Balzac, Maria Callas, Samuel Beckett, Stendahl, John Cassavettes, Bob Dylan, Neko Case, The Mekons, CPE Bach and his relatives, Sun Ra, Gertrude Stein, Thomas Hardy, Monteverdi, Franz Kafka, Patti Smith, Orson Welles, my late English mastiff Soter, Miles Davis, Laurie Anderson, Leonard Cohen, Velvet Underground, Steve Reich, Bernard Hermann, Jean-Luc Godard, Garcia-Marquez, Shakespeare, John Coltrane, early Wim Wenders (up ’til Wings of Desire, but not after), Marx Bros., Boccaccio, Meredith Monk, Christian Boltanski, Hildegarde von Bingen, early Philip Glass, John Cage, Keith Jarrett, Goethe, Carla Bley, Andy Warhol, Alfonso X of Castile, Scottie Pippen, Stravinsky, Cat Power, Johnny Cash, John & Yoko, George Harrison, Joanna Newsom, Hank Williams, Eric Dolphy, Akim Tamiroff, Carter Family, Ornette Coleman, Krishnamurti, George Clinton, Jimi Hendrix, Charles Mingus, Robert Wilson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Johnson, Jorge Luis Borges, Jeanette Winterson, Lake Michigan
Excerpt from THE POWER OF THEN, by Robert Metrick and John Ploof, performed as a work-in-progress at the Chicago Cultural Center (2007). Featuring Elisabeth Blair (lead vocalist), Steve Jones, Carol McCurdy, Wendy Goldman Rohm, Matthew Owens, Robert Metrick, Janet Schmid. Video documentation/editing by Lady Lens Productions.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ADDITIONAL EXCERPTS FROM THIS WORK.
Writer, composer, director, performer, interlocutor... Born in Chicago, MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, also lived in Brooklyn, Seattle, New Orleans, Boston, Champaign-Urbana... performed at such legendary Chicago haunts as Randolph Street Gallery, N.A.M.E., Club Lower Links, the Century Mall, the Chicago Cultural Center, Chopin Theater... as well as Franklin Furnace, the Cleveland Performance Art Festival, grunt Gallery (Vancouver, Canada), the Erie Arts Museuem and other post-industrial enclaves ...
Recipient of grant awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Illinois Arts Council, Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs... Collaborated with such artists as John Ploof, Lynn Book, Mary Brogger, Iris Moore, the late legendary filmmaker Allen Ross, Deborah Boardman, Dani K., Cheryl Bailey among boundless Others...
"Metrick constantly inverts images of commonplace things and extends metaphors beyond the ridiculous to the sublime... devastating one cliche after another. [His performance] plays with expectations, metaphors, and stereotypes in a wry, quick-witted manner that's also delightfully entertaining. " Chicago Reader
"A cross between Beckettianian existentialism and a high school production of OKLAHOMA" Arts Magazine
"Metrick juxtaposes suburban simplicities within avant-garde vocabulary to present an upbeat excursion into our pervasive sense of loss and disconnectedness."
Chicago Works: Art from the Windy City
THE POWER OF THEN (now in development)
This is my body
That was my mind
Adrift in the dark
The impenetrable kind
THE POWER OF THEN (the latest collaboration between Metrick and John Ploof, now in development) is a celebration of the mind's insatiable quest to escape the present moment, to scheme its way out of the here and now, into the there and then… by any means necessary. Theatrical space is transformed into a cathedral of meandering consciousness as a monastic choir embarks on a series of guided and walking meditations, chants and songs. These rituals intersect with projected contemplative videos utilizing the architecture of the theater as their screen. THE POWER OF THEN is a digressive inner and outer journey through states of tranquility and anxiety, spaciousness and claustrophobia, transcendent connection and unwieldy isolation. Featuring lighting design by Christine Ferriter and performances by Elisabeth Blair, Wendy Goldman Rohm, Steve Jones, Matthew Owens, Janet Schmid and Carol McCurdy... hopefully to enjoy an extended run at a theater near you...
THE POWER OF THEN was presented as a work-in-progress at the Chicago Cultural Center's SITE UNSEEN 2007 festival. The video excerpts on this site are documents of this event.
