SOMETHINNNGISALWAYSSSWRONGG, excerpt from documentation from the premiere performance at JOAN in Los Angeles on Nov 22 & 23 2019. The full documentation is available here.
Relevant Press: Hannah Spears & Asha Bukojemsky on SOMETHINNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG
JOAN presented Barnett Cohen’s SOMETHINNNGISALWAYSSSWRONGGG on November 22 & 23, 2019. The performance questioned the way language, affect, and embodiment are shaped by contemporary political realities. Over its two-night run, a cast of five performers delivered Cohen’s nonlinear script, which revolves around a central theme of complicity, as they moved throughout the space, periodically emerging from and rejoining the spectators. Daniel Bruinooge performed an original score on the production’s only prop: a white, baby grand piano. Originating out of a daily practice of automatic writing, Cohen’s scripts begin as stream of consciousness verse, and result in performances that test the limits of language and the ability to connect with others. The fits and starts, awkward pauses, long silences, and halting declarations that occur throughout this performance mirror our common search for meaning and understanding, not only of ourselves but of a world off its axis.
SOMETHINNNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG explores the link between the lack of meaningful policies that would effectively confront the myriad crises that we currently face and our feelings of despair and complicity. The causes are structural and the burden of change becomes a weight too heavy to shoulder. There is, however, no cavalry coming to save us. No perfect politician who, with the stroke of many pens, might spare us from our unfortunate inheritance of fear and greed and gluttony. Facing down the inevitable, SOMETHINNNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG posits that a radical conversation with our feelings, to better acquaint ourselves with why we do what we do, might be the first step toward revolutionary action. Self-understanding and self-compassion results in relief. That relief can translate into liberation, and that liberation can become the starting point for change. SOMETHINNNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG is therefore a performative act of internal and external probing, of becoming more intimate with the self and holding the discoveries aloft for all to see.
SOMETHINNNNGISALWAYSSSSWRONGGGG by Barnett Cohen in collaboration with performers Deja Bowen, Elisa Noemi, Danielle Swords, Bree Wernicke, and Roksana Zeinapur. The score was composed and performed by Daniel Bruinooge. Styling by Jenni Lee. Make up by Hayley Farrington. Technical Direction by McKenna Warde.
