Portrait and a Dream
Written and Composed by Brian Petuch
Director: Ashley Tata
Video + Scenic Design: Magnus Pind
Lighting Design: Abigail Hoke-Brady
Costumes: Márion Talán de la Rosa
Associate Video Designer: Adam J. Thompson
Production Stage Manager: Dustin Z. West
Soprano — Kendra Berentsen
Tenor — Brian Giebler
Baritone — Ricardo Rivera
Brian Petuch’s Portrait and a Dream is a sequence of tone-poems inspired by works that span the breadth of Jackson Pollock’s life. The libretto - an assemblage of recordings of the voices of the people who knew Jackson - deconstructs the myth of Pollock by splintering narrative, intention and truth. The first-stroke-on-a-canvas production directed by Ashley Tata with designs by Magnus Pind, Abby Hoke-Brady and Márion Talán de la Rosa places the company in the present and considers whether it is possible to be an artist in the US anymore or whether the legacy of the mid-20th century art scene has led to a post-art society where the artist is a symbol and a successful artist is a commodity.