August 29, 2008

The Endale Epoch. Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

Text and photo by Ben Westhoff

Prospect Park weekenders in search of relaxation could be forgiven for being a bit confused by last Sunday’s play/concert/performance art piece, “The Endale Epoch.” Directed by underground theatre director Dillon de Give – who specializes in site-specific guerilla production – it took place beneath the park’s Endale Arch, sans permit. Actors performed in and around the arch, while passersby had no idea what was going on.

Backed by the hastily assembled Endale Orchestra – a five piece band whose players manned the recorder, saxophone, banjo, cello and vibraphone – the play concerned the life of a caveman, played by Mike Pare, who was suddenly dropped into the present day. Wearing only a loincloth, he was harassed by the police and fell in love with a scantily clad female jogger, who taught him to walk upright. Fiction and reality merged; the jogger character received catcalls from a group of kids walking by (not part of the show) and the Endale Orchestra provided the dreamy soundtrack for plenty of confused families. Mostly they wondered why some eccentric twenty-somethings had dragged what appeared to be an oversized xylophone with a wah-wah pedal to the park.

Posted at 9:00am
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