Page Series: Manual Cinema
Sunday | October 7 | 3:00pm
Page Theatre | 700 Terrace Heights
page.smumn.edu/project/manual-cinema-end-of-tv/
With shadow puppetry, green screen technology, and live music, Manual Cinema creates a 21st Century take on the silent movie. The End of TV depicts the decline of an American rust belt city through the stories of Flo and Louise. Flo is an elderly white woman who was once a supervisor at the thriving local auto plant; now succumbing to dementia, her memories of her life are tangled with television commercials and the “call now” demands of QVC. Louise, a young black woman laid off from her job when the same local auto plant closes, meets Flo when she takes a job as a Meals-on-Wheels driver. The two women begin an unlikely relationship as Flo approaches the end of her life and Louise prepares for the invention of a new one. Their story is intercut with commercials and TV programs that are the constant background of their environment. This powerfully moving production evokes the human need for independence, dignity, and a sense of connectedness.
Set in a post-industrial Rust Belt city in the 1990’s, The End of TV explores the quest to find meaning amongst the constant barrage of commercial images designed to sell us lifestyles in the interest of selling us junk. The two sides of the American Dream — its technicolor promise as delivered through TV advertising, and its failure witnessed in the dark outcome of industrial decline — are staged in cinematic shadow puppetry and lo-fi live video feeds with flat paper renderings of commercial products. The show is driven by a sweeping song cycle performed live by a 5 piece band.
After the show, explore the set and try your hand at creating your own Manual Cinema effects, then join us for a post-performance conversation with representatives of Winona’s Dementia Friendly Community initiative.
Tickets are available online at pagetheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at 507-457-1715 (12-6 pm, weekdays).
The Performance Center at Saint Mary’s University is a member of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/JOIN.