Play with Artist Mandy Morrison

Place, gender, fantasy and the media affect cultural expectations and dictate much of the relationship one has to their own expressive options. The rules that govern our lives, defined by social, political and spiritual belief systems, enforce restrictive discipline of the body. Through exchange between the artist and youths in McHenry County, the group has embarked on a poetic exploration of the forms by which the body seeks physical and spiritual refuge.

Several different sites were chosen in which to initiate investigations: a college classroom, a gymnasium, theatre space and a local wildlife park. In each we generated intuitive responses to these environments, projecting and enacting various types of play and fantasy.

Over time, these performative gestures and behaviors undercut the restrictions imposed by assumed protocols and made nuanced references to ritual, violence, mainstream media and cultural myth. Through filming and editing, the group has interwoven these intimate performances to create a series of narrative threads.

Student Artist
Stephen Jensen, Antioch
Columbia College, BFA 2008

Nicholas Banas, Cary
Crystal Carbajal, Crystal Lake
Kelly Kretchmar, Cary
Ann Treadwell, Crystal Lake