A Multimedia Performance
    About Postmodern Monster Myths
    by Alan Reade





    2002 Tour, RIP
    October 13, 2001: Excerpt at Viva Variety, Club Fab, Guerneville, CA
    February 22, 2002: Excerpt at Urban Ch@os, ATA, San Francisco, CA
    April 12, 13, and 14, 2002: Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
    May 24, 2002: Western Front, Vancouver, B.C.
    September 12 and 13, 2002: MadLab Theatre, Columbus, OH
    September 23, 24, and 25, 2002: Surf Reality, New York, NY

    Commissioned by Western Front, Vancouver, B.C.


    "Someone is knocking on your frontal lobe now
    With tentacles, incisors, and claws.
    And you're sweating and ignoring, but it's just no use,
    Because you know the little monster is yours."

    In a post-9/11 world, paranoia reigns supreme. Some of it is justified, but it is all too easy for Western society to find monsters in every guise, from enemies of state, to pedophiles, to queers, to the homeless--anyone who seems to threaten the status quo is put under the lens as a "monster." But how many of these so-called monsters are real, and how many of them are our own fears and even desires in disguise? And moreover, how many of these so-called monsters deserve compassion versus condemnation?


    Touched by a Monster examines via storytelling, music, and animations various monster myths at work in today's postmodernist world--from a story about a boy who breathes fire, to a country-fied song about a murderous movie star, to a cartoon about Santa in Afghanistan, to a "Monster Pride Rally" that tries to bring all monsters "out from under the bed." Of particular interest to gay audiences is Alan's dissection of the idea that in popular film, both monsters and queer people are consistently portrayed as tragic figures. The performance includes Alan's comedic delivery, original music from his recently released music CD "4 Seasons in a Day," color slides and animations done in PowerPoint (like you've never seen PowerPoint used before!), and some pieces performed in a monster mask. Through Reade's timely projections on contemporary culture to his touching confessional takes on the dark side, will you get Touched by a Monster?!



    Written Excerpt

      From "My Neighborhood":

      Welcome to the 21st century, ladies and gentlemen. If, as Futurist poet Filippo Marinetti once said, "War is the highest form of modern art," then what is happening around me in my neighborhood must be the highest form of postmodern art: Everything falling apart, but in its own special way. Worlds next to worlds that never touch, owing to their drug-and-headphone-induced stupor. Police policing only the most life-threatening incidents, making sure the wounds are only flesh wounds while ignoring a multitude of crimes. The poor and the homeless wandering as psychotic, garbage-stealing, shit-on-your-doorstep nomads just inches from us having dinner parties with fresh-cut flowers and homemade gnocchi. And none of it ever connecting, ever touching. Slow-motion missiles of poverty and drugs and self-hatred doing their damage over years rather than seconds. And I'm watching it all fall apart slowly from my living-room window. In bouts of decay that are vicious and complete. Like a cancer that kills the healthy cells hourly.

      I was walking home from the BART station the other day, and a guy ran down the steps and started yelling at me, "Sir! SIR! Did you put the snake on me?! SIR! DID YOU PUT THE SNAKE ON ME?!!" No, I didn't put the snake on anyone. And I'm not your long-lost friend. And I don't want to buy a token. And I'm not your mother. And I'm not a two-headed blue unicorn. And I don't owe you money. And I don't want to buy your crack pipe. And no, I don't want your knife in me! Get that knife away from me! You are standing too close right now. And I might be hallucinating like you are, but you are starting to have one face to me. You are all starting to look alike to me. Like one monster face on a hundred different bodies. Scarier than evil. It's the face of total need. It's the face of total need.


    Biography
    Alan Reade is a writer and performance artist whose work examines how body image, language, and mass media are internalized. Alan's work has appeared all over the United States and Canada, and his spoken-word CD, "4 Seasons in a Day," was released in the spring of 2002 on Pop Squared Records. You can find a selected history of Alan's past performances here.

    Photos this page courtesy of Viva Variety/Make It So Productions, 2001.


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    © Alan Reade, 2001