Histories of fire and microphones

When I announced the Summer Spectacular in 2014, I talked to a few people who were surprised I was making a outdoor summer show.

Maybe they’re used to seeing me in a tie with a microphone or two stuffed in my face. Like this:

Photo by: Dimitrios Touloumis

or this:

46 FP Feb Monarch

And that’s pretty accurate for what I’ve been up to the early years of this century.

Last century however:

 This:

JZ Purple

led to this:

JZ Stilts

which led to:

Soltice JZ profile

and later, at Burning Man, in a Navada desert, to this:

JZ Crouch Red

and this:

JZ TF BM

I don’t have pictures from working with Public Dreams building lanterns, lighting fireworks or being inside a puppet rig for Parade of the Lost Souls. This was before we carried around a phone, let alone a phone with a camera.

I wandered away from this kind of work for all sorts of complicated reasons – personal and artistic. But there is no doubt that the years spent in the public spectacle has shaped my outlook on life — and was incredibly transformative for a shy kid who couldn’t imagine running around a desert in a dance belt.

In 2012, I started to get a hankering to return to outdoor spectacle work.

Soltice Lineup

I missed the connection with the audience, I missed the potential of people just stopping and watching, I missed the liberation and pleasure that comes with performing and rehearsing outside.

But I also wanted to include the values intimacy and big ideas that I love in performance.

I believe these things are complimentary, not exclusive.

And The Summer Spectacular is the first time we’re going to prove it.

[UPDATE December 2022: Check out Nakai Theatre for more current work in this area.]

JZ Flag

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