A & E

Director Dan Jemmett is back in town to create another theatrical evening for Quantum Theatre.

Jemmett is the Paris-based director who previously created "Dog Face" and "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid" for Quantum, both of which went on to performances at the Festival de Otono in Madrid.

This time, he's putting together a trio of experiences that includes the staging of two short stories by Booker Prize-winning author, painter and critic John Berger; a performance of Franz Schubert's Trout Quintet; and an opportunity to view an art exhibit.

The two short stories that Jemmett is staging are Berger's "The Museum of Desire" and "Flowers in a Corner." The production is being staged at the Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze, where the exhibit "From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado" is on display. An ensemble of Carnegie Mellon University students will perform the Trout Quintet as a musical interlude during the evening.

When interviewed shortly after rehearsals had begun, Jemmett was a little sketchy about what exactly the audience would experience during the performances.

Jemmett takes an ensemble approach, working cooperatively with the performers to create something together.

"We don't really know what we're doing," Jemmett says. "It's a slightly ritualistic work. At the same time, there is a storytelling aspect to it. (The actors) are speaking words. They tell a story. There are five performers with a fractured sort of voice like in 'Billy the Kid.' But there was more movement in the poems of (Michael) Ondaatje. This has a more reflective quality as a piece of writing."

Those who have seen earlier works that Jemmett staged for Quantum know that he works outside the boundaries of traditional or classic drama.

While highly theatrical, they are more about mood, texture and meaning than the classical structure of a play with a beginning, middle and end that moves forward through elements of conflict and dialogue.

"The event reduces itself to a minimal thing that we are grappling with at the moment -- small economies of movement and voice being important. Every turn of the head or footfall takes on an importance in the space," he explains.

Jemmett had earlier staged "Museum of Desire" in Paris as a dance piece and wanted to continue exploring it, but in another medium.

The story is set in a small London art museum, which sounds a lot like Herford House, where the Wallace Collection is displayed. Its principle characters are a tour guide and a visitor who is observing her.

Jemmett had long wanted to set that story in an art gallery. But it had to be the correct space.

Jemmett knew he had found it when he saw the gallery that houses some of the permanent collection of the Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze.

His interest increased when he learned that Henry Frick's interest in building his art collection had been inspired by a visit to the Wallace Collection.

The paintings in the Frick are, of course, different from those described in Berger's short story. But, Jemmett says, the gallery at the Frick echoes the rooms of the Wallace Collection.

"It's a question of evoking the world of the Wallace Collection and its paintings," he says.

There will be no scenery, lighting or technical alterations to the Frick gallery, Jemmett says. "The group of performers create a space where they witness (or) testify to this story. They offer it as a gift."

The order in which audiences experience the stories, musical interlude and art exhibit performance will take place in a nontraditional fashion.

Each evening, there are two overlapping performances. The galleries at the Frick will be open before the performances begin.

Those who come at 7 p.m. will see "Museum of Desire" performed in the gallery, then move to the Frick's auditorium to join the 8 p.m. audience to hear Jemmett read "Flowers in a Corner," a short story about the relationship between an artist and a work of art. The Trout Quintet performance follows.

After the auditorium segment, the 8 p.m. audience will move to the gallery to see "Museum of Desire."

"It should be a strange mixture in the (auditorium) audiences -- ones who have seen something and ones who haven't," says Jemmett who is curious to see how or if that will provide the two audiences a different experience.

Asked what he hoped audiences would experience, Jemmett says: "I would like them to know about Berger. I think his poetics are important. ... If it gets people interested in John's work, it's good."

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