Watch out! Richard Schechner returns, armed with another series of shocks and surprises: the world premiere of “Imagining O” at Peak Performances, September 10-13. Transforming the notoriously erotic French novel “Story of O” into a multi-site, immersive production, the 80 year-old director’s most recent work promises to reaffirm Peak’s commitment to the ultra and outré challenge, and the director’s reputation for creating uncomfortable joy in his audiences. The show opens the Kasser Theater’s 10th anniversary season.
Assigning the Kasser stage a minor role, the 90-minute production will colonize the theater’s lobbies, amphitheater and backstage areas. The show, which employs a cast of 14 women and one lone man, unites the women who died in Shakespeare’s plays, most especially Ophelia, whose character Schechner merges with O from Pauline Réage’s exquisitely erotic French novel, “Story of O.” Like Réage’s 1954 book, “Imagining O” is designed to raise questions of propriety as it explores ideas of sexual submission, abjection and power.
“Imagining O” was conceived by Richard Schechner, and co-directed by Schechner and Benjamin Mosse. Chris Muller designed the environments; Oana Botez, the costumes. Films and photographs were created by Matt Bockelman, and Roanna Mitchell is the director of choreography and movement.
