e n t
CAN YOU GIVE US A COUPLE HINTS ABOUT YOUR NEW MATERIAL? I touch on everything from bombing at a comedy club in Vegas, to stories about me and my friend searching for Santa Claus, to even more personal events. I honestly love doing this new material, I think, more than any other previously. IN YOUR LARGO SET, YOU SAID, “WITH HUMOR, THE EQUATION IS: TRAGEDY PLUS TIME EQUALS COMEDY. I AM JUST AT TRAGEDY RIGHT NOW.” WHERE ARE YOU NOW? I am past tragedy now and hopefully at “time” right now — a lot of time. And [I] hope with more time, I could one day look back on that horrific four months as just a blip in my life and story.
with special guest
JIMBO AND THE SOUPBONES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 8PM • BYHAM THEATER
INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
TrustArts.org • Box Office at Theater Square
TIG NOTARO 7:30 and 9 p.m. Sat., Oct. 25. Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. $25. 412-363-3000 or www.kelly-strayhorn.org +
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412-456-6666 • Groups 10+ Tickets 412-471-6930
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