POOL

ORGANIZERS

This event was part of the 2023 Rehearsal for Truth Theater Festival: Anew, organized by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and the Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York, GOH Productions, Trap Door Theatre, Centre of Jewish Culture STETL, Jan Mocek, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, Palissimo Company, and Romanian Cultural Institute.

DATE
June 13, 2023

VENUE
Bohemian National Hall

ABOUT

POOL is a collaborative fusion of performance, visual art, and documentary that explores the male gaze, self-objectification, and the way power shifts as we move between looking, seeing, and being seen. In a society that sees self-objectification of the feminine both encouraged and derided by the dominant culture and its critics alike, internalized oppression is erased. POOL sets out to bring this intergenerational wounding into view.

In POOL, the unmet needs of patriarchy’s citizens are isolated, magnified, and transferred into a fabricated system in which the characters struggle with their perceived deficits according to an unexpected set of rules. On stage covered with rows of Barbie dolls, four performers enact a vivid triptych: two men, competing to satisfy their own narcissism; a ghost of a woman whose shattered identity lives among the infinite gazes of men; and a young girl whose solid, stable presence throws into high relief the others’ disturbances.

POOL (2023), Czech Republic/US. Choreography: Denisa Musilova. Dramaturgy: Mark DeChiazza. Performed by: Denisa Musilova, Mark DeChiazza, Vivienne Pankratova, Tom Rychetsky. Music, sound design: Ales Kauer.

Denisa Musilova developed the presented performance during her artist residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in March 2023.