Rising – Hearne, Animals
Ted Hearne – Animals
Sunrise, Tuesday June 2
Get up!
We’re gonna laugh and cry together.
We have fire in our hearts.
And a desire to say something.
§
The Rhetoric of Reaction.
A country of pretend grown-ups.
A little girl, crying.
The sounds of animals in extreme pain.
This is the world of Ted Hearne’s Animals.
Today, we break the rules of Rising w/ The Crossing: all live performances, always a revolving Crossing Knot, an image of the past, no faces.
Twenty months ago, we made a film of Animals; we wanted to capture the moment. What it’s like to say the words of others. Words we don’t agree with. Words we may not even understand.
These ...
Words of a leader...
...with a dehumanizing policy.
....are animals
One that would incite violence in a peaceful demonstration for a photo opportunity.
We made a film because we wanted to capture us working together for something.
Animals needs little introduction.
Maybe you’ve seen it.
Maybe it will land differently this morning, at sunrise.
Strange that the never-ending promise of a new day can feel like torture to the prisoner.
Animals: two short sentences, the first of four syllables, the second of five.
Three trochees and a dactyl.
Meters matter.
Words matter.
We sing Animals because this is where we live.
We have no idea if we love singing it.
We know this: there is great love in it. For people we do not know. For each other.
This is the art for which we were born.
We are grateful it was written for us.
Sit down and,
for the first time in three months,
watch The Crossing,
working,
together.
- The Whole Team @ The Crossing
Stay with it; Ellie’s performance is worth it.
The Rhetoric of Reaction is a reference to Albert O. Hirschmann’s book, The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy.
Animals
music by Ted Hearne
words from Donald Trump at the White House, responding to a question of Sheriff Margaret Mims of Fresno County, California, July 16, 2018
audio and video by Four/Ten Media
recorded September 17, 2018 at Rittenhouse Soundworks
solo by Elisa Sutherland
Animals was co-commissioned by The Crossing
and Park Avenue Armory
* * *
These aren’t people. These are animals.