Arguendo

Joan Marcus
Source: Joan Marcus

Ben Rubin

Arguendo , ongoing
Co-workers & Funding
Created and Performed by Elevator Repair Service
Performers: Maggie Hoffman, Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Susie Sokol, Ben Williams
Director: John Collins
Set Designer: David Zinn
Lighting Designer: Mark Barton
Costume Designer: Jacob A. Climer
Sound Designer: Matt Tierney
Projection Designer: Ben Rubin

Media software by The Office for Creative Research:
Ian Ardouin-Fumat, Ben Rubin, Jer Thorp, Noa Younse

Producer: Ariana Smart Truman
Production Stage Manager & Assistant Director: Sarah Hughes
Production Manager: Adam Shive
Movement Dramaturg: Katherine Profeta
Associate Projection Designer & Operator: Eva von Schweinitz
Associate Lighting Designer: Dans Maree Sheehan
Associate Producer: Lindsay Hockaday
Advisors to the Project: Emily Bazelon, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz

ERS ensemble members Frank Boyd and Kate Scelsa contributed to the development of Arguendo. Frank Boyd played Mr. Ennis during workshop productions at The Guiding Lights Weekend (March 2012) and The Bushwick Starr (May 2012). Kate Scelsa developed the part of Rebecca Jackson for the workshop production at The Public’s Under the Radar Festival (January 2013).
Documents
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Description
Arguendo re-enacts the 1991 Supreme Court Case Barnes v. Glen Theatre, initiated by a group of go-go dancers against an Indiana law banning public nudity. Electronically mediated with references to relevant court cases and the First Amendment, the play provides insight into the complex interactions between attorneys, judges, and citizens inside the courtroom. The entire oral argument is staged verbatim, interspersed with real interviews from the lawyers, justices, and an exotic dancer claiming her first amendment right to express herself nude. The play explores the moral boundaries & societal codes governing dance and self-expression. Arguendo was co-commissioned by The Public Theater, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage and Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University. Arguendo was workshopped at The Public’s 2013 Under the Radar Festival and developed in part at The Bushwick Starr, New York Theatre Workshop and at Abrons Art Center, Vineyard Arts Project and LaMaMa E.T.C.
Source: Ben Rubin
Keywords
  • aesthetics
    • contextual
    • narrative
  • subjects
    • Society and Culture
  • technology
    • displays
      • non-electronic displays
        • bodies (as non-electronic displays)
Technology & Material
Exhibitions & Events
Bibliography