February 13–16, 2016

Granoff Center, Studio 1

Students were invited to join Michelle Memran and Katie Pearl ’15 MFA for an informal showing of their multi-media, performance-based exploration of Irene Fornés. By juxtaposing characters and scenes from Irene’s plays with film footage of Irene after she stopped writing due to dementia, the artists sought out connections between Fornés and her work.

The themes that fed both Irene’s plays and Irene’s life become the threads from which a new performance was made, in which Irene’s characters become her companions and Irene’s own life becomes a play in which she herself performs.

Filmmaker Michelle Memran has spent more than a decade filming and caring for acclaimed playwright Irene Fornés (her documentary about Irene, The Rest I Make Up, is currently in production).

Memran joined Obie Award-winning playwright Katie Pearl in a 10-day residency on the Brown Campus and explored the possibilities of creating a live performance that combines text and song from Irene’s plays with archival video of past performances and intimate interview with Irene herself, filmed over 10 years by Michelle.