https://www.experimentsincinema.org/eic-21-5
https://www.experimentsincinema.org/eic-21-5?pgid=movp2q1a-74c9cdfe-e889-4ce0-b2d1-43c6ca3f0f6a
The Washing Society live performance with Rebecca Barten, Nina Fonoroff, Lynne Sachs, Beth Hansen, Alys Griego, & Melinda Kowalaska
When you drop off a bag of dirty laundry, who’s doing the washing and folding? The Washing Society brings us into New York City laundromats and the experiences of the people who work there by observing these disappearing neighborhood spaces and the continual, intimate labor that happens there. The juxtaposition of narrative and documentary elements in The Washing Society creates a dream-like, yet hyper-real portrayal of a day in the life of a laundry worker, both past and present.
Run of Show
Screening of “The Washing Society (Lizzie Olesker, Lynne Sachs, 45 min. 2018)
(HOUSE LIGHTS ON)
Lynne, Rebecca and Nina give small envelopes of lint from baskets to everyone after the film.
Prepare 3 scripts on clipboards by stage stairs of theater.
(HOUSE LIGHT OFF)
(01 IMAGE LINT)
(Rebecca lights Lynne from near stairs at stage R.)
P. 29
Lynne reads “Lint” Poem
Lint
Inside the machine
inverted colossal bags of upside-down families
children spin with bedridden grandparents
dog-mats hug the underside of workout pants
party blouses rub elbows with gardening jeans
aprons with chicken grease from bitter family fight
keys left in pockets
subway cards worth $45 (or maybe not)
underwear stained vaguely pink inside the sleeve of
blue striped button-down shirt
withered gym shorts nestled against a single sock
unwanted thread.
Salvage a twisted $50 bill so you can pay for a dinner
that ends up on a t-shirt under a fleece jacket
made from old tires and recycled plastic.
Fleece is not real,
who knew?
(IMAGE OFF.)
P. 19
(Lynne moves to center stage, holds book in front of her and reads.
Rebecca continues to light Lynne w/ flashlight.)
This is not a film. It is something else.
Call it a blueprint, a map, a documentation
of something that has already happened
but could happen again —
a rendering in book form of a performance.
Making a mark, words on a page instead of bodies in space.
A book that contains what’s remembered and what could be.
All of it written down and placed here, into this
Hand Book: A Manual.
(02 IMAGE KASEBIER PHOTO OF WASHERWOMAN)
(Lynne, Nina and Rebecca read in sequence. Enter stage R. Standing on stage blocking some of the image with our bodies. Backs to audience.)
P. 155 – 159
L: Questions on Black and White
N: We were looking for archival images of women washing.
We had researched the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881.
There were no photos of that strike —
R: Not in the Archive.
Nothing, in terms of images.
We’ve been told they don’t exist.
L: I was looking for some kind of visual documentation.
N: I accidentally came across a photo that I could not ignore when I looked up
“19th-century laundress” on the Internet.
This image came up.
(N, R, L sit on folding chairs stage right)
There she was.
Everywhere, at least when you were looking for her.
R: Unlike the washerwomen of 1881, you found her
in a lot of places.
L: I threw the image file into Google Images and found another caption with
a little more information: “Black and White: an informal portrait of a young
negro woman surrounded by laundry in Newport, Rhode Island.”
N: To me, it looks like it was taken with one of those large-format cameras and
a tripod.
R: The photographer was clearly a professional, or at least someone who
works in that way.
L: That’s what I imagine.
N: When I look at it closely, I feel the energy of the “moment.” The passage of
time.
I’m aware of the wind. Motion. Stillness.
R: The wind is important.
Even the sheet seems like it’s moving.
Look at the blur of the black stockings.
L: Photographs are taken. The subject is captured.
Framed.
N: This one’s owned by Getty Images and was taken by a woman named
Gertrude Kasebier.
R: I can’t find anything about her, the laundress, not even her name.
L: That’s not surprising.
N: It was taken just a few decades after Reconstruction, during the state sanctioned
trauma of Jim Crow.
R: It is a picture of a Black woman providing a service. She’s not hanging laundry
for herself. But I could be wrong.
L: Gertrude Kasebier is behind the camera. We are also white women holding
the camera…
N: … at or toward our subjects.
R: The “Woman Doing Laundry” is posing for the camera and performing.
The photograph may seem to have a kind of dignity, but at the same time
the question arises: for whom?
L: For whom is she performing? Why is she smiling?
N: What year was it?
R: 1902.
L: That’s over 120 years ago, and there she is. The camera seems to have caught
her in the middle of working. She’s literally bending down to take another
sheet to put on the clothesline.
N: She’s being interrupted.
BEAT – get up from chairs and stand
R: Are we looking at a staged moment or a so-called actual moment, a documentary
event?
L: There’s this gaze between the woman in the image and the photographer,
Gertrude.
N: I think the woman in the photo makes us aware of our own voyeurism.
R: Even our exploitation.
L: She says:
N: I dare you to think about me.
R: I dare you to synthesize me into your art.
L: I dare you to look back at me and to actually think about who you are
N: in relationship to me.
(Nina moves to center stage, Lynne and Rebecca to the sides.)
(Nina- precis of the movie):
This is Vincente Minnelli’s debut as a film director in 1943, Cabin in the Sky. Based on the Broadway musical, it depicts a couple, Joe and Petunia Jackson, who live in a rustic house in a small town in the southern US. In her song “Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe,” taking down the wash features Petunia’s expression of love for her husband, despite his imperfections.
