2018

Believe ghosts before Angels. Ghosts speak from experience.



Chapel Perilous, a dimension beyond the time/space continuum
where lost souls wander, as in dreams, performing rituals of obsession
in hopes of finding find their way back home. Old Father Timeless
delivers his poetic sermons to the congregation. But behind his back,
two statues, Trickster Jesus and Mad Mary, come to life and taunt
a couple of recently deceased Buddhist monks stuck in the bardo.

---

Bryan Smith and Sylvi Alli as statues come to life in the Chapel



Sylvi Alli as "Mad Mary" and Bryan Smith as "Trickster Jesus"

featuring
MEMORIE EDEN, LINDSAY REICH,
MAPLE HOLMES, and HELIA RASTI
as The Human Souls

JOGEN SALZBERG and PATTON SMALL
as The Wayward Monks

BRYAN SMITH
as Trickster Jesus

SYLVI ALLI
as Mad Mary

ED WELSH
as Father Timeless



Ed Welsh as "Father Timeless" and Bryan Smith as "Trickster Jesus"


"We attended the Saturday performance. Similar to Zen practice,
at first it seemed much was being asked of us. Later, of course, it became
impossible to ignore what was transpiring. There is a range and depth of
intense human experience being explored. As one might seek in a shared
ritual event, we left gratefully altered, our awareness of the nature
of delusion enhanced." -- William Bethea, from the audience



Patton Small and Jogen Salzberg as the Buddhist Monks


THE CREW
Zachery Martin & Sage Reilly, Tech Assistants.
Video & guitar, Antero Alli. Vocals & music by Sylvi Alli.
Poetry by Sylvia Plath. Ritual design, fim & direction by Antero Alli.



A bardo where disembodied souls pass between incarnations


“Chapel Perilous, like the mysterious entity called “I”, cannot be located
in the time-space continuum: it is weightless, odorless, tasteless, and
undetectable by ordinary instruments. Indeed like the Ego, once you’re
inside there doesn’t seem to be any way to ever get out, again, until you
suddenly discover that it has been brought into existence by thought and
does not exist outside of thought.” – Robert Anton Wilson, author



Sylvi Alli as "Mad Mary" and Bryan Smith as "Trickster Jesus" performing
the final The Banishing Ritual ("Witch Burning" by Sylvia Plath)

The LABYRINTH Lab
10-week workshop leading to the performance



Bryan Smith ("Trickster Jesus") and Sylvi Alli ("Mad Mary") - statues in repose

 

Stills from the film sequences projected during the production
with "Companions of the Flame" (Sylvi Alli, vocals; Antero Alli, guitar)