The Water Station: October 3 – 6
The SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Theatre in collaboration with Plattsburgh State Art Museum presents The Water Station in the Nina Winkel Sculpture Court of the John Myers Building.
Thursday, October 3 at 7pm
Friday, October 4 at 7pm
Saturday, October 5 at 7pm
Sunday, October 6 at 7pm
You’re encouraged to secure your tickets in advance, as seating is limited.
Tickets may be purchased here:
https://campusgroups.plattsburgh.edu/themus/events/
You may encounter a wide variety of artistic experiences this fall on the campus of SUNY Plattsburgh, all immersed in the waters of Lake Champlain. The health of the lake and other issues the water provokes have inspired an exhibit featuring music, poetry, videos, sculptures, and photographs. You may also see a related production of a play about sustenance, humanity and loneliness.
Titled The Water Station, this is a brand new staging of a play that premiered in Tokyo in 1981. It is written by Ōta Shōgo. Director Julia Devine says the themes of water in the piece, including the effects of climate change and the plight of shipwreck survivors, connect it to the Lake Champlain art exhibit in the nearby galleries.
Devine calls the production in the Nina Winkel Sculpture Court, a “play without words.” Messages are conveyed through movement, sound and video projections. Audience members will witness a story about migrants on a journey in search of sustenance, safety, stability, love, or meaning. They all encounter a broken tap of running water, and sometimes each other, in the course of their travels. Where they are going and where they are coming from is unknown.
Performers include community members, SUNY students including international students, SUNY faculty, and members of the Clinton County dance troupe CARAVAN6, choreographed by dancer Jessica Bouharevich.
The creator of the video projections in the play, artist Robin Lasser of Oakland, California, also produced projections for the art exhibit. She’s one of the two artists whose work fills the upstairs galleries in the John Myers Building.
Lasser and artist Marguerite Perret of Lawrence, Kansas both create works treating social and environmental issues, making them a good match to produce new pieces for the Lake Champlain-themed project in the galleries. Viewers will see art treating climate change, invasive species, pollution, garbage, and shifting habitats of healthy plant life and organisms. Other topics in the exhibit include methods of recycling water at wastewater treatment plants. The theme of shipwrecks in Lake Champlain symbolizes the years from the industrial revolution to today, highlighting the era many call responsible for the climate crisis profoundly affecting water.
The art exhibit also includes interactive elements and messages of hope, inviting us to combat our fears with action.
The Plattsburgh State Art Museum presents Climate’s Shipwreck Ballad by Robin Lasser and Transmutation Traces by Marguerite Perret, from now until December 9 in the Burke & Slatkin Galleries of the John Myers Building. The art and music are inspired by faculty research occurring in the Lake Champlain Research Institute and The SUNY Plattsburgh Center for Earth & Environmental Sciences.
Audience members may see the art exhibit before and after the show.
Spotlight is made possible, in part, by the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation, dedicated to improving the quality of life for year-round residents of the Adirondack Park. Spotlight is also supported by Hill and Hollow Music.
The Water Station rehearsal photos by Cinara Marquis.