Iris Lord...12 Famous Men

Iris Lord has achieved a sort of cubist expression with her new spoken word opera 12 Famous Men presented last week at the Knitting factory Hollywood. Cubism, usually associated with painting, such as Picasso, is defined as “... displaying several aspects of the same object simultaneously and by fragmenting the form of the depicted objects" “ Broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstracted form." In this performance Iris Lord has separated the elements of story, action, and music and recombined them as a fragmented whole.. As Ms. Lord recounts her captivating stories of 12 Famous Men,

(Lenny Bruce, MarlonBrando,MontgomeryClift,BobDylan,BobDeNiro,Liberace, Albert Ayler, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Jaco Pastorius, Jerry Lewis, Julian Beck)

and her interactions with them, actors mime the story while the band envelops Lord's delivery in music as though she were an instrument, soloing on top of the band in a free form improvisation. Each element,1.Iris, (the story), 2.actors,(the action), and 3.the band,(the music), are a separate yet integral part of the whole. Described as “the wave of the future", Iris and company have created a unique new form of performance.

http://www.irislord.com