New Paradise Laboratories provides a fresh take on the creation myth, infusing it with playful nonsense in an impossible setting—before, during and after the Big Bang. A horror-farce with philosophical overtones, Hello Blackout! follows the eccentric Kissimmees—triplets, their mother, an elusive father—at the beginning of time. Blackouts engulf the family as they slam into the inexplicable future—with grim and hilarious results.
The Kissimmee’s journey acts as a pageant for the new American era, presenting a world where everything is unprecedented, and where we must learn to live happily with the unpredictability of the universe. Hello Blackout! is choreographed to a mind-bending musical score by composer Bhob Rainey and played by a live quintet of virtuosic musicians.
Acknowledgements
The Philadelphia performance of Breath Beneath is co-presented by PRISM Quartet, Inc. and Drexel University's Westphal College of Media Arts & Design as part of the 2017 Fringe Festival.
The New York performance of Breath Beneath is co-presented by PRISM Quartet, Inc. and 3-Legged Dog.
Support for the research and development of Breath Beneath has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support comes from New Music USA (to follow Breath Beneath as it unfolds, visit the New Music USA project page and PRISM's blog), the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Conn-Selmer, Inc. The New York program received additional support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
PRISM Quartet, Inc. also receives support from the Presser Foundation, the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, the William Penn Foundation, the Samuel S. Fels Fund, the Amphion Foundation, New Music USA’s Cary New Music Performance Fund, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and New Music USA’s NYC New Music Impact Fund, made possible with funding from The Scherman Foundation's Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund.
