Reid Farrington
BrandoCapote
2019
"Why? It’s anyone’s guess, but it looks great.. and is sometimes dazzling…” - Rollo Romig The New Yorker
3 min. video of performance - "What was your father like?"
Opening Video - "The Overture" - This is projected on the closed kabuki drop before the performance begins. It shows all the film clips used in performance.
3 min. video of performance - "Tell me about the night of the shooting."
"The performers are compelling to watch throughout, and they work effectively as an ensemble. Eschewing conventional narrative techniques, BrandoCapote is both a hypnotic and enervating experience in its repetitive attempts to “get this right.” Disentangling the lives of the two souls merged in purgatory is fruitless and frustrating. Of course, that is exactly the point." – James Wilson, OffOffOnline
"For all the money in the world, I would not have been able to tell you what I saw." – Gregor Collins, Theater that Matters
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:
"Written by Sara Farrington and directed by Reid Farrington, this jittery dance-theatre piece, performed by five actors in kimonos, begins in 1957, in Kyoto, where Marlon Brando was acting in the film “Sayonara” and Truman Capote interviewed him for a Profile in this magazine. (Jennifer McClinton stands out as a slinky Capote, as does Lynn R. Guerra as Brando’s mother.) It then imagines that interview extending to the end of Brando’s life, conflates his movie dialogue with his actual biography, tosses in bits of Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” and loops them, in a manner suggestive of Noh theatre. Why? It’s anyone’s guess, but it looks great, with sound (by Marcelo Añez), lights (by Laura Mroczkowski), choreography (by Laura K. Nicoll), movie clips, and props working together in sometimes dazzling concert." — Rollo Romig, The New Yorker
"It all comes off like clockwork, which is fascinating to experience. It is also repetitive in an abstract way, which can be both titillating and aggravating. But it’s always stimulating, both aurally and visually. “I’m not an actor,” Brando says self-effacingly. “I’m a mimic. Everyone is. And I’m not successful.” However, BrandoCapote is, in part by not merely mimicking its two famous celebrities but taking their story to another level." – Mark Rifkin, This Week in New York
"I may not have understood all I was watching, but BrandoCapote is gripping to watch" – Gillian Russo, Plays to See
"BrandoCapote is ambitious, non-linear, memorable and wholly original. It also is a play, a dance, and a historical multimedia exhibit." – Joe Lombardi, Broadway World
"This now infamous interview caused quite a stir for its snarky tone and caustic observations about Asian women. In their BrandoCapote, Sara & Reid Farrington have sliced and diced this article, added music, fanciful Japanese costumes and rather severely stylized choreography and come up with a fascinating theater piece." – Joel Benjamin, Theater Scene
"This one was a demanding viewing also a super gratifying experience: dense and visually gorgeous. I'd definitely try to see it again." – Kamila Slawinski
Conceived by Sara & Reid Farrington
Written by Sara Farrington
Directed by Reid Farrington
Premier Nov 7-24, 2019 The Tank NYC
TIME/PLACE
Purgatory, which in this case is a hotel room in The Miyako Hotel,
Kyoto, Japan in the years between 1957 and 2004.
BrandoCapote is approximately 60 minutes with no intermission
CAST
Rafael Jordan* – Brando
Jennifer McClinton – Capote, or The Devil
Lynn R Guerra* - Dodie, or The Mother
Laura K Nicoll – Cheyenne, or The Daughter
Cooper Howell* – Christian, or The Son
Sara Farrington – Voice of Capote, or The Devil
Akiyo Komatsu – Vocal Impression of Truman Capote
*Member AEA, Approved Showcase
CREW & CREATIVE TEAM
Written by: Sara Farrington
Directed by: Reid Farrington
Choreographed by: Laura K Nicoll
Video Designed by: Reid Farrington
Stage Manager: Jaclyn Pageau
Noh Consultant: Mayo Miwa
Lighting Design: Laura Mroczkowski
Sound Design: Marcelo Anez
Costume Design: Andre Joyner
Costume Construction: Kelvin Gordon-El
Prologue song performed by: Daniel DeWald
Lighting Assistant: Evan Hawkins
Sound Assistant: Sam Soghor
Technical Director: Conrad Kluck
Assistant Stage Manager: Haley Gordon
HISTORICAL NOTES
1957: Truman Capote interviewed Marlon Brando in his room at The Miyako
Hotel for seven hours while the actor was on location in Kyoto, Japan shooting
the film Sayonara. The revealing profile, The Duke in His Domain, was
published in The New Yorker on Nov. 9th 1957. At the time, Brando was the
most famous movie star in the world, forever changing acting in theater and film.
