Evidence of Floods

(1994)

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Evidence of Floods

Conceived/Directed/Designed by Janie Geiser

Music composed by Chip Epsten

Lighting Design Emily Stork

Puppet costumes: Judith Anderson

EVIDENCE OF FLOODS is a diorama-performance in 8 scenes, and follows a woman as she flees her abuser, the police, and herself. Viewed as a series of 8 performed Toy Theaters, the audience travels from scene to scene in small groups, echoing and witnessing the woman’s journey. Evidence of Floods draws on Film Noir for its narrative structure and atmosphere, and non-fiction accounts of women fleeing domestic abuse for its distilled narrative. The whole story takes place in one long night.

Housed in intricate miniature theater structures, the 10” tall figures are performed  in close proximity close to their audience, creating a claustrophobic intimacy, and a sense of being swallowed into a dark, nocturnal world.

New groups of 8 enter the performance every 15 minutes. At any time, there might be 3 to 5 groups in the space.  As the audience travels, they are aware of the sounds in the upcoming scenes, as well as the scenes that they have already witnessed—anticipating future events or remembering past ones.  Twelve puppeteers create the ensemble, each performing their scene (solo or in pairs) over and over until the last group travels through.  Chip Epsten’s evocative score envelops the audience in its seamless, looping sense of lost time, while Emily Stork’s delicate built-in lighting heightens the sense of an inescapable nocturnal world.

Evidence of Floods has been presented at Dance Theater Workshop (NY Live Arts), The Museum of Jurassic Technology (Los Angeles), Links Hall (Chicago), Boulder Contemporary Arts Center (Boulder), CalArts (Los Angeles), and Diverseworks (Houston).

Evidence of Floods storyboard, published in Performing Arts Journal