“It’s an exploration of the human mind, of the powerful female body and sometimes the overwhelming passion of love,” explains Ken Prestininzi, the director of this year’s musical production of James Joyce is Dead and so is Paris.
The experimental rock musical was originally created and performed by The Pig Iron Theater Company in 2005. Following the story of James Joyce’s daughter Lucia, the production takes place in a mental institution in Northampton, England, where Ms. Joyce has been a resident for many years. When it is decided that the institution’s patients will have the opportunity to create a cabaret evening for the outside world, Joyce spearheads the performance in hopes that her father will attend and promptly remove her from the facility. Infatuated by the idea of re-connecting with her long estranged father and lover Samuel Beckett, Lucia embarks on a journey of self-exploration through the fantasies of the cabaret performance.
Once the Connecticut College community began to re-think this year’s musical, James Joyce is Dead and so is Paris came immediately to mind for director Ken Prestininzi. “The play has always been in the back of my head. The Pig Iron Theater Company is in a way like a modern dance company – most people don’t do those dances. So when we were looking for a piece, I finally said, ‘You know, I really want to go back to that piece.’ I knew this piece would open so many things up for the Connecticut College students performing and that the Connecticut College students would open things up in the piece that were waiting to be discovered.” Having known many individuals in the original production, Prestininzi immediately contacted the company in hopes of licensing the performance. Excited by the prospect of another live performance, the company enthusiastically gave Connecticut College the rights to the music and script for a unique cabaret style performance.
Perhaps the most incredible aspect of the piece is its multi-dimensional structure. As audience members are seated in cabaret style tables, it appears as though The Connecticut College theater transforms into the walls of the Northampton mental institution. As described by Prestininzi, “It’s a very multilayered experience. It goes from Connecticut College to being in the mental institute, when in reality all of those experiences are actually taking place in Lucia’s creative mind and body.” To further create this sensation of multi-layer ambiguity, windows in the theater are strategically placed so when audience members look out, it is unclear whether they are in Connecticut or Northampton. Connecticut College style mattresses used in the performance further create these locational curiosities.
The original music featured in the production is also unique. Prestininzi describes many of the numbers as a “take no prisoner” form of female rock. Starkly different from the contemporary rock style heard on the radio today, the music also features strong Irish influences and empowered lyrics. As described by Katherine Osenlund of “curtainup.com,” “If mental hospitals rocked like this, people would be lined up around the block, waiting to get committed. The music is loud, raucous, and superb.” In the original program, Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Merge Records, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wesley Willis, Daniel Johnston, Pogues and the Flaming Lips are also listed as additional musical influences.
Director Ken Prestininzi argues, however, that despite the performance’s alternative nature, its content remains highly relatable for all members of the Connecticut College community. “There’s so much in the world that doesn’t get the headline and there are so many of us here who have so much to share, like Lucia. I think her struggle and the fate put on her is something that we can all really get behind,” Prestininzi explains. Although Lucia’s circumstances in a mental institution certainly differ from those of a college campus, the universality of Lucia’s adversities are simply undeniable. •
James Joyce is Dead and so is Paris will be performed in Tansil Theater, Friday, Feb. 27 at 7:30, Saturday, Feb. 28 at 2:00 and 7:30 and Sunday, March 1 at 2:00. Tickets may be purchased at the box office or at the door.
