69 Love Scenes

July 8–July 23

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8pm
Salvage Vanguard Theater in the main stage
$10

Gnap! Theater Projects presents a play in 69 parts inspired by the songs on the The Magnetic Fields’s triple album 69 Love Songs. Drawing from elements of the album such as the space between sincerity and insincerity, wry humor, and an effortless ability to slip into any genre, we’ve packed 69 scenes into a whirlwind of a play about love, love songs, and the use and abuse of both.

“Honoring an opus like the 69 Love Songs is an incredible challenge not just because we’re attempting to convey someone else’s creative genius, but because the album portrays its principal topic, love songs, with countless different genres, emotions, and level of truth. What holds the 69 songs together is inherently ineffable yet anyone who’s heard the album can feel how they belong together,” says director Syam. “While developing the script as well as working through rehearsal, we’ve tried to honor both the diversity and wholeness of Stephin Merritt’s work: our production sweeps from the wonderfully absurd to the heartbreakingly tragic, from highly choreographed movement pieces to sketch comedy, from one-off pieces to narrative arcs. Because as much as Stephin Merritt insists that his album is about love songs, not love, it’s impossible for us not to read love into his music and, really, it’s impossible for humanity not to make a story out of love.”

Directed by Avimaan Syam
Conceived by Kerri Lendo

Written by Avimaan Syam and Monique Daviau with additional text by Kerri Lendo, Curtis Luciani, Shannon McCormick, Erika May McNichol, and Caitlin Reilly Schave

Featuring:
Adrienne Mishler
Gricelda Silva
Maggie Wilhite
Liz Brammer
Joanna Wright
Courtney Hopkin
Hugo Vargas-Zesati
Joel Osborne
Jay Byrd
Jericho Thorp
Leah Moss

Musical direction: Adam Hilton
Set design: Connor Hopkins
Lighting design: Brigitte Hutchison
Technical director: Ace Manning
Choreography: Caitlin Reilly
Video design: Courtney Hopkin and Brandon Paul Salinas
Costumes: Heather Koslov
Props: Jodi Odness
Stage Manager: Elizabeth Bigger

Show images courtesy of Roy Moore