Tools

Bill Talen2010

 

Voice, Language, Sound
 
Hairdo = Elvis + Jimmy Swaggart
 
Costume collar + authentic calling.
 
What’s the difference between
 
performing and embodying?
impersonating and becoming?
playing and attempting to overthrow conventions?
wit and seriousness?
 
Movement: Posture, Gesture

 

Dramatic. Iconic. Recognizable.
 
Text and Improvisation
 
Is it prophecy and channeling? Scripted performance? Jazz improvisation?
 
Narrator comes from the same root—gno—as cure.
 
A number of savvy people in the theatre world describe Talen as writing some of the most evocative, powerful and poetic work on any American stage today
 
 
Reverend Billy's notebook.
Photo by Brennan Cavanaugh (CC)
 

 

Blessing of the Water Day, Chelsea, NYC, 3/22/09
Photo by C.S. Muncy (CC)
 
“...when we pray, it becomes prayer...you don't do that from a position of parody...'Reverend Billy' is just a way of meet and greet. The parody's over in seconds.” Bill Talen
 
Blessing of the Water Day, Chelsea, NYC, 3/22/09
Photo by C.S. Muncy (CC)