(03 FILM CABIN IN THE SKY dir. Vincent Minelli)
P. 163
(Lynne holding a copy of Hand Book.)
(Lit by flashlights held by Beth and Alys)
Cultural critic Stuart Hall came up with the term Reception Theory, for what we all do in the theater or in front of the TV.
A “text” — be it a book, movie, or other creative work — is not simply passively
accepted by the audience, but the reader/viewer interprets the meanings
of the text based on their individual cultural background and life experiences.
In essence, the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself,
but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader.
P. 167
Nina:
Ashon Crawley, a scholar of religious and African American studies and a visual artist, thinks a lot about a ‘possible otherwise.’ In his response after seeing “The Washing Society”, he wrote this question about repetition:
i wonder if the people you spoke with for the film ever talked about
what repetition makes possible? often, repetition — when discussed
in terms of certain kinds of labor — is talked about as having a negative
impact on the thought and imagination of the worker. but in music,
repetition is often considered to be a practice that allows for the flourishing
of deeply meditative, contemplative thought to emerge. so my
question was if the women ever talked about repetition as producing a
capacity for thought experience they’d not otherwise have? this is not to
celebrate conditions of poverty or exploitation in the political economy
but to ask what poverty and exploitation of the political economy continue
to fail to destroy. because what it fails to destroy is a gift.
P: 37
(Beth and Alys bring a folding table to the stage.
We can light them.
L, R, N light them with flashlights.
One basket of grey clothing which will be stage left, set on either side.
Nina and Lynne on stage.
Beth & Alys use flashlights. Dump clothing on either side.
Fold in whatever our spirit moves us. Rebecca watches us.
Rebecca reads instructions for Nina and Lynne)
R: “Score for a Folding Dance”
— Stand still at the table. Pull fabric with both hands from left
to center.
— Lay “fabric” at center of table. Fold again towards the center-right section
of the table.
— Work your way down and up with fingers as if buttoning a shirt in rapid
motion.
— Fold from right to left while gaze is facing the right side of the room.
— Flap, flip, and fold aimlessly. Fold up once towards the left side of the
Table.
Nina:
(04 FILM BALLET MECANIQUE with Washerwoman)
— Spin away. Land on the right side of the table and fold again with floppy
forearms.
— Leaning over the table, you flip hands over twice at the same time. Shake
large “fabric” and let it float across the table.
— Pause. Tap foot repeatedly looking towards the right side of the table
again . Tap fingers repeatedly on the table, still
looking towards the right side.
— Shake “fabric” and let it float down.
— Looking in various directions, fold repeatedly towards the right side of
the table .
— Hands hitting the table, getting louder with each fold. Make a small fold
on right side of table. Reach one arm towards the left side. Pull inward
towards the right side of the table.
— Hold. Fold “fabric” into a square. Repeat floppy forearm fold.
— Slam both hands on table four times
(Nina and Lynne slam both hands on table 4 X)
with a slight swoosh. Right arm rises as if about to spin — .
— Rhythm changes. Pat table. Pick up corners and fold quickly.
(Nina and Lynne fold sheet)
— Wrists loosely fold. Wipe lint off clothing and arms.
— Repeat — Look in various directions four times with more urgency.
— Torso and shoulders become more involved with folding. Heavier energy.
— Small folding gesture with hands. Flip hands three times towards the
left side of table.
— Large blanket floats over the table. Stretch “fabric” three times; fold
downwards and look away.
(Nina and Lynne billow the sheet in front of the Leger image. Enjoy the image on the sheet like a screen)
— Flip, flap, pick lint and flick it away. Start folding again.
(Nina and Lynne are done.)
(05 IMAGE SCORE FOR A FOLDING DANCE TEXT)
SILENCE 1 minute
The body spins over the table as if it is folding itself or embodying tumbling
clothes being thrown from a hamper basket. Internal sensations involving
elements of exhaustion, routine, and time are discovered. Intersperse
physical gestures like scratching and removing lint from a sleeve. The sequence
evolves. Everything becomes a part of the dance: the sound and
smell of the quarters, the metal, the doors slamming. The body is climbing,
sweating, folding, and slamming across the machines as if becoming
one. And then back to folding.
Nina:
In 1945, MGM studios released another film directed by Vincente Minnelli. Yolanda and the Thief is a musical fantasia where a dream ballet shows a man, played by Fred Astaire, who is afraid of entrapment by a group of laundresses. As one critic at the time wrote, the film is “not for realists.”
(06 FILM YOLANDA AND THE THIEF by Vincent Minelli )
P. 25
L, N & R read list of laundromats in a round in dark. Only books are lit with clip lights. We are in various places in room, spread out.
(TBA)
Change dynamics sometimes.
Chan Laundromat
Happy Laundromat
Chee & Yun Laundromat
Kang Wei Laundromat
Evergreen Laundromat
Sun & Moon Laundromat
Lams Laundromat
Goody Laundromat & Dry Cleaners
Zheng Laundromat
Nice Laundromat & Dry Clean
New Lucky Laundromat
Super Suds Laundromat
Gentle Wash Laundromat
(07 FILM CHESS OF THE WIND by Mohammad Reza Aslani – clips of women washing 4 min.)
Q & A with audience in Guild Theater
(Audience is invited to purchase HAND BOOK: A MANUAL ON PERFORMANCE, PROCESS AND THE LABOR OF LAUNDRY AT MERCH TABLE FOR $15. All proceeds go to Experiments in Cinema.)
