Oct 28, 2011
SFFILM
The San Francisco Film Society will present a new KinoTek program The Dardy Family Home Movies by Stephen Sondheim by Erin Markey, a live performance by the Brooklyn-based writer/performer Erin Markey, December 2-4 and 9-11 at San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema (1746 Post Street).
Erin Markey has been training for this performance all her life. Based loosely on her childhood, this show is set in the maniacally normal American family environment of Bay City, Michigan. Primarily a portrait of mother Molly Dardy, but including the whole Dardy clan (father Hardy Dardy and children Sarah, Penny and Geoffrey), each character is given depth and roundness by the ultratalented Markey. Molly cares about her kids, but they grew up and are now far away. Her house feels weird and empty and enormous. Nothing to do but sing about it! Markey’s strategy is to first slyly disarm audiences by presenting the touching charm of Midwestern home life and then burrow into the frailties, anxiety and even horror that underpin the familial unconscious, made all the more palpable through Markey’s animal magnetism. New York-based Markey’s darkly comedic, surreal performances have garnered a devoted following. Molly’s keen obsessiveness is the perfect vehicle for Markey’s investigation of everyday details. Home movies and memories play a vital role in revealing the silliness, worry and heartbreak that unites all Dardys. Well, that and the fact that any of them might break into song without notice at any moment.
For complete program information visit sffs.org/Exhibition/KinoTek.
The Film Society has commissioned an original essay inspired by and about Markey, by the award-winning novelist/editor Michelle Tea, to be published on November 29.
“The first time I saw Erin Markey, I was overwhelmed by her intensity and humor,” said Film Society Programmer Sean Uyehara, who curates the KinoTek programs. “It was only after seeing her again and in different shows that I realized how precise and controlled she is. The feeling of giddy, wonderful unrest she provokes is entirely intentional. She has her audience in her thrall. Luckily, she is a benevolent and silly ruler. Markey uses the conceit of home movies and their projection in conjunction with live performance an as essential aspect of the imagined Dardy home. Her memories are tied up with their representations on video.”
Erin Markey is an “outlandishly riotous” (Village Voice) playwright, actress, comedienne and performance artist. Her performance in Half Straddle’s Family was recognized in Time Out NY‘s Top Ten Plays as “the scariest performance of 2009.” She was recently featured on the cover of the New York Press (July 2011), where she was described as “fearless” and “affecting.” As playwrights, she and Joseph Keckler were invited to the 2007 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab with their musical Looking for Limbo. Markey’s solo musical, Puppy Love, played at PS 122 in May 2010 as part of the SoloNOVA festival. As a performance and cabaret artist, she regularly presents original work at Our Hit Parade at Joe’s Pub (the Public Theater), Dixon Place and Envoy Enterprises Gallery and has shown work at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Comix and Ars Nova.
KinoTek is a programming stream presenting nontraditional, cross-platform and emergent media. Throughout 2011 and 2012 the Film Society will present eight KinoTek programs, each featuring the work of an artist or practice that challenges the boundaries of screen-based art. The series launched this year with a multiplatform presentation of the work of American multimedia artist Laurel Nakadate in February and a multifaceted exhibition of the work of pioneering software artist Marius Watz this summer. KinoTek is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation.
Performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 6:00 pm.
Tickets $12 for SFFS members, $15 general. Box office opens November 1 online at sffs.org and in person at San Francisco Film Society | New People Cinema.
For interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
Upcoming KinoTek programs
Karolina Sobecka, animation and interaction design
Adriane Colburn, experimental cartography and installation
Brent Green, sculpture and animation