The Factory
East Coast meets West Coast in this Ken Kesey and Andy Warhol-inspired collaborative performance. Turning the Towson University MFA Theatre office into a Factory, the audience was immersed in Acid Trip-like fashion to art as life.
The audience is first led into a room with a Facebook live feed of Jesse Baxter eating a hamburger, a call back to Warhol’s own hamburger scene filmed by Jorgen Leth that attempted to get at his essence through mundane action. Then the rest of the MFA cohort sat for screen tests simultaneously in dialog with their own star potential and act of being. After, the audience was invited to join the cool kids at the Factory where Ken Kesey monologued about his experiences while the Towson Underground Band heckled and interjected their sound as a counterpoint to the text.
The piece worked to draw similarities between the two 60s cultures and relate them to the experiences of academic life by drawing attention to everyday spaces and activities. The Factory was most successful in the eyes of the undergraduate theatre students that attended by introducing part of art history, starting a dialog about the boundaries of art and life, and repurposing a common space.
Directed by: Laura Pazuchowski
Ken Kesey Written and Performed by: Lindsey Griffith
Music Improvised by: Sam Brady, Laura Pazuchowski, and Lindsey Griffith
Factory Members: Ally Ibach, Jesse Baxter, Sara B, Julia Katz, and Duff Norris