1966: Capote became the most famous American writer of his generation after
the publication of his “non-fiction novel” In Cold Blood, about the Clutter family murder at the hands of Dick Hickok and Perry Smith. Hickok and Smith were hung for their crimes on April 14th 1965.
1984: Truman Capote died of liver disease due to a lifelong addiction to pills and alcohol. He was 59. He never completed another book.
1990: Christian Brando, Brando’s oldest son, murdered Dag Drollet, who was Cheyenne Brando’s boyfriend, with a single bullet to the face. Drollet, who was 25, was watching TV in Marlon’s living room when Christian shot him. Christian pled guilty to manslaughter and spent 4 years in prison. Cheyenne witnessed the murder.
1995: Cheyenne Brando committed suicide by hanging. She was 25.
2004: Marlon Brando died due to complications from respiratory and pulmonary disease. He was 80.
2008: Christian Brando died of pneumonia. He was 49.
Source Material
Films referenced: The Missouri Breaks, A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, Julius Caesar, Mutiny on The Bounty, Sayonara, Reflections in a Golden Eye, Superman, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now, The Island Of Doctor Moreau, The Godfather, Don Juan DeMarco, Free Money
Prose referenced
The Duke in His Domain, by Truman Capote
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
Plays referenced
A Flag is Born, by Ben Hecht
BRANDOCAPOTE WORKSHOP HISTORY
The Tank, November 2018, featuring Lynn R Guerra, Roger Casey, Sean
Donovan
Art House Productions, March 2019, featuring Laura K Nicoll, Lynn R Guerra,
Roger Dominic Casey, Gabriel Hernandez, Sean Donovan. Stage managed
by Rufus Morgan Kreilkamp Nicoll.
Art House Productions, June-August 2019, featuring Laura K Nicoll,
Lynn R Guerra, Roger Dominic Casey, Akiyo Komatsu, Shashwat Gupta.
Stage managed by Jaclyn Pageau.
BrandoCapote was developed in part thanks to a generous artistic
residency from Art House Productions, Jersey City, NJ. We are so
grateful to Meredith Burns, Courtney Little, Miranda Dahl &
the whole Art House team.
SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PERFORMERS & CREW
Laura Peterson, Roger Dominic Casey, Akiyo Komatsu, Sean Donovan,
Gabriel Hernandez, Shashwat Gupta, Miranda Dahl, Lillia Shrayfer,
Jennifer McClinton, Rachel Kaufman, Rufus Nicoll.
SPECIAL THANKS TO CHILDCARE SUPPORTERS FOR
JACK & LEVI FARRINGTON
Sally Carnevale, Russell Sperberg, Rosa Wolff, Daniel DeWald, Mike Asselin,
Kay & Jack Farrington, Holly Clark, Marti Giorgi, Lilly Rose Block,
Olivia Chamorro, Jane Wilbourn.
…
AND THANK YOU TO OUR BACKERS
Our team would like to thank the generosity of all 273 of our generous
Kickstarter backers who made this possible. They are:
Kristen Thomason Abbas, Juan Aboites, Jonathan Allen, Swati Alurkar, Ruth Alyce, Cathey Ambush, Jenny Ampersand, Mary Ann &Michael Cinelli, Anonymous, Anonymous, Siobhan Antonioli, Trish Arbib, Rachel Artenian, Michael Asselin, Nancy & Fred Asselin, Richard C. Aven, Cynthia Babak, Charles Bales, Joel Bassin, Joie Bauer, Evelyn Belasco, Kate Bernyk, Brad Berridge, Randi Berry, Kwesi Blair, Tom Block, Lucrecia Briceno, Emmy Brooks, Betsy Brown, Chris Burke, Deb Burks, Meredith Burns, Katie Cameron, Danny Carroll, Delvyn Case, Nat Cassidy, Kelley Cayton, Virginia Child, Jody Christopherson, Janet D. Clancy, Holly Clark, Julie Schwietert Collazo, Alexandra Collier, Jelena Conrad, Amanda Cooper, Kurt Crowley,
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