Counting Coup (2002)

WRITTEN BY / MICHAEL GORMAN
DIRECTED BY / SIMON HAMMERSTEIN
STARRING / JERRY THUNDERCLOUD
June 2002
The Annex Theatre, (Now The Ellen Stewart Theatre)
La Mama, ETC.
Counting Coup speaks to the relationship between the athlete and the warrior, and the dreamer and the artist. The play portrays a dreaming soccer player's journey into the past and the realm of myth, and illustrates the connection between ritual and performance. Staged at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at LaMaMa in NYC (2002), the production featured five fourteen-foot tall marionette style dance-puppets, soccer choreography, original live music, and Mohawk Indian ceremonial dance, song, and shamanic ritual. Starring Jerry Thundercloud.
DIRECTED BY / SIMON HAMMERSTEIN
STARRING / JERRY THUNDERCLOUD
June 2002
The Annex Theatre, (Now The Ellen Stewart Theatre)
La Mama, ETC.
Counting Coup speaks to the relationship between the athlete and the warrior, and the dreamer and the artist. The play portrays a dreaming soccer player's journey into the past and the realm of myth, and illustrates the connection between ritual and performance. Staged at the Ellen Stewart Theatre at LaMaMa in NYC (2002), the production featured five fourteen-foot tall marionette style dance-puppets, soccer choreography, original live music, and Mohawk Indian ceremonial dance, song, and shamanic ritual. Starring Jerry Thundercloud.
"Dance, music, lighting, and puppetry all take the audience into the protean world where myths reside and legends are created. If "Counting Coup" demonstrates the relationship between the athlete and the warrior, and the dreamer and the artist, it also illustrates the connection between ritual and performance. "Counting Coup" doesn't really need academic explanations or artistic justification. Even for those technically ignorant of both the techniques of soccer and the rituals of Sioux warfare, "Counting Coup" is deeply emotional and joyously entertaining theater."
NEW YORK THEATRE WIRE |
Watch The Counting Coup Video