![]() A motion activated recorder plays selections from DaDaist poems and musical pieces-works which in their mechanical repetitiveness anticipate the atonal and experimental music of figures such as Arnold Schonberg and John Cage, as well as experimental poets from the 1960s. “The Spirit of Our Times, II,” consists of contemporary items such as a mannequin head, a cellphone, an IPad and a Starbuck’s Coffee Cup. Hausmann’s perspective seems eerily relevant to our times. According to Hausmann, the average German “has no more capabilities than those which chance has glued on the outside of his skull his brain remains empty”. The Spirit of Our Times, II, is a sculpture/audio installation based on Raul Hausmann’s 1919 assemblage/sculpture, “The Spirit of Ours Times.” It is a scathing piece of social criticism. On the back of the piece is a cast bronze rocking horse–recalling the German word for a rocking horse–“dada.” A video player at the base of the piece streams DADAist images, symbols, words and poems. ![]() Sitting on Breton’s head is a model of the Eiffel Tower. It sits on top of a vintage typewriter whose letters are either D or A –the letters necessary to spell DADA. The “Typewriter” includes a mannequin head representing the French critic Andre Breton (the author the 1924 Surrealist Manifesto). The Black Swan exhibit did not included “The Spirit of Our Times, II,” but instead an assemblage/sculpture titled “Dada Typewriter” The materials were exhibited a second time (with minor changes) at Black Swan Books and Records, November 16, 2018-January 30, 2019. It compliments Happenstance Theater’s performance of MANIFESTO! A DaDA CLoWn MANiFESTatiON. It pays homage to classic circus characters and images from the 1930s and 40s. The show has appeared at the Baltimore Theatre Project and at Round House Theatre's main stage in Bethesda, where it was nominated for 8 Helen Hayes Awards, winning three: Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Lead Actor.The materials included below were included in an exhibit at the Baltimore Theater Project Gallery in the Fall of 2017. In January 2014 the full company decided to explore the territory of Circus and constructed IMPOSSIBLE! A Happenstance Circus , a theatrical circus collage set against a backdrop of hard times. Mark and Sabrina created Pinot & Augustine, a vintage clown duo from the golden age of circus which has toured far and wide including performances at the Kennedy Center “ Look Both Ways Festival” and Millennium Stage, Smithsonian Discovery Theatre, Waterford Fair, The Embassy of the European Union, The National Theatre, Wolftrap Theatre in the Woods, Walters Art Museum, Celebration Barn in Maine, Lafayette, LA, King’s Theatre in Nova Scotia, Theaterkappelle in Berlin and numerous schools and assembly programs hither, thither and yon. In 2017 Happenstance received two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Musical Direction. In 2016 Happenstance received three Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Ensemble, Outstanding Costume Design and Outstanding Lead Actor. Meaning is often discovered by happenstance. Its work has become ever more polished and more ambitious. Happenstance got its start with the very first Capital Fringe and has evolved over the past dozen years into Washington’s premier clowning troupe. we seek to elevate the moment when the performers and audience meet, to lift the encounter beyond the daily and pedestrian into the realms of dreams, poetry, and art. Happenstance Theater Company’s Barococo is a delightful hour that illustrates the full potential of the Capital Fringe Festival. With the simplest means - humor, whimsy, music, silence, text, physical comedy, object manipulation, vulnerability and generosity - we seek to elevate the moment when the performers and audience meet, to lift the encounter beyond the daily and pedestrian into the realms of dreams, poetry, and art. Under the Artistic co-Direction of Mark Jaster and Sabrina Mandell, we harvest imagery from the past and re-contextualize it in performances that address the universal themes of mortality and the ephemeral. We are multi-talented performers who craft all aspects of our pieces from concept to realization. If they're in your neighborhood, grab a friend or relative and hurry to buy a couple of tickets. It will be a smile that goes directly to your heart. Our ensemble has been developing work together since 2012. Happenstance Theater is a delightfully precise group of actor/clowns, all hell bent on making you smile. HAPPENSTANCE THEATER, founded in 2006, is a professional company committed to devising, producing and touring original, performer-created visual, poetic Theatre. The Washington City Paper says, “ Happenstance Theater’s ensemble comedy is a gut-busting kind of funny.” The Washington Post describes our work as “ visually striking and whimsical without being precious" and calls Happenstance Theater "DC’s leading peddler of whimsy.”
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