The UB Poetics Program is pleased to announce:
Poets Theater at the New Burchfield-Penney
1300 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222 716 878 6011
Featuring rarely performed plays by poets from the Poetry Collection at UB and beyond
THURSDAY
MARCH 5
7pm
The Origins of Old Son by Robert Duncan
Some one-acts by Barbara Guest
Excerpts from Hannah Weiner’s Clairvoyant Journal
Alphabet Man by A. J. Patrick Liszkiewicz and friends
A brief “Amusement” by Divya Victor and Steve Zultansky
This evening of Poets Theater will feature an important, unpublished work by Robert Duncan, one of the few existing copies of which is housed in the Poetry Collection at UB. The Origins of Old Son, a comic parody of figures at Black Mountain College infused with Duncan’s characteristic wit, has never been produced since its premiere at Black Mountain. With special permission of the Jess Trust, we are pleased to revive this historical piece, which still has much to offer contemporary audiences. Additionally, a number of other short plays will be staged, including rarely seen one-acts by late poet Barbara Guest, a dramatic interpretation of excerpts from Clairvoyant Journal by Hannah Weiner, and an original work—Alphabet Man— fusing music, theater, and animation.
THURSDAY
APRIL 2
7pm
CELEBRITY HOSPITAL
by Kevin Killian and Karla Milosevich
Poets Theater is pleased to welcome San Francisco-based poet and playwright Kevin Killian, who will stage one of his original, full-length works (see bio, below).
Play synopsis: Apodyopsis—the act or condition of sexual excitement caused by exposure to medical procedures. To protect the privacy of his clientele at Celebrity Hospital in LA, top surgeon Dr. Tim Baldwin admits only famous people. Even the doctors and nurses are (or were) celebrities of a sort. It’s another typical day at Celebrity Hospital, as everyone from Courtney Love to Kurt Russell and Diana Ross is having work done, and ingenue Scarlett Johansson, avoiding stalker Woody Allen, spends a day in the ward observing and nursing in preparation for her new role in the new Oliver Stone film about nurse politics. Then Dr. Baldwin and his staff are confronted by two grave ills, the eco-terrorists known as the Cult of the Black Feather, who demand universal facelifts for the poor and oppressed, and by a strange apparitions haunting the hallways and linen closets of Celebrity Hospital, that looks like a werewolf and seems to be after Hollywood’s greatest and most ageless stars, most of whom suffer from apodyopsis, they don’t really feel alive unless they’re having unnecessary medical procedures.
PLEASE NOTE: While there is no charge for admission to the Poets Theater, a mandatory entrance fee is charged to enter the Burchfield-Penney Museum. The cost is $7 for adults and $4 for everyone else. Members are free. Individual members are $30 and family/duals are $45. Take advantage and come early to enjoy the galleries.
Poets Theater thanks the following for their support: The David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters, SUNY at Buffalo; the McNulty Chair and Poetry Collection at UB; the Graduate Poetics Group at UB; the Burchfield-Penney Art Center.
