Risky Proposition, or, How to Lose a Million

Created for a symposium on the topic of “Games,” this performance dealt with the defining moment of chance and self-deception in games of luck.

We constructed a game wheel, half black and half white, one side saying “Burn” and the other “Scratch.” Tamara, as Fate in a game-show getup the color of money, spun the wheel; if it landed on “Scratch,” Matthew scratched one of fifty lottery scratch-game tickets. If it landed on “Burn,” he burned the ticket without scratching it and rubbed the ashes into his white clothing, the detritus of bad luck accumulating on his body.

In keeping with the theme of the performance, the letter “H” fell off the wheel, leaving us with “Burn” or “Scratc.”