The Memoirist performed by Phyllis Chen

story/music/puppeteering/set design by Phyllis Chen animation/video design by Rob Dietz The Memoirist was performed at Voorhees Theater, Brooklyn NY, 2011. This video is a document of that performance run which was part of the Looking Glass Rewondered production by Phyllis Chen and Rob Dietz. PART I: The Tale for toy piano, music box, frying pan, egg PART II: The Memoirist for toy piano, sampling keyboard, video PART III The Dream for toy piano, bowls, video, pillow The Memoirist is a three-part multimedia piece using toy pianos, sampling keyboard, bowls,props and video projections. This piece captures the child-like nature of the toy piano through a bizarre tale featuring an old childhood friend that comes in the form of a stuffed bunny. A memoirist is like an archivist, a being that is responsible for preserving memories from someone else’s life. The piece begins with a music box playing a familiar Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme while a small figurine of Humpty dances along with the music. This miniature puppet-like character inspired the toy theater aesthetic I created in the following movements. In The Tale, I decided to personify Humpty Dumpty in a more 3-dimensional manner as an egg. The miniature set design and puppetry in the second portion of this work is constructed from cardboard, felt, and found objects as a toy theater set.The sampling keyboard is made entirely of recorded kitchen utensil sounds such as tea-balls, forks and bowls to create a tinkling percussive part that goes along with the toy piano. The Dream is a continuation of the story by projecting the rabbit’s dream on a pillow above her bed. The bed is placed on the toy piano as I perform it with three gong-like mixing bowls.