Conceived and directed by Rae Red . In collaboration with Rain (Cliff D), Theresa Columbus, Kim Le, and Mars Dwyer. With help from Laura Grothaus.
You are invited to a cult gathering to celebrate and venerate a color. Join us for a multi-layered, multi-media, variety show esque performance, exploring the color red. Like a true Ballad there will be drama, lust, sex, and blood.
RED BALLAD is: A multi-media performance combining personal narratives and group associations with the color red. Through acting, song and dance, old-school technologies of stop-motion animation, overhead projectors, and shadow puppetry, video projections and narrative RED BALLAD will explore some of the cultural perceptions and histories of the color. Some examples of themes explored are red’s association with power, prostitution and sexuality, menstrual blood and fire. The color red is the thread that unites seemingly disparate subjects, creating a strange new view of reality.
———— POSTPONED UNTIL SUMMER/FALL 2021————-
Studio Theatre (3060)
Towson University Center For the Arts
7700 Osler Dr, Towson, MD 21204
MEET THE CAST OF RED BALLAD!
Rain (Cliff Doby)
Pronouns – call me anything but late for dinner (but seriously, I don’t have a preference)
1. Favorite RED – Crimson red because it is bold and striking. It often is associated with power, royalty, and others of high social standing like superhero’s. It speaks of determination and can emit sensuality. There’s also a sense of blood or life in it. It smells and tastes of iron and other metals.
3. Fav RED Smell – spicy
4. Fav RED Food – hot pickled sausages
5. Fav RED Sound – Sirens
6. Fav RED Texture – Velvet, Gel, and latexes
Mars
she/her
Favorite RED object: Mars, the planet 🙂 (thinking of using a teeny bit of astrology to bring in the more emotional, personal to all the other things I associate with the color red. It’s my name, and Mars is in my sun sign, Virgo. it’s just too good.) I also collect red jasper. (that will be my object probably).
2. your favorite RED smell: red sandalwood
3. you favorite RED food: red wine
4. your favorite RED sound: this one is hard! I don’t know? maybe something associated with the voice? lol i don’t know. heart beats!
5. your favorite red texture: red gummy candy or red rocks or tongues
Kim
she / her
1. your favorite red and why, describe, smell, texture, sound, taste etc…
I like a warm burgundy. It’s cozy and reminds me of home!
2. your favorite red smell: Idk. Strawberries? Mulled wine smell?3. you favorite red food: see above – also, kimchi jiggae (stew!) 4. your favorite red sound: I don’t know what sounds red makes! definitely not a FIRE sound 5. your favorite red texture – crinkly, like a cat toy
Theresa Columbus
she/her
- My favorite RED: My bedspread, I adored my grandmother and she wove it in the village where she lived in Crete. I got to spend a summer in the village with her and my grandfather when I was 11. We didn’t speak much because of the language barrier, but she was an amazing, strong person. I know her most through stories my mom has shared with me as an adult. The bedspread is scratchy wool, and the blanket is dense and very heavy. The whole thing is a vibrant red and there are patterns like geometrical plants around the edge in shades of mauve, purple, and darker red. When I broke up with my boyfriend and moved out on my own a few years ago, this bedspread became the centerpiece of my rooms.
- RED smell: rose hips
- REDfood: Tomatoes, apples, strawberries, beets (that would make an interesting salad?)
- RED sound: New red spring leaves rustling
- RED texture: Bright red yarn. I have always loved yarn. My favorite red sweater my mom made me in 5th grade, red yarn to stitch with.
Rae Red
They/them/their
- My favorite RED: Blood, it represents so many things to me- both power and cycles, harm and discomfort with medical institutions (like the time I gave red blood and my friend sitting next to me puked and then the person right behind me passed out), also anger and basic bodily functions.
- RED smell: A camp fire. especially the next morning when it sticks to your clothes.
- RED taste: Red chile- I have been on a chile kick this winter- eating it just about every day for almost a month now! it is so warming and spicy. It tastes like my home in New Mexico.
- RED sound: the sound of red glitter twinkling down through my fingers. Or the sound of my three favorite red rocks clanking together in my hand.
- RED texture: Red velvet- cheesy, I know… but it really is the best. I was at a discount fabric store in Berkely where the woman who was cutting my yardage was detailing to me the new red velvet upholstery she had put on all of her furniture and I was actually a little aroused by it.
