In this Theatrical artwork, The Queen, Fool, Musician, and Three Fates create an animated Cabinet of Curiosities that reminds the viewer to consider Imagination as a vehicle to transcend life’s Inevitabilities.
Death is coming, Play while you can.
Vanitas still-life painting was a genre that flourished in the Netherlands in the early 17th century. These paintings depict collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience of earthly achievements and pleasures, (Bouquets of cut flowers, skulls, and timepieces) and remind the viewer to consider mortality and spiritual life.
“…In the spirit of its source material, Vanitas is symbolic theater—it has no intentions for a standard story, except the one you piece together in your head…The show is a swirl of delicate objects, pastels, bits of verse, and soft ballads—an artistic take on death that is both uncommon and effective. With so much supersized mainstream theater, Happenstance is providing a lovely and quiet respite. Who needs a gaudy $100,000 set when there is more beauty in one tiny movement of the hand, or a simple line of text? Theater’s power lies in its ability to create experiences in real time that are witnessed in one room, in one moment. Just like life, it’s fleeting.”
- Liz Maestri from Pink Line Project
