Fire Island was created by Mee specifically for 3-Legged Dog productions, which is a non-profit theatre and media group that predominantly focuses on large-scale experimental artwork. The multimedia performance installation will run through May 3.
Fire Island incorporates the work of 108 artists - among them Tuvan throat singer Albert Kuvezin - and 3-D Eyeliner technology that 3LD premiered last season in Losing Something. Filming for Fire Island's visual elements began on location in the summer of 2007.
3LD has been transformed into an indoor version of Fire Island, where audiences will witness "a couple falling in love from their perspective, close up, from a distance, as a voyeur peeping through the window, as well as the details of the environment around them (the weathered, salted boardwalk or the decaying pine needles)," according to press notes.
The entire studio has been covered in white sand to complete the environmental performance setting, which is described in press notes as "the ultimate high-tech beach party," promising beach chairs, pine trees and blended drinks. Fire Island also promises a host of the barrier island's resident characters, including "drag queens, little girls, freak clowns, Japanese bondage junkies and old folks."
Obie winner Charles L. Mee, known for his ability to create dramatic textual collages, is the current playwright-in-residence for the Signature Theatre Company's 2007-2008 season, which includes the New York premieres of Mee's Iphigenia 2.0 directed by Tina Landau, Queens Boulevard (the musical) and Paradise Park. Mee is a frequent collaborator with choreographer and director Martha Clarke with whom he penned Belle Epoque and Vienna: Lusthaus. Showtime for Fire Island is 8 PM. Doors will open at 6 PM for a pre-show barbecue. The 3LD Art and Technology Center is located at 80 Greenwich Street in Manhattan. For tickets call (212) 352-3101 or visit www.3LDNYC.org.
For additional information on the works of Charles L. Mee, visit www.charlesmee.org.