THE CONVERSATIONALISTS
Photo by Marcus Middleton
In their most recent experiment with live storytelling and music, as well as their first time working with an ensemble of musicians and performers, James & Jerome create an original movie that plays only inside the audience's minds. This live "movie" is an international melodrama about the triangular friendship (and sometimes enemyship) between a Colombian-born Mexican-raised pop-ranchera star, her teenage son, and a Palestinian-born Jordanian-raised owner of a chess shop in Greenwich Village. The Conversationalists is experienced at once as a theater piece, a concert, a radio play, a night of storytelling, and a movie dreamed together.
World premiere presented at The Bushwick Starr, January-February 2020.
Created, written, and composed by Jerome Ellis and James Harrison Monaco
Developed with and directed by Annie Tippe
Additional Music and Orchestrations by: John Murchison, Michelle J. Rodriguez, and Delaney Stockli
Featuring Jerome Ellis, James Harrison Monaco, John Murchison, Michelle J. Rodriguez, and Delaney Stockli
Set Design by Diggle, Lighting Design by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, Sound Design by Lawrence Schober, Video Design by Caroline M. Trewet, Associate Video Design by Taylor Edelle Stuart, Assistant Lighting Designer and Master Electrician: Christina Tang, Production Stage Management by Kelly Kirby, Dramaturgy by Salma S. Zohdi, Produced by Eleanor Regan
“Symphonic storytelling…their most complex and well-produced show to date.” -New York Magazine
“A Cubist portrait coming to life…the music is terrific, naturally and vastly eclectic in style.” -The New York Times
Videos by Theo Cote.