There are so many songs about rivers. You can easily google the “Top Ten” river songs followed by another list of ten or more runner-ups. I’m sure you can name several just off the top of your head without thinking – “Down by the River,” ‘Down in the River to Pray,” “Ol’ Man River,” “Watching the River Flow,” “Whiskey River,” “Take Me to the River.”
A river song is a journey song, telling a good story as it progresses. There may be a journey song about a cell phone, a train, a voice message or an airplane. People are always looking and things are always changing, even on a stay-vacation.
It’s only human to wish for somewhere else, perhaps with someone else, and that it all could be different with a second chance or a better place. How to get there? Well just take your chances and go ‘down the river.’ You can come along with us in Wash Over You. The river the adventurers explore in Wash Over You at Capital Fringe is as unpredictable as the tornado that whisked Dorothy away in “The Wizard of Oz.”
What are the travelers looking for in Wash Over You? They are getting at dissatisfaction as it creeps along with all the grace of stop-motion. They are getting at the boredom of repetition as the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog, over and over again. They are getting at the nonsense of non-acceptance in twisted words, but then invite you to partake and read your fortune.
Words, movement, music and still images whip up whimsy and familiar characters. A Yosemite Sam shows up with ‘wild west’ ways and he ‘ain’t no namby-pamby.’ The inhabitants of Playa Verde must convince the adventurers that Ice-9 is delicious, unlike the Ice-nine in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Cat’s Cradle.” Finally, in reference to Ed Wood’s B-Movie Classic “Plan 9 from Outer Space” travelers and inhabitants alike are all interested in the future, for that is where they, and you and I, are going to spend the rest of our lives!
It all comes from the river … So please row on, the only limit is yourself. Come see our show and let us reward the innocent.
Wash Over You
July 8 – 7:15; July 9 – 5:00; July 10 – 8:45
July 13 – 8:30; July 16 – 5:45: July 17 – 8:45
Atlas Performing Arts Center
Lang Theatre
1333 H Street, NE Washington, DC 20002
Show details and tickets
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Jane Franklin, Artistic Director, Jane Franklin Dance, received a MFA from The Ohio State University as a University Fellow and certification from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies. Jane Franklin’s choreography has been presented at multiple venues and festivals in the mid-Atlantic region and southwestern US and internationally in the UK and in Mexico. A recipient of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region Creative Communities Award, Jane has developed innovative and collaborative projects combining dancers with the round wall skateboarding community, with a life size kinetic sculpture, with the architecture of a specific site, with dogs & owners, and with interactive live video and sound for numerous public art projects. Jane Franklin is a recipient of the American Association of University Women Elizabeth Campbell Award for the Advancement of the Arts in Arlington, Special Opportunity Awards from the City of Alexandria, and her video work Four Mile Run Footbridge was selected for PHOTO/VIDEO 13: Juried Mid-Atlantic Exhibition.
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