Often forgotten in discussions of Dada is its whimsical humor. Happenstance Theater mines that rich vein in its polished jewel of performance art, Manifesto! It takes its title and its text from those public declarations of principles -- bookended by The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (1848) and The Capitalist Manifesto of Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler (1958).
Manifesto! takes place in a delightfully surreal cafe. Happenstance founders Mark Jaster as Middleman and Sabrina Mandell as New Girl . . .
. . . are joined by Maia DeSanti playing Hostess with a delicious accent one could kill for -- were it not that such a Dada act would violate some Dada principle or other.
Scott Burgess' Bar Tender conveys character even when he's unseen,
while Marcus Kyd . . .
and Lise Bruneau make a compelling duo of Visionaries.
With style and flair these characters amused and surprised me against a context of earnest words that ultimately proved absurd. The cast even managed to work the audience into the act.
This sophisticated romp epitomizes Dada in all its contradictions and wit.
Dada is dead. Long live Dada.
To see more photographs of Manifesto!, click here.
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