LAMENESS OF A HORSE

“The noble tendency of the horse to serve its master under the stress of pain, even to the point of complete exhaustion and sudden death, should win for these willing servants a deeper consideration of their welfare.”

- John Victor Lacroix

Lameness of a Horse is an aural and gestural catalog of dying horses, told through theater, live sound art, and movement. We witness performed episodes of individual horses who have been diagnosed “lame”: their gait is stilted, they hobble along, the horse owners’ finances insist that life is too costly. One by one, another horse falls as each of the composers/ performers will at one time emerge as horse and human working through each injury or condition in full medical detail.

From legs, to hooves to bones to everything in between, we are ushered through horse mortalities by three young equine-enthusiast sisters. Two of their three lumberjack brothers perform the live composed-through instrumentation on found percussive objects, whispered rattlings on homemade paper-thin contact mics, and more. We attempt to learn how to diagnose both life and death.

We approached core ensemble member, guitarist/composer Joe White to compose and perform an improvisatory soundscape for the piece. White was interested in broken guitars, the crunch of hooves on cobblestones, and human breath. He brought on co-composer and percussionist, Cory Bracken.

• Exapno New Music Community Center
• The Brick

adapted from the veterinary almanac by John Victor Lacroix and directed by Rady&Bloom, original score composed and performed by Cory Bracken and Joe White, lighting and properties designed by Rady&Bloom, featuring actors Vin Kridakorn, Brian Rady, Rebeca Radoszkowicz & Heather Thiry at The Brick, and Dana Kaplan-Angle, Dana O'Brien, Ashley Biel and Robert Lavenstein at Exapno