CAGE SHUFFLE: A DIGITAL DUET

Cage Shuffle was originally a 50-minute dance/theater solo by actor, writer, and Big Dance Theater cofounder Paul Lazar that premiered at the American Realness festival in New York City in 2017 and continues to tour nationally and internationally, including a performance at BMCM+AC in July of 2019.

For this presentation, reconceived in the era of COVID-19, Lazar teams up with renowned choreographer, dancer, and Ohio State Distinguished Professor Bebe Miller and media artist Eamonn Farrell to present a series of one-minute stories written by musician John Cage while simultaneously dancing a complex choreographic score by Lazar, Miller, and Annie-B Parson, artistic director of Big Dance Theater.

Mixing multiple images of the dance to the speaking of Cage’s playfully philosophical text, the live event was a cinematic adventure that continually forms and reforms in accordance with Cage’s signature chance techniques—a philosophy and methodology that seems especially relevant today. In a moment of multiple crises, when we are physically isolated yet virtually omnipresent, Cage Shuffle: A Digital Duet employs chance, live performance, and technology to create a piece that speaks to our current complicated and contradictory moment.

Conceived and Directed by Paul Lazar
Performed by Bebe Miller and Paul Lazar
Choreography by Annie-B Parson, Bebe Miller, and Paul Lazar
Directorial consultant: Annie-B Parson
Video Design by Eamonn Farrell
Lighting Design by Sonia Baidya
Sound by Stephen Trefnoff
Costumes by Eamonn Farrell, Bebe Miller, and Annie-B Parson
Streaming Technician: Stephen Jones
Stage Management by Ilana Khanin
Production Management by Andrew Hensler and John Smith
Produced by Sara Pereira da Silva
Tour Representation and Production: ArKtype/Thomas O. Kriegsmann
Associate Producer, Performing Arts: Adam Elliott
Director, Performing Arts: Lane Czaplinski

John Cage Cage Shuffle Black Mountain College Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Paul Lazar Wexner Center for the Arts