An invitation to the Court sisters’ salon reveals more than a typical dinner party. Goldfish. Gerbils. Peacocks. Experience them marvelously morph in Kevin Killian’s poetic play “The Lenticular.” Philadelphia-based poets and actors Jenn McCreary?, Jason Mitchell?, Alexa Smith?, Philip Mittereder?, and Mel Bentley mercurially change perspective and direction with each gruesomely looney exchange. Under the watchful lenses of the lenticular, revel in each illusion of language and angle of relationship without moving from your seat.
Rodrigo Toscano calls Poets Theater “a demonstration of language in its social-body making and undoing capacities.” Kevin Killian is one of its beloved practitioners. This is the first performance of “The Lenticular.”
KEVIN KILLIAN, a New Narrative writer living South of Market in San Francisco, has written fifteen books, among them Bedrooms Have Windows, Shy, Little Men, Arctic Summer, Action Kylie, Impossible Princess, Spreadeagle, and Tagged. For the San Francisco Poets Theater he has produced fifty plays, but wrote “The Lenticular” not for the stage but for the first museum retrospective of the Canadian-born, NYC-based artist Gareth Long. This will be its first actual staging and Killian is stoked about its cast and its production. Many thanks to all concerned.
JENN MCCREARY’s (Greta Court) most recent full-length poetry collection, & now my feet are maps, is available from Dusie Press; sections were also adapted with playwright Kathy Vinogradoff for performances at Small Press Traffic in Oakland, CA, and the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia. Other works include The Dark Mouth of Living (Horse Less Press), :ab ovo: (Dusie Press), a doctrine of signatures (Singing Horse Press), & Odyssey & Oracle (Least Weasel Press). worrywort, a collaborative long poem written with Pattie McCarthy, was part of Little Red Leaves Textile Series in 2014. Current projects include #horde, a multimedia poetry venture about zombies & social media in collaboration with Alexa Smith (Allison). A 2013 Pew Fellow in the Arts for poetry, she lives in Philadelphia with her family where she edits ixnay press. McCreary is grateful to JenMarie MacDonald for the opportunity to play Greta for Kevin Killian, in whose debt she forever remains for teaching her how to Chloe.
PHILIP MITTEREDER (Kabin Karki) is the editor-in-chief of Mad House Publications, an independent publisher of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, literary journalism, art, and photography, based in Philadelphia, PA. He is a member of the Get Lucid! artists collective.
MEL BENTLEY (Midge) sporadically organizes evenings of poetry and multidisciplinary performance in Philadelphia. Obstacle, Particle, Spectacle, was released from 89plus/Luma Foundation as part of the exhibition “Poetry Will Be Made By All.” Chapbooks “Stub Wilderness” and “&parts” were released from Well Greased Press and Damask Press, respectively.
ALEXA SMITH (Allison Court) was born & raised among the stout & squirrelly poets of Washington, D.C. She studied theater & danced to Ke$ha in the basements of The University of Pittsburgh. She now lives in South Philadelphia—still dancing, still squirrelly. Past Philly acting credits include WICCANS IN THE HOOD & CRAZYFACE with Brainspunk Theater. Current projects include #horde, a multimedia poetry venture about zombies & social media in collaboration with Jenn McCreary (Greta), plus a solo poetry comic about Fishtown mermaids. She is so happy to be working on “The Lenticular” with this great group of humans—many thanks to JenMarie for making it happen.
JASON MITCHELL (Dr. Tim) lives in Philadelphia where he coordinates and hosts the poetry reading series Frank O’Hara’s Last Lover in the Rose Room at Snockey’s Oyster House. Poems of his can be found in Hi Zero, Court Green, and Jupiter 88, as well as in a few other places.
