Gary LeBel
red sumac
Five Nō Sketches Framed in Tanka
STAGE SETS
On a large screen a B&W image of an old white turn-of-the-century New England farmhouse is projected. In front of it on the bare stage stand five headless manikins each clad in snow-white dresses styled from varying eras; the manikins are arranged as if conversing thus forming a loose row. Each will glow faintly from an interior though undermined light-source throughout the piece and are noticed especially when the screen is dark between scenes. Each manikin, however, will cease to glow as brightly when their character has finished speaking. Each of the five figures has a scene whereas the other four, when not directly speaking, serve as part of the off-screen CHORUS in an illuminated upper window beside the screen: this set is a simple, stick-built platform with a set of rough wooden stairs leading to a window frame roughed in with two-by-fours where the CHORUS stands behind.