Here I inhabit the clothes and customs of our wonderful father, Tad Myers, who lived from 1929-2012. He was a character, an absolute character, and in this hybrid form I get to reconnect to him and create a new character that is half him / half me. It is an interesting space to explore and I'd like to see this pushed further in the upcoming video work. New Father's Day Ritual: 1. Wear his robe 2. Smoke his pipe 3. Read a paper printed on his birthday (12.20) of any year. This one is from 2014. 4. Repeat as often as desired
Character Study #02: Myself as Our Dad, Tad Myers, 1929 - 2012, Created in 2015
(New Father's Day Ritual)
Photographs and Video
Currently in-development
Begun June 20-21, 2015
Character Studies are ways to develop characters and ideas with other performers, and my own self, in my studio. The function is to develop these characters for a cinematic video that will be released with a world premiere at Pittsburgh Filmmakers in Spring 2016. When complete, the body of work will contain a 25-minute cinematic video, an edition of photographs, a book of drawings, an album of songs and music, and choreography for live performance.
This second character study was a way for me to connect with my own father by inhabiting his customs and clothes. I did this as a gesture for Father's Day, and believe that this character has alot of potential and room for me to explore. It is a new hybrid figure: myself as our dad, our dad as myself. Perhaps this is one way to communicate with the dead.
The project is generously funded by the Investing in Professional Artists Residency Grant, a joint partnership of the Heinz Endowments and the Pittsburgh Foundation. The residency is with Pittsburgh Filmmakers.