bowl ep

Written and directed by Nazareth Hassan
Music by Free Fool

A Co-Production of The Vineyard Theatre and National Black Theatre in association with The New Group
Presented at The Vineyard Theatre

Scenic Design – Adam Rigg & Anton Volovsek
Costume Design – DeShon Elem
Lighting Design – Kate McGee
Sound Design & Additional Composition – Ryan Gamblin
Associate Sound Design – Sam Palumbo
Video & Projection Design – Zavier Augustus Lee Taylor
Props & Special Effects Supervisor – Daniel Brothers
Associate Director – Ava Elizabeth Novak

The sonic world of BOWL EP was based on the dramaturgy of an EP and its aesthetic sources. The scenes – titled in the text and in the projection design as tracks  – feature hard cuts into and out of transitions, as well as sonic content based on sampling, in conversation with the hip-hop tradition that Free Fool’s music is steeped in. Contact mics attached to the skate bowl are processed and manipulated, building an ambient score from the actions of the characters, blending surreality and realism. As Kelly and Quentavius experiment in skating, substance, and intimacy, the sound world moves from a blatant acknowledgement of the play’s form to an extension of its inhabitants internal states, erupting in what the New York Times called a “bravura psychedelic freakout of a commedia dell’arte.”

“Kelly K Klarkson and Quentavius da Quitter need to find a name for their rap group. Through flirty interludes, cringy overshares, and practicing their ollies, they grow increasingly closer. Skating and Smoking. Skating and Drinking. Skating and exorcising a demon. With live skateboarding and original music, enter Bowl EP:

a skate park
in the middle of a wasteland
at the edge of the galaxy'“

New York Times Critic Pick

“With an off-kilter, episodic structure, it feels distinctly of the TikTok age . . Hassan harnesses its sense of psychic chaos into a messy, poignant and memorable new work.” – Juan A. Ramírez, New York Times

"extraordinarily imaginative, quietly beautiful, and suddenly devastating. . . living proof that even the smallest stages can contain infinite worlds. . . insidious sound design” - Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania

“A masterpiece of queer theater” – Christopher Byrne, Gay City News