A (Radically Condensed and Expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing could fall victim to Euro art pretensions (Fish fared less well with a performance centered on Jonathan Franzen).
On Thursday this director's new creation, "A (radically condensed and expanded) SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN (after David Foster Wallace)" will open at the interdisciplinary Chocolate Factory theater in Long Island City, Queens.
In Mr. Fish's similar piece, "A (radically condensed and expanded) SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN (after David Foster Wallace)," the actors wore headphones and had the long streams of words piped into their ears.
(Rooney) 'A (radically condensed and expanded) SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN (after David Foster Wallace)' The endless title is apt: Daniel Fish's theatrical homage to the po-mo literary icon honors the writer's brilliant but hardly economical style.
Mr. Fish's last production, "A (radically condensed and expanded) SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN (after David Foster Wallace)," featured performers listening to Wallace's voice through headphones and reciting what they heard.
In July, I went up to Bard College to catch a performance of "Oklahoma!," directed by Daniel Fish, whose 2012 production "A (radically condensed and expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (after David Foster Wallace)" had met with critical acclaim.
You can hear an actor ask it again during A (Radically Condensed and Expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again – After David Foster Wallace, part of the Under the Radar festival at the Public Theater.
In last spring's "A (radically condensed and expanded) Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (after David Foster Wallace)," a piece based on recordings of the late author reading his work and giving interviews, Fish's reverent irreverence toward the text was touching: he wanted to connect the private experience of listening and reading to the theatrical experience of sharing emotions.
The show, in which the performers repeat verbatim thick slices from Wallace's nonfiction prose as well as interviews with him, bears the appropriately lengthy title "A (radically condensed and expanded) SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'LL NEVER DO AGAIN (after David Foster Wallace)." As his admirers know, economy was not Wallace's signature style.
Jane S. Moss, Lincoln Center's vice president for programming, whom the organization has to thank for most of its more innovative ideas, approached Nathan Leventhal, then the president, with the idea of expanding Serious Fun into a more comprehensive event.
You need to expand on fun campaigns because these are the things that get people interested in what you have to offer.
